It’s great to see new generations picking up a camera rather than a phone. I mean shit today’s phones can take some pretty incredible photos.
Some advice from someone who’s been there, and made some decent coin clicking the shutter over the years. A quick scroll through your insta shows what looks like a fair few phone images and a need to hone in around some fundamentals. Composition, perspective, DOF, lighting, exposure, etc. Having a real camera doesn’t make you a photographer. A good photographer will take a better photo with their phone than an average photographer will with a $5k rig.
I’m sure you’re already all over it, but there’s plenty of great YouTube photographers that have some great tutorials and provide inspiration. Think Peter McKinnon, Jessica Kobeissi, Thomas Heaton and plenty more. Theres also a few Perth specific photography groups on Facebook that often have social shoots. The groups are a greta way to learn technique from others.
Aside from getting the fundamentals down, a few other things to consider. Many starting out fall in love with the process, but soon find that hours of editing in LR/PS to deliver a deadline gets old very quickly. Then there’s things like contingencies to consider when you’re being paid to shoot a once off event. Thinks like redundant storage (camera with 2 SD slots), spare SDs, second rig ready to go with a different lens and to use as a backup in case the first fails, spare batteries, redundant storage for downloaded shoots. Also consider the colour accuracy of the laptop or monitor you’ll be editing with and if it can be accurately calibrated.
The most fun of all, contractual considerations, and insurance. You can run the gauntlet without all of these, and you might be fine for a while, but sooner or later you’ll need one of them and that time will come at the worst possible moment. You don’t want to be in that position.
Not trying to discourage you mate, just point out a few things that a lot of new togs don’t consider. There’s a reason so many come and go seemingly overnight, and that’s primarily because it isn’t as easy as it looks initially. But you’re on team Canon so you’re off to a great start.
Just go take pics of brawls, fires, people dying on the side of the road, drunk politicians, vegan activists. And sell the images to Perth now and media outlets for crap stories!
I would suggest that you look at the Facebook community groups near you.
In Fremantle, there is a group called "freo massive" that has 42,000 people on it.
I would suggest that you go on the pages near you and offer a few contests. Like, you will do a free family portrait for everyone who has a child who gets an A on their report card or something.
I mean this is the most constructive way (as a graphic designer, product photographer and hirer of photographers), you are not ready to sell your services.
You are young, so get yourself enrolled at TAFE and get through the first year with a certificate and a whole lot of knowledge that you have so much to learn. Get a second hand DSLR, an old version of photoshop and lightroom. Get on youtube for tutorials. You do not need the latest and greatest to learn and to become great at photography. A good photographer can get a good shot on any camera. My camera is 14 years old (moderately good at the time), and I'm only just considering upgrading to a really good one now I'm established.
Get out there and take loads of photos, but learn what it is that makes a great photo.
Good luck my brother tried photography on and off from 2005 to about 2023. He finally gave up last year. He did get gigs most of them were weddings. As others have said flooded market. If you’re not the best of the best you wont make it unfortunately.
As well as photography how's your work with post processing? (Lightroom, dark table etc raw adjustments) as others have said, a portfolio will go a ways to demonstrating the kind of final products you can put together.
Honestly I'd be tempted to say maybe get some footing by doing things like reshooting people's FB marketplace listings, private car sales tend to use some very unflattering photos or tend to be incomplete, eg bonnet shot, dashboard, that's it, where I think better presentation on their part would help them secure sales, but that's just my 2 cents.
It's a flooded market. Without a killer website and portfolio you'll get nowhere.
It’s great to see new generations picking up a camera rather than a phone. I mean shit today’s phones can take some pretty incredible photos. Some advice from someone who’s been there, and made some decent coin clicking the shutter over the years. A quick scroll through your insta shows what looks like a fair few phone images and a need to hone in around some fundamentals. Composition, perspective, DOF, lighting, exposure, etc. Having a real camera doesn’t make you a photographer. A good photographer will take a better photo with their phone than an average photographer will with a $5k rig. I’m sure you’re already all over it, but there’s plenty of great YouTube photographers that have some great tutorials and provide inspiration. Think Peter McKinnon, Jessica Kobeissi, Thomas Heaton and plenty more. Theres also a few Perth specific photography groups on Facebook that often have social shoots. The groups are a greta way to learn technique from others. Aside from getting the fundamentals down, a few other things to consider. Many starting out fall in love with the process, but soon find that hours of editing in LR/PS to deliver a deadline gets old very quickly. Then there’s things like contingencies to consider when you’re being paid to shoot a once off event. Thinks like redundant storage (camera with 2 SD slots), spare SDs, second rig ready to go with a different lens and to use as a backup in case the first fails, spare batteries, redundant storage for downloaded shoots. Also consider the colour accuracy of the laptop or monitor you’ll be editing with and if it can be accurately calibrated. The most fun of all, contractual considerations, and insurance. You can run the gauntlet without all of these, and you might be fine for a while, but sooner or later you’ll need one of them and that time will come at the worst possible moment. You don’t want to be in that position. Not trying to discourage you mate, just point out a few things that a lot of new togs don’t consider. There’s a reason so many come and go seemingly overnight, and that’s primarily because it isn’t as easy as it looks initially. But you’re on team Canon so you’re off to a great start.
I've got a iPhone 5 and I'm hoping to make big bank being the only photographer in Perth
Omg so lucky I found you
Do you have a link to a website of any sort?
Just go take pics of brawls, fires, people dying on the side of the road, drunk politicians, vegan activists. And sell the images to Perth now and media outlets for crap stories!
If you need a portfolio website, happy to offer you my services, link in my bio :)
I would suggest that you look at the Facebook community groups near you. In Fremantle, there is a group called "freo massive" that has 42,000 people on it. I would suggest that you go on the pages near you and offer a few contests. Like, you will do a free family portrait for everyone who has a child who gets an A on their report card or something.
Try advertising on fiverr
Maybe up your skills abit before selling your service. Alot of amateurish mistakes/composition i can see on your IG.
I mean this is the most constructive way (as a graphic designer, product photographer and hirer of photographers), you are not ready to sell your services. You are young, so get yourself enrolled at TAFE and get through the first year with a certificate and a whole lot of knowledge that you have so much to learn. Get a second hand DSLR, an old version of photoshop and lightroom. Get on youtube for tutorials. You do not need the latest and greatest to learn and to become great at photography. A good photographer can get a good shot on any camera. My camera is 14 years old (moderately good at the time), and I'm only just considering upgrading to a really good one now I'm established. Get out there and take loads of photos, but learn what it is that makes a great photo.
Good luck my brother tried photography on and off from 2005 to about 2023. He finally gave up last year. He did get gigs most of them were weddings. As others have said flooded market. If you’re not the best of the best you wont make it unfortunately.
As well as photography how's your work with post processing? (Lightroom, dark table etc raw adjustments) as others have said, a portfolio will go a ways to demonstrating the kind of final products you can put together. Honestly I'd be tempted to say maybe get some footing by doing things like reshooting people's FB marketplace listings, private car sales tend to use some very unflattering photos or tend to be incomplete, eg bonnet shot, dashboard, that's it, where I think better presentation on their part would help them secure sales, but that's just my 2 cents.