Best Business Practices For Photographers

Best Business Practices For Photographers, by John Harrington, was a book that I decided to pick up after coming across his blog, Photo Business News (which I have found very informative and helpful, by the way). John’s book is written for the already established photography business (if you’re just starting out or looking at opening your studio, something like Vik Orenstein’s Building Your Photography Business might be more relevant).

Although Best Business Practices for Photographers is more oriented towards the commercial photographer, portrait/wedding photographers will find much useful information as well (yes, there is a section on wedding photography). While I found much helpful, I especially appreciated John’s discussions of the following topics: copyright registration, balancing work & family, and the numerous “case studies” throughout the chapters that demonstrate the negotiating process and email communication between photographer and client. While I can’t begin to summarize all the helpful tips and concepts I learned while reading this book, I will give you a rough outline of the topics covered.

Best Business Practices for Photographers first covers the “nuts and bolts” of business, from equipment choices to planning logistics. The second section of the text discusses important topics like personnel, pricing your work, overhead, insurance…well, you get the idea. Legal issues are covered in the third portion of the text: contracts are discussed (if you don’t know the difference between editorial and commerical contracts, you will after you’re done!). As mentioned earlier, John emphasizes the importance of protecting your work through copyright registration AND gives you an idea of what follows an instance of copyright infringement. The fourth section of Best Business Practices for Photographers discusses storage and archiving. While we all know the importance of having back-ups, chances are most of us don’t take the time to safeguard against data loss. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — especially when your images are 100% digital. Finally, John discusses an important aspect of your business — people. The fifth and final section is “the human aspect” — not only clients, but your family, and colleagues.

Being a photographer takes more than just the ability to create great images. You also need business skills and people skills. While Best Business Practices for Photographers doesn’t discuss the “how-to’s” of creating great images, it does address important business practices that your studio or business should consider.