This is a guest post by Margaret

Every photographer faces nulls in his or her business. Weddings and senior picture seasons may provide regular income for some months but not others. The main thing you can do to make your photography business profitable is to find out ways to to make supplementary income during quiet periods.

Photography can be highly seasonal, especially wedding photography.  Here are some other ways to make money through photography.

1. Micro stock agencies

Micro stock agencies are a simple way to make a regular supplemental earning. Websites such as iStock and Dreamstime accept photographs and publish them on their website so that clients can download at a low price. People buy usage rights to these photographs. Photographers can make $ 0.20 to $ 0.50 per image downloading or licensed. This may not sound a great earning from photography, but if photographers can upload hundreds or photographs to these micro stock agencies then it can be a great side income. If you have a big inventory of images you own, just continue uploading images to earn more.

2. Real estate photographs

Another way to generate some extra money in photography is via real estate photographs for local real estate agents. Consider both commercial real estate agents, residential agents, and real estate developers working on their brochures and marketing materials. If your services are marketed well, photographers can make good money in real estate photography. You might also team up with a homestager to secure clients.

3. Custom products

Photographers can create custom products for their customers. These days, custom photographs on T-shirts, key chains, mugs and other special things are highly popular. Photographers can add this to their business. In this way, photographers can double or triple their income by offering variety of products to their customers.

4. Craigslist and eBay sellers 

Photographers can offer theirservices to eBay and Craigslist sellers.  Many ads and auctions are characterized by blurry and poorly lit photographs that result in lost sales and lower prices. Regular sellers may be willing to pay more to a professional photographer to create great looking images for their ads. You can advertise services on Craigslist and/or email sellers who are using bad photography.

5. Photo touch-ups and restoration

Many times people want to digitize their old photographs. So, photographers can also do photo touch-ups and restoration. Most photographers use software to divert physical photos to digital photos. They can also give touch ups to damaged photos. Even they can give touch up to family snaps to remove imperfection or red eye. These skills are quit high in demand.  Therefore, simple add digitization and restoration services to your business cards and advertisements can help in quiet periods.

6.  Other event photography

Think outside the wedding box. Corporate events, graduation parties, anniversaries, birthdays, fundraisers etc are potential photography jobs.  Maybe not worth as much as a wedding, but it’s money and can lead to higher priced jobs.

7. Gift Card Images

As covered in this blog post on gift card images, you can create passive income by submitting images for use on gift cards.

About the author: Margaret is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on environment and technology and is fond of books. She recently published an article on automotto and an article for gizmowatch.

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How to Save Money In a Home Office

by JadeDragon on May 6, 2012

Working from home comes with many financial advantages including:

  • Save money on meals out – eat at home
  • Save money on coffee out – brew at home
  • Save on gas, car maintenance, parking or transit passes
  • Save on car insurance – check for discounts if you are driving leisure only
  • Tax deductions – check this carefully as it varies by where you live
However running a home office comes with some extra expenses too.  Here are some ways to save on equipment and supplies for your home office.
  • Shop carefully for office equipment, computers and supplies.  With the internet you can easily compare prices between retailers.
  • Check out dollar stores for smaller items like pens, notepads, calculators etc. They are often cheaper than the office supply stores
  • Before you buy a computer or printer etc on sale from a retailer like Best Buy, get discounted gift cards from Giftcards.com or another gift card exchange for that retailer. Best Buy cards are available from 5% discount. Use the gift cards to make the purchase, creating a bigger discount for yourself combined with the sale price.
  • Check for rebate offers on office equipment. Offers come and go and are often not advertised in the store, so search for a master list of rebate offers on a site like WeUseCoupons to see what rebates are available.
  • Go paperless, only printing what you need to print. This saves paper, ink, and space in the filing drawers.
  • Buy office supplies with discounted gift cards too, just like for office equipment and furniture.
  • Get VOIP phones or use Skype and cut your long distance costs.
  • Buy a 4×8 sheet of Shower Board from Home Depot and use it as a White Board. If you have to, cut it down. Frame with a little plastic trim that sells by the foot at the hardware store. Works great for to do lists and brainstorms, and very inexpensive compared to buying a small White Board.
Hopefully these ideas will save you some money as you operate a home office.

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Building a Better Consulting Business

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Product Store Site Example: Sci-Fi

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How Online Marketing Can Be Used Effectively for Your Business

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Real Estate Investing For Passive Income: Gulf Coast

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Insurance Niche Website Analysis

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Medical Debt Management

Increasing your income through an online business or freelancing is fantastic, but if your money is being poured into unmanaged debt, it is a losing proposition.  Taking control of your financial future involves controlling your expenses, reducing and eliminating your debt, and increasing your income through multiple streams. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in [...]

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Copyright and Image Pinning

In the old days before the internet was invented, copyright was a fairly clear cut concept.  Few people (relatively) had the means to publish and copyright was easier to enforce. When the new Stephan King novel came out, no one with a printing press would be so dumb as to republish the whole book or [...]

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Earn Profits Online and Live the Life of Your Dreams

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Website Review: Construction Loans

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How to Choose a Financial Adviser

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Options Trading on the OEX as a Work at Home Job

For people interested in the stock market, day trading may be a viable way to make a living from home.  One of the ways to increase the potential returns (and potential loses) while using less working capital in day trading is to focus on options. An option is only the right to buy or sell [...]

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Updated E-book Success on Constant Content

I’ve covered freelance writing site Constant Content a number of times because I believe it represents one of the best online marketplaces for selling articles at decent prices. You can actually make a full time living on the site like many other writers do there.  I’m really pleased to present a video that highlights one [...]

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