Online Photography Course
The Business of Photography

What You Get

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	Benefits: You get direct feedback on your photos from world-acclaimed, professional photographers. You can learn photography in this way from anywhere in the world.
Learn at your pace, with structure. Be guided by a real pro instructor. Get your photos critiqued every week. Join students from around the world. Go far beyond any book or DVD. Make great pictures, again and again!

Instructor

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Vik Orenstein
Photographer / writer Vik Orenstein owns and operates KidCapers portraits (formerly Kidshooters) and three Tiny Acorn Studios - both nationally recognized photography studios specializing in hand-colored child portraits. She has consulted as a child photography expert and shot for Nikon and Pentax.

Vik has shot commercially for such clients as Microsoft, 3M, and Hormel. She makes frequent television and radio appearances to give advice on how to make great portraits of kids.

She is the author of the Photographers Market Guide to Building Your Business and the classic Creative Techniques for Photographing Children (second edition).

Join Vik to learn how to make truly creative and wonderful pictures of kids or how to make the most of a studio lighting environment.

• Don't miss the BetterPhoto interview with Vik Orenstein.

A Couple of Photos by the Instructor

© Vik Orenstein

© Vik Orenstein

A Couple of Student Photos

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View photos by previous students. You can make pictures like this too!

© Jennifer L. Rabinowitz

© Jennifer L. Rabinowitz

Course Outline

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Lesson 1: Research Your Market
Learn as much as possible about similar photography businesses in your area, with an emphasis on pricing and fee structures; product; promotional materials, and customer relations. Fill out a worksheet ranking your competition in these areas and begin to think about where you want your product, pricing, and fee structure to fall within this range.
Assignment: Upload up to three shots you have either sold to clients or that you feel are highly saleable (i.e. - marketable). Optional assignment: Upload up to three additional shots that you had thought would sell, but didn't, and we'll analyze the possible reasons why some images sell, and some don't.

Lesson 2: Make A Mission Statement
Detail the name of your business; where you will operate; what your product will be; the qualities that set you apart from your competition; the demographic you're marketing to, and other key points.
Assignment: Part One: make a mission statement for your business, following the above guidelines. Part Two: Upload up to three images that you consider "good," and up to three images you consider "marketable," and we'll discuss how they are the same, and how they are different.

Lesson 3: Tax Issues
Find (or meet with) your CPA, file for a tax I.D. number, fill out blanket tax exempt forms for vendors, and learn the ins and outs of paying sales tax.
Assignment: Part One: Find (or meet with) your CPA, file for a tax I.D. number, fill out blanket tax exempt forms for vendors, and learn the ins and outs of paying sales tax. Part Two: Upload up to three of your all-time favorite images, regardless of whether they are within your specialty or whether you perceive them to have any marketable value.

Lesson 4: Product a Prototype
Produce a prototype of your product and figure out your cost of goods; determine the actual cost to you to produce your product. Learn to spot and include hidden costs you may have overlooked.
Assignment: Produce a prototype of your product and figure out your cost of goods; determine the actual cost to you to produce your product. Learn to spot and include hidden costs you may have overlooked. Upload examples of your prototypes and include commentary on your costs.

Lesson 5: Figure Your Fixed Overhead
Determine what your fixed expenses will be: rent; phone; Internet access; utilities; and more (there's always more).
Assignment: Give me a rundown of your fixed expenses. Plus, I can never get enough of examining the marketability of images, so upload images to further this discussion!

Lesson 6: Create Your Fee Structure / Price List
Using the information you gathered researching your market and figuring your fixed expenses, COGS, and your time, establish fees and pricing that will allow you to operate profitably.
Assignment: Using the information you gathered researching your market and figuring your fixed expenses, COGS, and your time, establish fees and pricing that will allow you to operate profitably. Upload examples of your work, a product description, and your pricing for the product.

Lesson 7: Design a Direct Mail Piece
Choose your demographic; create beautiful artwork; design your promotional document, and learn how to make a "call to action" that no one can refuse!
Assignment: Upload several direct mail marketing pieces, or, alternatively, if you haven't designed any marketing pieces yet, up load images you plan on using in promotional pieces in the future.

Lesson 8: Revisit Your Mission Statement
Apply the knowledge you've accumulated through your course to fine tune your mission statement and create a business plan that you can put into action!
Assignment: Upload up to three images for critique ... ones that you have sold and/or ones that you plan to make available to clients in the future.

Review: Voting on Best Work

© Vik Orenstein

© Vik Orenstein

Requirements

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Digital or film-based camera. A working knowledge of photography. An entreprenuerial spirit.

FAQ

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This course is open to any photographer who wants to learn how to start up their own photography business or how to make their existing photography business more successful.  

Certainly! This course can help you effectively study your market to answer this and other questions to inform your decision-making process. It will also help you through the market testing process step-by-step, showing you how to "test the water" without getting in too deep financially.  

If you are a person who is not afraid of hard work and who has the desire to be a professional photographer, you will be able to continue to refine your technical and creative skills at the same time you go through the steps of starting up your business. So the answer is YES!  

No. Over the years, working as a consultant, I have helped people establish successful photography businesses who had:

• Photography experience but no business experience;
• Business experience but no photography experience;
• And a few in between.

The main thing you need is the desire to succeed.  

© Vik Orenstein

© Vik Orenstein

No, you do not need to be online at any specific time. The lessons are sent to your email and you are also provided the Campus Square - where you interact with your classmates and instructor. This is also where you upload your photos to be critiqued by your instructor. The instructors are very punctual and respond quickly.

Absolutely! Students can ask questions in the special Q&A forum set up in the course's Campus Square, or can ask the instructor via email.

Yes. We are confident that you will fully enjoy our courses. All the same, for our 8-week classes, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent out. If for any reason, you are not satisfied and let us know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #3 is sent, you will be promptly refunded.

For our 4-week courses, we offer a 100% money back guarantee before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent out from BetterPhoto. If for any reason you are not satisfied and you let the ordering department know that you would like to withdraw before the Wednesday that Lesson #2 is sent, you will be refunded within 7 days. After the second lesson has been sent out, no refunds will be given.


If you have further questions about this course, feel free to contact us via the Contact link below.

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