General photography niches every photographer should know
Did you read my previous blog post on why picking a niche is important for photographers, and now you’re curious about what different niches are out there?
In this blog post, I’ll give you a few examples of general photography niches, what they are, and some examples within those categories.
Portrait Photography
Portrait photography can look like so many different things! It could be doing actors' headshots, headshots for corporate CEOs and businesses, or it could look like doing portrait sessions for individuals or families. You could even do personal branding shoots for entrepreneurs or solopreneurs, AKA people who run their own businesses.
Portrait photography is for you, if you enjoy working with people and you enjoy making them feel comfortable in front of the camera. Portraiture photography doesn't necessarily mean working with models and professional actors – you're often working with regular people that need to feel comfortable in front of the camera.
If you enjoy giving direction and making people feel good, then portrait photography might be where it's at for you.
Fashion Photography
Fashion photography involves working within the fashion industry and could look like working locally with people and brands in your area or around the world.
You can start by working with model agencies to create portfolios for their new faces and help them develop their talents, so they can break into the fashion industry. Working with model agencies is highly beneficial, because they always have new models who need a place to start. Plus, it's a great way to mix in a little bit of portraiture and start developing your fashion portfolio!
You can also work with companies that produce fashion work, like magazines, advertising agencies, and boutiques that sell many different brands. I mean, some of my fashion work came from local malls that use their stores and their clothes to produce the photos.
I’ve found the best way to work with fashion photography is to have a half day or full day rate, include a certain amount of images, and then create the shoot around the brand’s project or campaign. You could also look into working with an agency, who you pay 20 to 30% of your earnings to book you gigs and give you more work.
Fashion photography is for you if you love fashion and the idea of creating work that sells. It’s also great if you like working with models, makeup artists, hair stylists and fashion stylists, and if you enjoy studio photography.
Commercial Photography
Commercial and fashion photography are similar since you’re working in creating images that sell, but commercial photography leans more towards product photography. Fashion photography falls under commercial photography, which is a bigger umbrella.
You’ll be working with businesses to produce images for advertising, or to sell services, ideas, and products, not just fashion items. That means creating photos for e-commerce websites and social media, or lifestyle portrait photography if you're working with service-based businesses.
Again, you're gonna want to have a half day or full day rate, and you could also work with an advertising, marketing or photography agency to book more gigs.
Commercial photography is for you if you like working with models, a creative team, and with structure. And honestly, if you want to see your images on advertising, billboards, prints and posters, commercial photography is where it's at!
Event Photography
People mainly think of weddings when it comes to event photography, but it can also encompass other life celebrations and milestones, corporate events, workshops and retreats.
What characterizes event photography is capturing the essence of something that's happening. And sometimes that can blend a bit with commercial photography, like in a yoga or wellness retreat, where you're capturing the event and telling a story, but also using those images to sell.
Event photography is for you if you thrive at big social events and enjoy social interaction and being around people. You also need to have a knack for directing people who’ve never been in front of the camera, and help them feel comfortable and beautiful.
This niche is for you if you have good people skills and can read a room, because you need to understand people to be able to direct them properly.
The more specific the better
Once you figure out your general niche, you can then use specific words and themes to get more specific. Try going back to the kind of work you'd like to do, what you're good at, and where the money’s at to help you niche down within those bigger niches.
You can literally use any word you want to niche down! You can create a niche that doesn't even exist, yet it will always fall under one of these four general categories.
Basically, when you're using certain words to describe your values, or the type of work that you specialize in, it’s going to resonate with specific clients, which can help you book more work in that field and allow you to charge more.
Now that you know the four main photography niches, don’t be afraid to get specific and define your own niche!
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