Niche « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Niche’

How to Find Your Photography Niche

05 Sep

This is a quick tip to help you see why finding your photography niche could be beneficial to you and the growth of your photography.

Photography niche 03

The problem with shooting everything

If you could shoot anything you want and get paid for it, why wouldn’t you? That’s an easy enough question for pretty much anyone to answer. You know what you like to shoot, what you get the most joy out of, have the most fun editing, and what gives you the most satisfaction when you see the end result. But if you are like the many photographers all over the world shooting pretty much everything, you aren’t making the kind of artistic growth you’d like to see or have the satisfaction you’d like to experience. A good way for you to overcome a lack of satisfaction or a decrease of productivity is to dive into a photographic niche.

What is a niche?

A niche is defined as a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service. There’s a reason why you go to a doctor when you’re sick, call a plumber when your pipes burst, or a contractor when you want to build a home. They spend years studying and working in their fields, and the consistent quality of their work is proof of it. It’s the same with photography.

You wouldn’t go to a landscape photographer to get your portrait taken, or a sports photographer to shoot your new product When you think of great photographers, who comes to mind? The landscape photographer, Ansel Adams, portrait photographer Richard Avedon, or fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz? You associate each of these people with the type of photography for which they are famous.

Photography niche 07

What do you like to photograph?

Now, think about yourself for a second. What do you want to be known for? What have you been shooting, what do you want to shoot? The first step in deciding which photography niche you want to delve into is identifying what you want to shoot. The decision is ultimately yours when it comes to finding a niche or genre that you really enjoy. Take a look at the work you are doing now and ask yourself if it’s fulfilling or if there’s something else you’d like to shoot.

Photography niche 11

Do you want to shoot something else? No? Then congratulations, you’re a few steps ahead of the game. If you do want to shoot something else, however, the next couple of paragraphs are just for you.

If you’re not shooting what you want now, it’s definitely not the easiest thing to change, especially if you’re known for whatever it is you’re doing at the moment. It can be a scary and drawn out process going through a rebranding, but in the end, it will be the right decision. Making money doing what you want to do has many benefits.

Photography niche 10

Photography niche 12

Create a portfolio

The first step is to target your preferred audience and curate a portfolio. Spend a decent amount of time making your new portfolio something you’re proud of. Start off small, book TFP (time for print) shoots with models if you want to get into fashion. Set up a small studio in your garage if you want to get the best product photos you can manage. Get out there as often as you can and shoot, but don’t share anything just yet. You want to make sure that you have a cohesive body of work ready to go first.

Some niches are harder to get into without an existing portfolio, but it’s doable. You don’t need an amazing wedding portfolio to book your first wedding. But at that first wedding you photograph, be as deliberate as you can be in order to make as many photos portfolio shots as possible. Stockpile a good amount of content because you’re going to need it soon.

Photography niche 13

Clean up your online presence

Once you have a good amount of content for whatever niche you’re wanting to get into, you need to scrub out every remnant of your previous work off the Internet (if you have any). I know that once you post something on the technological marvel which is the world wide web, it’s out there in some way shape or form. But removing the primary source, like anything on your website or social media is pretty easy to take care of.

Once you get rid of that, anything linking to the post is now a 404 error, meaning that it doesn’t show up anymore. Once you have your old work more or less purged from the internet, now is the time to get your new work in front of your preferred audience. Throw those photos on your website, inundate social media with your images, GET THEM SEEN by your target audience.

Photography niche 14

Photography niche 15

Conclusion

That’s it, in a nutshell. When it comes down to it, you need to identify for yourself what you want to shoot, and go out and shoot it. Start small, simple, and perfect your vision and build that portfolio. Set the foundation of your brand within the niche you select.

Practice as much as you can and get your vision as close to perfect as you can. Once you build up your new portfolio, get it seen by your target audience. Identify, visualize, curate, and execute. Think about these steps and get into the photography niche that you want!

Photography niche 16

Photography niche 17

The post How to Find Your Photography Niche by Jack Lungu appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

How to Find Your Photography Niche: You Don’t Have To Master It All

05 Nov

When it comes to photography, there can sometimes be this strange assumption that we are (or should be) experts in all types of photography. Photography is essentially painting with light, so there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to do newborn photography, astrophotography, weddings, family portraits, landscape photography, and food photography, right? Light is light, whether it’s on a newborn or a spider, right? The simple answer is yes, and no. But, there’s good news, you don’t have to master it all. Let’s talk about how to find your photography niche.

find-your-photography-niche

Different strokes for different folks

Much like a chef benefits from learning about cooking as a whole, photographers benefit from learning the fundamentals that apply across all types of photography: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, finding light, capturing movement and emotion, and focus. However, much like chefs often break off into different specialties, photographers also tend to break off into different niches. Some photographers find that they love newborns, but hate weddings (raises hand). Others love landscapes, but don’t enjoy photographing humans ever. Some photographers love to work in a studio, while others prefer to work only outdoors with natural light. Finally, some photographers prefer to shoot in digital, while others prefer film.

niche-photography

Do what you enjoy

Whichever type of photography sparks your passion and fills you with joy? Do that. Whether that’s black and white portraits, lifestyle newborn images, macro photography of spiders, or architecture – do what you love.

Then when it comes to post-processing, if there’s a method that transforms your image the way that you’ve always pictured it in your head, do that. If it’s a hipster vintage wash, do it. If it’s a quick curves adjustment and nothing else, do that too. Heck, if it’s black and white with selective coloring that makes you happy when it comes to post-processing, by all means, do that.

Do it even if it isn’t cool, and no one else is doing it. Whether you consider photography to be a craft or an art, it is most certainly an opportunity to have a creative voice. And as corny as it may sound, your authentic voice, whether expressed in cooking or in photography, is important.

find-your-niche-photography

It’s okay not to do it all

Just in case no one has ever told you before, it’s okay not to do it all. If you specialize in food photography and someone calls you up and asks if you’ll consider accepting a wedding booking, it’s okay to say, ‘Thank you so much for thinking of me, but no.” It’s okay to love photographing families and have absolutely zero interest in doing macro photography of insects.

Whether you’re an amateur or a professional, it’s really hard sometimes to admit that a particular area of photography isn’t your preference or your strong suit. No one wants to feel incompetent. On the other hand, there’s no shame in telling someone that you are unable to accept a newborn booking because it isn’t your specialty and consequently you aren’t familiar enough with newborn posing safety to feel comfortable with accepting that job.

Say it with me – I do not have to master it all.

photography-specialty

Finding your niche

If you’re reading this article and thinking, “Okay great, so how do I find my niche?’ The answer is simply to try everything you can. Trying different types of photography is very different than feeling compelled to master every type of photography. Giving different genres of photography a try in low stakes (often unpaid) environments allows you to experiment, and to discover what it is that you really love.

It also requires possibly humbling yourself a bit and allowing yourself to be taught by someone else. Even if you’re the best wedding photographer in your state or area, you may not know the first thing about being a wildlife photographer. So if you really want to learn, you have to be ready and willing to be taught.

photography-you-love

Benefits of trying things

My personal niche in photography is newborns and families. It’s what really makes me excited, and what I really enjoy most. However, every time that I’ve stepped outside that comfort zone, with the goal of learning about another genre of photography, it’s been worth it.

I’ve not been a master of every genre that I’ve tried, nor have I enjoyed them all, but I’ve learned something valuable in every case. When I buckled down and focused on landscape photography, it gave me an opportunity to review techniques of composition, metering, and shooting with a relatively small aperture in ways that I don’t typically use on a daily basis when it comes to people photography.

finding-photography-passion

When I made an attempt to learn about astrophotography (a genre of photography that had always greatly intimidated me) I had the opportunity to learn more about long exposures, and the technique of shooting with a wide open aperture in a different application than portraits. Are my astrophotography images perfect? Absolutely not! I’m not an astrophotography expert, and probably never will be. I have two kids, so staying up all night to photograph the stars is a special kind of sleep deprivation torture that I have no interest in repeating with any frequency.

Yet, there’s also a certain importance in taking something that you have no idea how to do and learning the steps necessary to make it happen. When all the pieces finally fall into place, and you have an image that sort of resembles the gorgeous astrophotography images that you see in magazines, it’s a pretty amazing feeling. Like creating something out of thin air.

photography-niche

Conclusion

The more types of photography you try, the more you’ll find yourself saying both “Yes!” and “Nope, I don’t need to do that ever again.” You may also find that there are several types of photography that you enjoy, which is fine. When I suggest finding your niche, I’m not suggesting that you choose one photography genre and one post-processing style and stick to those for the rest of your life and career.

Your niche in the photography world should grow, shrink, and evolve over time. Give yourself the freedom to identify the types of photography that you really enjoy, and forget the rest of it. You do not have to master it all.

What’s your photography niche? What types of photography do you love? Are there any types of photography that you hate? Chime in below!

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
tablet_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_tab-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78623” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );

googletag.cmd.push(function() {
mobile_slots.push( googletag.defineSlot( “/1005424/_dPSv4_mob-all-article-bottom_(300×250)”, [300, 250], “pb-ad-78158” ).addService( googletag.pubads() ) ); } );

The post How to Find Your Photography Niche: You Don’t Have To Master It All by Meredith Clark appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

Comments Off

Posted in Photography

Urban Niche: Townhouse & Courtyard Fill Thin Lot in Hanoi

21 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

niche urban house hanoi

In some situations there is simply no way to add windows to the side of a home – this design rises to the challenge, stretching and reshaping a small urban lot to fit a cozy and low-cost solution in the capital of Vietnam.

niche exterior entry details

niche finishes wood concrete

With a limited budget (around $ 15,000), the client (a musician with a family) sought a space that would feel cozy and private, yet open and close to nature … all difficult propositions to reconcile in a house touching walls with both its residential neighbors.

niche courtyard home design

niche house floor plans

The main structure, designed by Adrei-Studio Architecture, was set back from the street to create an open courtyard between a small entry volume and the primary residence.

niche home room details

Asymmetrical elements create a sense of movement as one circulates the site, while traditional Vietnamese detailing and warm materials make it feel like a home. Window seats, platform lofts, under-stair storage and other small touches are found throughout.

niche home exterior space

niche main living room

Those seemingly minor touches, in fact, are what make the project: little moves that together go a long way toward creating a sense of place, including various niches, nooks, crooks and crannies created to enliven the interior and connect back to the exterior as well.