Photography is a great hobby to pick up as a platform for self-expression. There are many categories of photography, ranging from portraits, pets, nature, street life, and more. A popular category is landscape photography.
It is an interesting challenge to the photographer because you have to capture the grandeur of the land into an image without doing the scene injustice. When you capture a landscape in a picture, you want your audience to feel what you felt when you looked out over the land.
You want to bring the world to your audience. It is easy to develop a passion for landscape photography. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could make money from it too? The good news is that you can!
Here are some suggestions that you can consider.
What Do You Need To Get Started In Landscape Photography?
In order to get started in landscape photography, you obviously need a camera. You can use the camera feature of your phone. However, a phone camera hardly has any features. If you want more versatility, you will need to get some proper equipment.
Here are the basics that you can start with:
A digital camera
To be precise, a digital camera with a high-quality lens with a good focal range. You want a lens that can handle good wide-angle shots and be able to zoom in if you feel like it.
A set of filters
You will be outdoors all the time and subject to all kinds of light levels. You will need the proper filters to reduce the glare, cut down on the light coming into the lens, enhance colors, and more. The filter enhances how the image looks by providing a particular effect.
A tripod
Sometimes, you might want to capture a scene when the sun is at a particular point of its movement. You can set up the tripod and position your camera, framing your picture exactly as you want it.
Then, just wait for the perfect moment to take the shot. If you didn’t have a tripod, you would have to manually hold up your camera and wait, which can be tiring.
A waterproof camera bag
You are going to travel far and wide with your camera. You will be subject to foul weather at times. Protecting your camera with a sturdy, waterproof bag will prevent it from getting damaged while you are carrying it around.
As you get more serious about photography and have more money, you can upgrade your equipment or add more gear. But for now, the basic set of camera gear will serve very well in taking some really nice landscape pictures.
You should have some basic skills in photographing landscapes. If not, perhaps a couple of courses in landscape photography can give you the foundation you need. As with any skill, practice makes perfect. Take more advanced classes as you get more into it.
You should also learn techniques in photo editing. The final product is what really counts, and knowing how to edit your photos effectively will make a big difference in the final results that you display to the public.
What Is The Easiest Way To Make Money In Landscape Photography?
There are many ways in which you can make money from landscape photography. One way is by selling your images.
There are several ways to approach this:
You can sell prints of your images by letting a print-on-demand service host your images
Your digital photograph will only be printed when a customer wants your image on a particular product. These prints can be decor for the wall like posters, a canvas like a painting, and other types of wall art. The print can be on objects like a mug, t-shirt, notebook cover, and many more.
There are websites that can host your images for a subscription fee. When a customer chooses your picture to print, you get a part of the sale. So, it’s basically a partnership you have with the stock image host.
You supply the photos, and they supply the finished product, package it and send it to the buyer. You will not have to worry about the logistics.
You can sell prints from your own website
Your website becomes your digital storefront. This gives you all control over how you want to sell and price your photographs, how you want them displayed, and how you will ship them.
However, the challenge here is how people would find your website. Unless you are a famous photographer, no one would know about your photographs.
So, there is some legwork that you must do in website development. You will have to know what SEO is and how to apply SEO strategies to your website in order to drive people to your site when they do a relevant search for landscape photographs on the web.
SEO can take a while to work in your favor if your website is brand new. It will take some time for your site to climb to the top, even if you apply really good SEO strategies.
One advantage of hosting your images on a print-on-demand service is that customers can find your prints, whereas, with your own website, you might not get the exposure when you first start out.
You can sell your landscape photographs as stock images
There are websites that are repositories of stock images where you can store yours as well. A stock image is something that a customer can buy and use for their own purposes like a publication, their own website, etc.
When someone buys your image, you get a portion of the predetermined fee. The stock image business gets the other part of the fee. An important note about this is that whoever buys the right to use your image might not be required to attribute the credit to you.
So, your name would not get any exposure this way. In addition, these stock image companies are often picky about certain aspects of the images before they accept them. If you do not comply with their requirements, they will not host your images.
Photographers have known to make money from selling stock images even though they don’t get credit for their photos all the time. Also, you retain your rights to the images unless you choose to sell your rights to one or more buyers.
You can sell your landscape photographs to travel magazines
The attraction of traveling is that the traveler gets to enjoy the spectacular scenery on the trip. To get a glimpse of what they can expect to see, they need to look at good landscape photographs in travel magazines that represent the area well.
If you can take gorgeous photographs of different places that will impress a potential tourist to visit, the travel magazine might buy them from you. If your photographs get published, the magazine will credit you for them.
So, this is a great way to gain exposure. The field is very competitive, however. And publishers are also choosy about the submission process. Therefore, be clear about the submission rules.
You can enter photo contests
These might not be very common, but once in a while, they come up. The winner often gets the prize money. So, if a photo competition comes your way, submit an entry. If you win, you will gain name recognition and cash prizes.
You can sell your images to local businesses or display your photographs for sale
Some businesses like to display art from local artists to show the support of the local community. Sometimes restaurants or cafes will hang artwork from local artists to showcase them for sale.
If you partner with one of these businesses and they agree to showcase your landscape photographs, you can place a price tag on each one and see what happens.
You can teach landscape photography
You can create a course online and sell it. If you have gathered enough experience over the years and feel like you have a lot of good tips for a budding photographer, create a course.
How Much Money Can You Make From Landscape Photography?
You will get the most money if you are able to sell your photo as a piece of artwork. The price you set depends on the demand. If your name gains more recognition in the world of photographers, you can command a higher price for your work.
Selling stock images can make some money, but the fee gained from each image sold is very low. You would have to sell a lot of stock images to see any meaningful income.
Can You Make Landscape Photography A Career?
If you have the commitment, you can turn landscape photography into a career. Do a self-evaluation of your photography techniques. Are there advanced skills that you can learn to improve your photographs?
You should also consider joining a professional trade association of photographers to extend your network and form connections. It is a good way to get your name out there among established professionals.
If you turn professional, you should get better photo equipment. You might need features that your basic gear cannot provide. Professional-level cameras and accessories are expensive but look at this as an investment in your career. You should not cut corners when you need the best results.
You should choose a direction in which you want to go in terms of what to do with the photos you take. A serious photographer needs his own website to showcase his work. Therefore, spend some time developing your professional website.
Getting your photographs published by magazines is a good way to build name recognition. Selling stock images can only take you so far in your photography career. You want to raise it to the next level.
Final Words
Landscape photography can be a very fulfilling hobby. You can find yourself traveling around the world for that perfect shot. It is possible to make money from landscape photography, but it is very competitive.
Selling an image as artwork will make the most money, but you can also get a decent income selling stock images. If a magazine decides to use one of your images in an article, you will get nice exposure from the photo credits.
You won’t become rich overnight by doing this, but it is one way to make money doing something you love to do. Regardless of how much income you can make from landscape photography, you will be sure to have fun along the way.
For more info, read our complete guide to making money from photography here.