Interested in knowing the average salary of a photographer? Well the answer to such a questions is always a little more complex and therefore requires a little thought before a solid number is able to be given. First of all, it should be noted that there is a wide discrepancy between the earnings of photographers. Some make very little money, others spend more money than they make, while still others make decent livings, some of whom even make upwards of $100,000 a year. However, according to statistics the average photographer makes between $14,000 and $54,748 with the median falling somewhere in between those two numbers.

If you want to be a photographer who makes more money than average you’ll need to be very strategic with how you approach your career. Below are some tips to ensure that you earn as much as possible during your tenure as a photographer.

1) Get as much photography education is possible. This industry is very “status” oriented. The more education you get the better chance you have of finding someone will want to employ your services. Photographers with more photography and artistic education will earn more than those without.

2) Another equally important, if not more important element to a successful and profitable photography career is to shoot as many great shots as possible of high profile events or people. Being able to name drop, or event drop in this industry will ensure you can charge the best rates in the industry. Try your hardest to get a couple high profile people, places or things under your belt. To the average person or business your credibility will automatically shoot up. Imagine you’re looking to get some family portraits done and you have the option of choosing two different photographers. One of the photographers has photographed a couple of celebrities while the other hasn’t. You will probably be more likely to want the higher profile photographer. Buying photography is very emotional just like all other buying. While the photographer who photographs celebrities isn’t necessarily better than the other photographer, but the public will see it that way. Plus, when they tell their friends who their photographer is they will enjoy saying “they are the same photographer that photographed ____________ (insert high profile name or event here)”.

3) Get as much experience as possible and build a breathtaking portfolio. In this industry you can greatly improve your earning potential by having a strong eye for detail. Look at other photographers portfolios and incorporate all of the most eye catching elements into your own portfolio. Always present yourself in a professional manner and make sure you get to show people your work and talk about your accomplishments.

4) A photography career requires a wide degree of creativity. You’ll need to be able to change with the times and quickly change to meet someone else’s photographic expectations. Working as a photographer means you’ll be working in a very competitive environment. This is because many creative and entrepreneurial people feel passionate about this industry. You’ll need to ensure you separate yourself from the pact with your own unique style and good sense of creativity. Buy various style magazines and photography journals. Watch creative movies and learn as much about fashion as possible. The better your understanding of style the more employable you’ll be.

The above will hold true whether you are like half of the photographers out there today and self employed or if you are employed by a company or other institution. Being able to tell a story visually can be a very exciting thing. Now you just have to find a way to be able to do it and get paid for it!

A lot of photography is all about what’s in focus and what isn’t. While a casual photographer may get upset that not everything in the picture is in focus, an artist and professional will use that fact to their advantage.

In photography it is important to understand that the distance between the subject and the lens is critical. A lens doesn’t care what the subject is or how it’s composed; all it cares about is how far away it is. When the lens is focused to that distance then anything at that distance will be focused. That doesn’t mean to say, however, that nothing else will be focused.

To examine that idea closer we’ll have to understand the different fields of view. Most scenes can be easily broken up into a foreground, middle ground and background. The foreground is comprised of the subjects closer to the camera with the background being those things that are farthest away. If the photographer were to focus on something in the middle ground, it is possible that things in the background and foreground will still be clear.

The measure of how much distance is actually in focus is called depth of field. The wide depth of field occurs when the focus covers a large distance while a narrow depth of field is when the focus is at a very specific distance.

When taking a picture of a flower for example a photographer may choose to create a narrow depth of field. This will result in the flower showing up crisp and sharp but everything behind it is a blur.
When taking a shot of a landscape a wider depth of field is often preferred. This will result in a photo where the trees in the rocks in the foreground, for instance, are in focus as well as the trees in the background and everything in between.

The depth of field can be controlled by adjusting the camera’s aperture settings, or “F-stop.” The higher the F-stop is, the smaller the aperture gets. The smaller the aperture is, the more depth of field the photo gets.

This can be a tricky thing but is worth paying attention to even when a camera is set on automatic. If a camera’s automated system decides to use a small F-stop but you were hoping to have a lot of things in focus then it’s time to override the camera’s settings. All of a sudden that manual feature looks appealing.

The depth of field often haunts people who are just learning how to use their camera’s manual settings. In a brightly lit setting it can be tempting to use an ultra quick shutter speed. The problems is that that results in having to use a low F-stop. Now there is a very shallow depth of field being created. It is possible in these cases to wind up with a picture with such a shallow depth of field that someone’s nose is in focus but the rest of their face is not.

Get used to being aware of the possible depths of field and your pictures will soon benefit.

Maximizing Sharpness

Five quick tips to help maximize the sharpness of your photographs.

Use a Slow Film / Low ISO Speed

Whenever possible, use slow film or the lowest ISO setting on your digital camera -- anything from ISO 25 to ISO 100. A rule of thumb is: the lower the ISO number, the sharper the film or resulting digital image. [Keep?] Check my Film Reviews for specific recommendations. Keep your subject in mind when selecting a film speed or ISO setting, however. You won't benefit from the film's sharpness if your shutter speeds are too slow to stop the subject's movement!
If You're Shooting with a Slow Telephoto Lens...

Use a medium or high speed film when photographing with a slow (f4.5 to f5.6) telephoto lens, especially if you will be handholding the camera. There are several excellent 400 to 1000 speed films to choose from. Print film is sharper than slides in the ISO 400+ market. For digital photographers, use the highest ISO setting your camera allows without resulting in excessive noise. For example, we generally do not shoot with our Canon D60 at ISO speeds beyond ISO 400 due to camera's noise levels. Also, remember that if you are handholding a 300mm lens at the maximum zoom, you will need a shutter speed of 1/500 or greater -- that's just not possible in most situations with a 100 or slower film.

Use Manual Focus

Manual focus becomes critical when your zoom lens is at a maximum setting at a wide open aperture such as f2.8 to f5.6). The depth-of-field will be so shallow that it's critical to fine tune the focusing yourself to ensure the important elements in your photograph (such as an animal's eyes) are tack sharp.

Use a Tripod

Camera support is synonomous to sharp, highly-detailed photographs. A firm, heavy tripod is best but may not always be practical. Any form of camera support is better than nothing, whether you're using a picnic table to steady your arms, a camera clamp or mini-tripod. Some camera grips include a built-in mini-tripod, an invaluable tool.

Know Your Optics

Use the "sweet spots" of your camera lens whenever possible; these are mid-range apertures (f8 to f11) and zoom settings (say 150mm on a 80-300mm lens) that make the most of your lens optics, resulting in sharper photographs.

Alfred Eisenstaedt

Born on 6 December 1898, in Dirschau West Prussia, this truly revolutionary photographer stood out amongst his peers. An absolute genius when it came to capturing candid moments, he relied on natural light and effective positioning to achieve his distinctive style.

Diminutive in size, about 5ft 4 inches, Alfred Eisenstaedt became a giant in the realm of photo journalism and received many awards and recognition, for his in his twilight years, from. Having received his first camera and Eastman Kodak No. 3 at the age of 14, from an uncle, it would not be for another 4 years before his interest in photography would bloom. The family moved to Germany. Drafted into the WWI German force, fighting on the front lines in Flanders, he became the sole survivor of his artillery battery on the 9th of April 1918. He took shrapnel to both legs, which would take a full year to heal.

During this time Alfred Eisenstaedt once again became interested in photography, studied light and composition by visiting various museums. Not knowing at that time that photojournalism would soon be a major career opportunity. Alfred Eisenstaedt became a belt-and-bottom salesman and used his savings to purchase some photographic equipment and would develop his pictures in his bathroom. On vacation in Czechoslovakia in 1927, he photographed a tennis player and sold his picture to Der Welt Spiegel for about 20 dollars. A friend had suggested that he enlarge his photo, and lacking in technical expertise a friend introduced him to an enlarger – that was when the great passion for photography really began and he saw the potential to capture images that were pleasing to him.
Alfred Eisenstaedt had the opportunity to work with famed European photographers such as Dr Erich Salomon and Martin Munkasci.Salomon, he believed was the true father of candid photography. In the early 1930s, he found himself freelancing for Pacific and Atlantics Photos, that later became Associated Press.Eisenstaedt changed to the Innovative Leica 35mm camera, which he used to photograph celebrities, famous artists and statement and the great social events of the time. His method was an unobtrusive technique his subjects being oblivious to him being there.One of his assignments was to capture Hilter and Mussolini at their famed meeting in Italy– putting him in the forefront as a candid photographer.

Alfred Eisenstaedt immigrated to America, two years after Hitler became Germany’s Fuhrer. On a visit to New York, in 1949 he fell in love with South African Kathy Kaye and married her. He soon caught the eye of Henry Luce, the founder of Time Magazine and was recruited together with Thomas McAvoy, Peter Stackpole and Margaret Bourke-White to work on a secret project which turned into the launch of Life Magazine in 1936. His photo of Westpoint soon made the cover along with many more depicting the economic recovery after the Great Depression. Eisenstaedt traversed the length and breadth of America photographing the life of the ordinary and not so ordinary America. Fortunately, he was not sent to cover WW2 as he was not an American citizen so would have been at risk. Instead, he landed several plumb opportunities to photograph the famous celebrities of the time.

His famous picture include the V-Day kiss featured on the cover Life magazine, the famous photo of Sophia Loren in a negligee that caused some an outcry from the magazines readers for being too risqué. Alfred Eisenstaedt traveled to post war Europe and Japan and had the distinct privilege of accompanying Emperor Hirohito to survey the destruction of the atom bomb and then once again to Korea with the American troops. Alfred Eisenstaedt had the privilege of doing a portrait shot of Winston Churchill.

During his photographic career he produced more than 100 covers for LIFE magazine and in total more than 10 000 prints, sticking to relatively outdated equipment in his later career.