subject: Ways To Start Your Own Digital Photographic Business! (part One) [print this page] Your own digital, photography based, home business could start here. . .
* T SHIRTS. A great business can be made with these, novelty T shirts with your own unique photo are steady sellers at markets, car boots or even online at Ebay! Topical, Political, Satirical, Humorous, Sporty, you decide what to photograph. And, you only need to print up as many as you can sell at a time, no huge stocks.
* POSTCARDS. If you plan it well you can compete in this market, you don't need to be a professional photographer, with short runs of unusually put together views, artistic portrayals or humour. Of course you don't have to head for Trafalgar Square, small towns and villages need postcards. Don't forget Ebay, lots of people from all over the world came from small towns and villages.
* MAGNETS. An obvious market here are fridge magnets for local business advertising. Other less obvious ones are To Do Lists, Shopping Lists, Calendars, Useful Phone Numbers, all can be produced from or with your photograph. Not just householders here, what about surgeries, shops, businesses?
*GREETINGS CARDS. Moonpig is not hogging the market here! A lot of people have no idea how to take a good photograph and would welcome an enterprising photographer who presents the finished article, a great photo of their house, car, pet (are just a few ideas) with a selection of Birthday, Christmas, Easter cards etc. Great home business!
* BUSINESS CARDS. Again an obvious market. A lot of tradesmen would pay someone to do the whole job for them, with a decent photo! How about Business Cards combined with Fridge Magnets and Customer Contact Cards, (appointments, offers etc)? A good photograph, or with a bit of manipulation with easy to use software, there is a market here.
* PUZZLES. People love puzzles, jigsaw puzzles for example. How about personalised puzzles? Great promotional items for the right business. What are puzzles but photographs or paintings cut up? There are many inexpensive, easy to use, software programmes that will produce a work of art from a photograph. Puzzle blanks are available, great gifts, personalised, delivered and for less than the local print shop.
* BUMPER STICKERS. How about a photo of your dog and or cat with a witty slogan like 'Dogs think and Cats know!' People love animals, funny, striking images, with or without words make great bumper stickers. Photographs can be turned into cartoons, how about 'If you can read this, clean the back window!'
Have fun, again don't forget personalising, some people would love to give bumper stickers away. Everything you photograph, manipulate and write is copyright to you.
* SILK. Photos can be transferred onto silk, or directly printed on to, for personalised cushions, pillow cases, quilts, bags. The list is endless. Promotional items, gifts for people. Copy someone's intricate cross stitching for them and print it as samples, or sell as copies. Think silk! A few years ago, putting a photograph onto silk and making a business of it in your own home was unheard of, now its easy.
* CAKES. Cakes you say, whats the use of photographing cakes? Edible transfers are available, when they first came out people had to spend thousands on special machines, not now. Now you can produce them at home. Follow the instructions carefully though, you don't want to poison anyone on their special occasion! Try to get out of the habit of thinking of the photograph as the end product, it is'nt the end, its just the beginning of another product, a business. . .
* OIL PAINTINGS. As previously mentioned there are numerous reasonably priced software programmes to convert any photographic portrait into an 'oil painting' of any style,or indeed a pen drawing, pop art any style that suits, printed onto canvas. Markets? How about Portraits of loved ones for Christmas or Birthday? Pet Portraits. Horses. Greyhounds. Houses. Cars. Motorbikes. Gardens. Its quite a list. Wasn't long ago when people in the Far East were kept busy painting portraits from photographs as gifts. Now you can do it at home, with a small ad in the local vet for example.
There are a lot of craft ideas here, with a sprinkling of high street businesses scaled down, thrown in. But rest assured this is just the tip of the photographic opportunities available today.
This is just to get your creative juices going and your brain storming with ideas! The internet has opened up a never ending need for images, of anything and everything. Stock photography has changed, gone are the highly professional, large format shots of models and beaches, that had to be technically perfect, well they are not gone, but they are not the only opportunities for aspiring photographers who want to make a living with their hobby, their passion. Images that you wouldn't believe started life as a photograph end up everywhere these days and the ability to transform these images is available to everyone, and in the comfort of their own home.
Don't forget a lot of well known high street businesses started life on a kitchen table, why not yours?
