Professional Photography. What steps neccessary?

[wj_737_200]

Howdy everyone. I've been thinking about it for a while and I want to take my photography "to the next step". I'm not looking to go into professional photography full-time but just looking to make a little extra moolah to pay for my flying lessons. I was thinking of selling some of my photos (in frames and not all aviation) at garage sales etc. But are there any "licenses" so to speak that I need in order to become a semi-professional photographer??

My mothers friends daughter is going through the RCMP to become a crime scene photographer, and I was thinking of doing that to gain experience. Hell, the way I look at it is that if you can take pictures of dead bodies you can take pictures of any ugly people at gatherings =P

Thanks=)

[wj_737_200]

Thanks, Yea that helps , do you know if you have to be a certain age?
BTW I couldn't help but notice the passage in your signature, was it inspired by Jules in Pulp Fiction? =)

[UFOSPACE99]

License......member of a guild.......? Huh? Thank god for the U.S. At least here you do not need a 'license' or be a part of any organization to sell photos. Just get out there shoot and sell (though you wil need a model release if you are photographing people). I sold my first pic at 13, waaaaay back in the 70s and kept on selling through High School and College, no license neccesary. I am still selling pics all without being a part of anything like the Professional Photographers Guild. Most pros I know that are making their income from photography and are a part of such groups are members by choice not by decree.

Aldo

[uy707]

in France working decently requires a Press card
The press-card is delivered under the conditions most or all your revenues are fueled by selling pictures. Your problem is reaching those levels, but without the Press card, you usually can't...This is a story of some animals biting their tails
Alain

[JeffinDEN]

...the PPG is an international society that you need to be a member of to sell and make profit from your photographs...

It is applicable to the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia...

WTF? Where in the world did that line of BS come from? There is no such requirement, they are nothing more then "professional clubs".

-Jeff

[FlyingPhotog]

Seriously if you want to be a full-time pro, take classes and make that your focus of study in college to get a degree in photojournalism. It's the best way to get in the door.

[FlyingPhotog]

Or just get a kick ass portfolio...

There is so much more to this hobby than getting the qualif's... true they help but useless without the skill...

But major outlets like Associated Press will pay little or no attention to you without a degree and a nice resumee.

[wj_737_200]

I'm not looking for a full blown carrer (damn I can't spell tonight) in photography (I of course wanna fly) but it's just too make a bit of money on the side to pay for flying lessons. I've looked a bit at a two, eight session photography courses offered by UCFV since it's pretty cheap, $182. Thanks for your help everybody =)

[Airbus_A320]

I'm not looking for a full blown carrer (damn I can't spell tonight) in photography (I of course wanna fly) but it's just too make a bit of money on the side to pay for flying lessons. I've looked a bit at a two, eight session photography courses offered by UCFV since it's pretty cheap, $182. Thanks for your help everybody =)

Don't think that just by taking a class you will become an expert photographer. Just go out take pics and have fun with photography. IMO thats the best way to learn. When I started out with photography back when I was like 12 I didn't know shite and thought my little 2mp camera with 3x zoom was the best thing in the world :rolleyes: but now I know alot more. I've learned everything I know about photography on my own and I have not taken any classes, I just go out and try things and learn from what I do right/wrong and what makes a picture look the way I want and reading online. Haven't taken any classes. Just go out and practice taking pictures.

About 2.5 years ago I thought that this was a great photo:

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=20114

But now I think of it as terrible... backlit, and not even cropped to be centered, I didn't even know how to edit back then all I did was resize to 800x600 and upload :rolleyes:

Today, this is one of my favorite photos:

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/748082/L/

This was shot at f/9, cropped a bit then resized and hit with a few shots of USM in photoshop. I wouldn't have known what that stuff meant 2 years ago.

Look at the improvement over 2 years or so.... practice and learning.

[wj_737_200]

I don't expect to become a pro after a couple of classes either, I just mainly want to improve my shots. I have pictures from 3 years ago taken with a kodak advantix with 2x zoon and I compare them too my current shots taken with my minolta maxxum4 (28-80 and 70-300mm lenses, planning on getting a 2x converter) and I can't believe how much i've improved....still can't get the slower shutter speeds and panning down =( but practice makes perfect. Hopefully, when I figure out how to get my scanner to not cut off most of the photo while scanning, i'm going to try to upload some pictures (hell, I still have 10 developed rolls from one airshow and 5 from another that haven't been submitted=(

[Airbus_A320]

Be careful with the converters, make sure they are actually compatible with the lens you have. Also a 1.4x would proally be better on a zoom lens, a 2x might degrade the quality too much.