That was a long title – but here are 5 things to make sure you do when starting your business as a photographer. A lot of this advice comes from the mistakes I made when I first started out – eek!

1. Nail your focus (besides having a technically correct photograph! – thanks Brandi for the comment). In portraits, your focus should always be on the eyes unless you are intentionally focusing on something else. If you’re having trouble telling where the focus is landing, consider getting a larger screen to edit. It has made a huge difference for me to upgrade from a 13″ screen to a 27″ screen. You’d be surprised to see how many photographs you can run into while perusing other photographers’ work where the focus fell on the nose or the shirt.

The focus on the photograph below (left) falls around the baby’s mouth. This photograph was NOT delivered to the client.

Nail your focus!

2. Have a system for your accounting. Even if you just made your first $100, have a system in place for your income and expenses. You don’t want to have to dig up old receipts or wonder how much that client gave you when it comes to tax time. Trust me, it sucks.

There are several different options of how you can organize your income and expenses. Here are just a few (if you know of more, please add some in the comments):

• Quickbooks. This is what I use for my photography business and love it.
• StudioCloud. Free studio management software.
• Tave. Another studio management software.
• The Easy Accounting Solution for Photographers
• Biz Books. (Thanks Amy for the tip!)

Not accounting properly sucks!

3. Your branding is important. Invest in your branding. If you’re going to set up shop, hire a designer to help you create your logo. I think this was my biggest mistake when I was just starting out. I created my own logo, not understanding the importance of branding and consistency, and changed it year after year. With so much talent out there, having a presence you can be proud of is one of the things that will set you apart. Here are some logo designers from a previous post.

4. Nail your exposure and composition before trying Photoshop actions. There are some great Photoshop actions out there (namely My 4 Hens, Paint the Moon, MCP Actions). I have a collection of Photoshop actions myself and use them in my workflow. I think sometimes however, we take a photograph that would not really stand on its own and try to apply a bunch of actions to it hoping it might make our photograph look better. Your photographs should be able to stand on its own first with good exposure and composition.

Original vs. Action-ified. Hey that's not bad!

5. Set goals. Go 4 Pro recently asked readers what their personal definition of success was. What’s yours? Where do you want to go with your photography business in 6 months, 1 year, or 5 years? My first two years in business I photographed almost 80 weddings before I burnt myself out. Now, I have a much better idea of how much work I’d like to have and what I have to do to achieve that. Do you want to work everyday? Every weekend? How much time do you want to set aside for your family? When you set goals, you focus on what you want to achieve and how to achieve it without compromising other facets of your life.

Do you have advice for photographers who are just starting out? We’d love to hear it in the comments!