Hidden Costs of Photography

Starting off in Photography is more expensive than you think.

A successful photography business involves more than just a purchase of a camera. Depending on your goal and what you want to photograph, there could be many additional costs. Keep these items in mind when making the leap into photography.

Lenses

Believe it or not, but camera lenses will typically cost you more in the long run than a camera body! These are probably the most expensive items you will encounter in photography. Lenses can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand. Optical quality will vary, but typically lower cost lens will not produce clean, sharp images. Most new photographers will quickly out grow their kit lens and opt for more quality glass. Depending on what you want to shoot, you may need to purchase more than one. For example, most Wedding Photographers shoot with two bodies and two lenses. One camera will have a wide angle while the other will have a telephoto. Zoom lenses can reduce the need for multiple primes, but it is still advisable to have a mix of primes and zoom for different situations. Do some research into what it is you want to photograph to see what lenses the pros use.

Memory Cards

Every professional camera requires a memory card, but none of them actually come with one! Memory cards range in speed and storage capacity. Most photographers have multiple cards on hand. This is for added redundancy. Also, most professional camera bodies have two card slots. They can either be two SD slots or an SD slot and CFexpress/XQD. In this case, the photographer would need to purchase two cards to get the benefit of redundancy. Memory cards can range in price from $10-15 to several hundred. Speed, Storage Capacity and card style (SD, CFexpress, etc.) all impact cost.

Lighting

Natural light is free. Everything else is going to cost you. Flashes, strobes and other specialty lighting is sometimes required when shooting in certain situations. Artificial lighting is very important in wedding photography where some venues are dimly light or have poor lighting. One or more lighting sources are required to enhance lighting in order to produce more quality images. Flashes can range in cost from under $100 to several hundred. Strobes can range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand. Light output, recycle time, TTL metering, and portability features are just some of the few things that impact cost.

Batteries and Battery Grips

Can’t shoot if you don’t have power! Most camera bodies will come with at least one battery. However, it is advisable to have more than one for a long day of shooting. DSLRs are known for their lengthy battery life due to their mirror design. Mirrorless cameras however, require a great deal of power to operate. They can chew through batteries fairly quickly due to their power hungry Electronic View Finder. Some professional photographers opt for a battery grip. This allows them to use two batteries instead of one. This feature doubles the time required before swapping out batteries. Battery grips also allows the photographer to have independent camera controls when in portrait mode. Batteries and battery grips range in cost, depending on the manufacture and camera model.

Tripods and Monopods

Need to have complete stability for that Astro shot? Then you need a tripod! Tripods allow for complete stability when shooting. They also are great when handling a heavy camera setup. Monopods are similar in their design, but instead of three legs, they only have one. They are more for Sports/Action/Wildlife, where moving locations quickly is important. Tripods and monopods range in cost from sub $100 to a few thousand. Head type, load capacity and material used are just a few factors that impact cost.

Editing Software

So, you’ve taking some photos, but maybe the lighting is a bit off, or you want to adjust a color or two. Time to throw your images into Lightroom for editing. Editing software is used to manipulate different variables of an image. For example, you could adjust the overall exposure of an image, or saturate certain colors. Editing software allows you to create the image you want. You can create certain profiles in-camera that handles this type of editing for you. This method is not as robust as a dedicated software platform. Adobe Lightroom is the gold standard in editing software and is usually purchased on a subscription basis. Look to spend around $10/month on subscription fees.

Desktop Computer or Laptop

This guide is assuming you don’t already have a desktop computer or laptop. Photo editing does require some processing power. While you can use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop on a smart phone, it is advisable to edit large batches of images on a dedicated computer. Computers for photo editing can widely range in price. I would say between $500-$1000 on the lower end is enough to get started.

External and/or Internal Hard drives

If you have ever owned a MacBook, you will be familiar with external drives. Photos take up a lot of space over time. In some cases, you will notice your laptop or desktop begin to run low on storage space pretty quickly. It is advisable to purchase an external drive to store your images. Also, it is important to think about redundancy. One external drive is nice, but if it fails, all your images are gone. Consider buying multiple drives, and backing up photos to both. External drives range in price based on storage capacity and storage type (mechanical vs SSD). Costs range from $50 to several hundred.

These are just some of the main examples of additional costs associated with photography. This list is not meant to discourage, but rather inform. Don’t think you need to shell out thousands on all this gear at once. Most photographers will accumulate gear over time as needed. There are also many ways to save money on camera equipment such as buying used, financing or renting. Get what works for you and then grow over time. Photography is more about the creative art than buying the latest gear.