Who Creates a Good Photograph – You or Your Camera?

“Wow, nice photo! You must have a really good camera.”
Pro photographers hear this lot.  But it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Nikki Loehr, the professional newborn photographer who spoke most recently at our Ultimate Money-Making Photography Workshop in San Antonio, said she often takes a few shots with her iPhone in addition to her expensive camera when she’s photographing a new family.
This gives her a quick image she can immediately upload to Facebook to promote her business.  But it also proves to the client that it’s the photographer, not the equipment, that creates the shot.
Bonnie Caton here, creator of the Breakfast Stock Photography Club.  This week, Lori asked me to take a look at a few of the photos you submitted for this month’s Photo Challenge theme “It Means the World to Me” from a saleability standpoint.  Here’s what I found…
No matter your equipment, you need to practice good photo composition if you want to improve your photo sales.
You can spend months in a classroom learning about the technical specifics of your camera…  tweaking studio lights…   getting to grips with photo editing in Lightroom or Photoshop… but if you never learn how to point your camera at the right space, it’s all a waste of your time.
Take a look at these photos submitted to this month’s Challenge and watch what a little photo editing can do for their composition when I apply the Rule of Thirds:

My goal here at AWAI is to help you create more saleable photographs.
And my goal with the Breakfast Stock Club is to help you create more saleable photographs you can sell to online stock photo agencies.
Both goals require a lesson (and lots of practice) on composition.
Oh, and one more thing … check out recordings of Nikki Loehr’s presentation on newborn photography are here.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]