Hobby Photographer, tax income?
If your photography is a hobby, enter your hobby income on Line 21 of Form 1040 as "hobby income." You will not be subject to self-employment tax on this income. A hobby is not self-employment, and no Schedule C or Schedule SE is used on your return. Your expenses are entered on Schedule A under itemized deductions subject to 2% of your AGI. List them as "Hobby Expenses." Your hobby expenses which you enter on Schedule A cannot exceed the hobby income you entered on Line 21. As long as you are required to file a tax return, you do as above. However, if otherwise you are not required to file a tax return, you do not have to file a return for hobby income, unlike in the case of a self-employed person who must file if their net income is $400 or more. Once you determine that you are in business to make a profit, you need to do as other answers have indicated and file a Schedule C and Schedule SE.
Camera for Stock Photography?
1. It doesn't -have- to be a DSLR, but these microstock sites are flooded with really good submissions so if you intend to make any serious (or half serious) money it's best to get the best equipment you can afford. 2. Each site has their own guidelines for file size. Some allow you to charge more for higher resolution versions. You should check the submission guidelines for the specific sites you are trying to submit to. 3. Megapixels have nothing to do with the quality of a photo. It simply measures the amount of resolution a photo has. The number represents the number of pixels an image is tall versus the number of pixels the image is wide. So 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels is 1,000,000 pixels square, or 1 megapixel. You can't recreate resolution afterwards, which is why it is important to shoot at the highest resolution your camera will allow when you are shooting. I would definitely recommend Photoshop as even images that come out 99% perfect in camera could benefit from a 1% fix-up. I'd also like to mention that microstock sites seem like an easy way to make some money, but most of them are not. They are filled with other really good photographers making pennies per image. Also, some sites, like istockphoto.com, have very strict submission guidelines and are not shy about turning away images that are not professional quality. Some sites, like snapvillage.com, accept more users, but you're fighting thousands of other photographers. The best way to get into stock photography is to do business photography. Good looking people in suits against a white background type of stuff. Go to any website that has banner advertising and you can see the type of stuff company's that buy stock photography like to purchase. You will get nowhere with pictures of flowers and pets. Trust me, I know from experience :) It's a tough game, which is why I would also recommend a lot of practice before you start firing off images to stock sites.
Question about cameras for a freelance photographer?
I've had two cameras and they've both been compact digital cameras, i'm looking to move up to a DSLR (a big camera i would call it) and I'm not sure which one i should get but i'm looking for these qualities 1. for a beginner-intermediate photographer (aka moderately easy to operate) 2. affordable (less than 1,000$) 3. overall good performance any answers would be appreciated, links, info, names anything, thanks! :-)
Film vs Digital for photography?
I like both for separate reasons. Film Photography: -It's so exciting to watch your prints develop from a blank sheet to an actual image! -There are so many different film cameras you could play with! Cheap plastic cameras, or super nice ones. It's fun to really experiment with different models of film cameras. I love Holgas & Pentax cameras. -Different paper types to print on, and different ways to develop your print make it more interesting and original! -There are some downsides to Film photography such as the cost of chemicals, time consuming to to develop and print, and getting your hands on a usable film camera. -If you get the chance to experiment with film photography, definitely take the chance! I learned so much about photography taking film courses. Digital Photography: -Technology is amazing these days. It's so easy and fast to upload, edit, and share your photos. -Digital cameras can be much more compact and easy to carry around. Unless you get a large model like a DSLR. -Less likely to have problems with your photos turning out. With film photography, your film could become exposed, or you could develop it wrong, or your negatives could become scratched. You don't have negatives to worry about with digital. Both Digital and Film photography are great. Digital is more conventional, while I feel that Film is more experimental. I love to do both!
Photography classes in college?
I am in High School right now and I am really interested in going into photography in college. My mom thinks I can just jump right into college photography classes without having any previous training or classes. I was trying to explain to her that it would me extremely hard for me to take college photography classes when I haven't even had any training in High School. Please help me try to explain this to her. I am signed up to take a photography class next year in high school but she wants me to go to college full time, which I don't think is a good idea. If I do go full time I won't be able to take this class in High School. Here is my flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33912093@N0... I am really open to any suggestions, just please don't be rude. Also, college advice on photography would be greatly appreciated. ♥
Is it compulsory to know photoshop if you want to become photographer?
My view differs from many on this thread: yes, of course you need to know how to use Photoshop.If you’re independently wealthy, you could (of course) hire out all retouching and Photoshop services. But for the majority of photographers, especially when starting out in the career, you need to be your own retoucher, your own accountant, and your own marketing expert. In short, in the beginning, you’ve got to do it all.As you grow your busInness, you’ll naturally hire out these functions so you can focus on what you do best—photography.In the days of film photography, professional photographers would ship their film off to be processed, scanned and printed. Effectively, they outsourced the post-production aspect of the business. These days, client expectations have shifted dramatically. Photographers are expected to wear many hats, and one of the prime one is the ability to provide retouching services. Of course, that doesn’t mean you personally have to do the Photoshopping. But should you know how to? Absolutely. On a practical level, you learn a ton of useful stuff (and thus become a better photographer) when you process your own images. If you keep having to fix ‘issues’ in Photoshop, you might decide to make necessary changes in your shooting in order to mitigate those issues. For beginning photographers, doing your own Photoshop gives you a necessary feedback loop that improves your shooting.All part of the process of mastering the craft of photography.