Photography business: how to open a photo studio. How much do photographers earn? What you need to open a photo studio: equipment and necessary documents to start

Business relevance, niche characteristics

Before opening your own photo studio, it’s a good idea to analyze the offers available on the market. For example, the list of the independent information site Studiorent includes 287 organizations offering filming locations in Moscow, and 159 in St. Petersburg. This cannot be said to be a lot for capitals of this size. In regional cities, the number of photo studios is an order of magnitude smaller.

The services of photo studios are in demand in advertising and show business; family photo sessions are also in trend today. Instead of old-fashioned albums, they began to design beautiful modern photo books, trying to find an unusual, original setting for photography. And people are willing to pay money for this.

Product photography for special magazines, brochures for stores, menus for restaurants and cafes also ensures a stable flow of orders. Competition in this market is still relatively small and there are many opportunities to stand out through an original offer.

Professional photo studio formats + Video

Any studio is a place for creativity, so they differ from each other in appearance, specialization, and some proprietary features. But if we talk about opening your own photo studio in a business sense, you need to take into account that several types of this business have developed.

According to the range of services provided

1. Purchase (long-term rental), renovation and design of photo studio premises in order to make a profit from renting it out on an hourly basis to professional specialists and private clients for filming.
2. Comprehensive organization of services, when at the same time you provide your own photographer, including one who works on location (weddings, christenings), as well as photo processing, printing, delivery.

In the second case, photo studio sites are also rented, and in general, a more complex and profitable business is obtained due to income differentiation. More personnel are required for maintenance, accounting becomes more complicated, extensive connections are needed among stylists and makeup artists, who most often work on a temporary basis and gather as a team to complete a specific project.

Based on the direction and scale of activity, photo studios are divided into simple and interior. Simple photo studios contain all the necessary equipment that is needed to carry out subject, multi-purpose, artistic portrait photography:

• special lighting devices (flashes, stands, attachments);
• paper or fabric forms to create backgrounds, textured walls;
• cycloramas - structures with a smooth transition from vertical to horizontal;
• additional accessories: smoke generators, reflectors, fans.

Interior photo studios offer several rooms with artistic decoration, or locations for staged photography, and are very popular. In one large room with an area of ​​150–200 m2, several different art zones can be designed, and in general their number ranges from 3 to 6, for example, in former converted factory workshops. Be sure to have a dressing room and a place to change clothes before the photo shoot.

A very interesting video about the wedding photography industry in China:

What is a photo studio called?

Photo studios are premises equipped with special lighting equipment for photo sessions.

The concept of photography is translated as painting with light, and studio is translated as a workshop or atelier. Based on this, a photo studio is a workshop for painting with light.

In the studio space, photographers can create without the influence of external factors, embodying their ideas, taking staged and live photographs.

As a rule, a studio is a room, hall or pavilion with or without windows, where favorable conditions are created for the placement of objects or people being photographed and full control of light. It is unthinkable without lighting equipment, photo backgrounds, and special props.

If you have the skills, the studio space allows you to achieve the desired result 100 percent and get photographs of excellent quality, which is not always possible to do in the field.

Photo studios vary in their capabilities. The simplest ones only allow you to take photographs from the “document” series. In others, you can not only conduct photo sessions of people, but also do professional photography of jewelry and even cars.

List of services for clients and photographers

It is clear that the list of services that a photo studio can offer depends on the chosen format. An entrepreneur, as a rule, first concentrates his efforts on recouping the investment and begins by renting out premises for filming:

• product catalogues, advertising brochures, posters, postcards;
• family photo sessions: children's, expectant mothers, Love Story;
• portfolio, photos for social networks.

Along the way, and depending on the availability of a full-time photographer (whose role is often played by the owner himself), other areas of the photo studio’s services are developing:

• conducting master classes (an equipped room will be required);
• artistic processing of photographs, design of photo books;
• provision of services of a professional makeup artist, stylist;
• filming on location (presentations, holidays, weddings);
• Rent out a living zoo for photos (rabbits, ducklings);
• decor for events, celebrations with reportage photography.

It is advisable that the photo studio be equipped with a lounge area and a cafeteria, where the film crew can relax during breaks between work, and visitors can comfortably spend their waiting time. Some photo studios additionally offer a supervised nursery or shower where you can wash off makeup after body art.

How does a photo studio make money?

The studio realizes filming opportunities that cannot be obtained by working outdoors. Some photographers recreate the scenery for each specific shoot, and this is why their idea is appreciated.

• Renting hall 1 with a cyclorama costs 160/180 thousand per hour (weekdays/weekends)
• hall 2, small, – 150 thousand per hour, regardless of the day of the week
• hall 3 – 180/200 thousand per hour (weekdays/weekends).

Natural conditions often do not allow efficient work. And here you can be in comfort - there is a dressing room, there is no wind, rain, or heat. The possibilities of the photo studio are very wide - they even brought a big boat with a sail here.

Our entire income comes from renting out locations. But the services may be different. We write that we are open to any ideas and people come with different requests.

• Master classes, workshops. To do this, the studio must have chairs and a projector.
• Birthdays. We once celebrated a children's birthday, it was a crazy day. The parents decided to take their children to an unusual environment and at the same time get very beautiful photographs. It turned out much cheaper for them than in a cafe. The kids really enjoyed it here! They rushed from one end of the studio to the other. There are not many rooms that are spacious and beautiful.
• Filming TV shows. They came to us from television. It seems like a large and presentable Belarusian channel, but there is still a lack of a beautiful background.

We have a principle - the more interesting the project, the cheaper the rent will be for you. If we really like the idea, we will let you come for free. Recently we had a team from Fashion Collection magazine. They have a Fashion School project, where they teach you how to create fashion photos from scratch. 21 teams, each with a photographer, makeup artist, stylist, hairdresser, producer, model... It was very interesting and fun. We collaborated with them free of charge.

Photo courtesy of studio “MATRЁSHKA”

Step-by-step instructions for opening a photo studio

We create our own brand: name, image, promotion

The question of what to name your photo studio is by no means an idle one. The name should be sonorous, beautiful, carry a positive charge or intrigue - depending on the concept being promoted. If you look at the ads, you can easily notice that 90% of the names include words in English, many of them carrying semantic meaning. For example, “Wonderland” is a wonderland, or, for example, “Go Home Loft Art Space”.

When coming up with a name, you need to consider that it should:

• easy to pronounce and remember: “word of mouth” is one of the main sources of obtaining information about you;
• clearly define the scope of your activity; compare “QWEEX.CAMPUS” and “LEON STUDIO”, “Bananastudio” - the difference is obvious;
• take into account the tastes of your main audience: “Photo Studio Home”, “Studio CRAFT”.

What needs to be done to ensure that as many people as possible know about the photo studio? Take part in mass events (even free ones), with the help of advertising on transport, in professional circles, and, of course, actively promote yourself on the Internet. According to many practitioners, this is one of the most effective advertising channels for the photography services industry. The more beautiful pictures you have on your website, the more clients you will have.

We draw up a business plan

Business planning allows you to present the entire future project in a visual form. The plan includes a list of necessary actions, a theoretical financial statement of future income and investments and is usually drawn up for a 2-year period. No one starts building a house without drawings and estimates; even a cake cannot be baked without a good recipe.

A business plan does not have to be “abstruse”; complex terms and formulas are not the main thing in it. It must be justified and give a clear idea of ​​the development of the project for the near future, taking into account possible risks. You can compile it yourself, but you shouldn’t waste money on ordering a document from professional economists. Below, as an example, is an indicative business plan for opening a photo studio, to which you can always make individual amendments.

Registering a business

Official registration of the opening of a photo studio is not a problem. It is most convenient to register in quality; the cost of state duty and printing (not required, but desirable) will amount to no more than 3 thousand rubles. Activity codes are selected from the OK 029-2014 directory (NACE REV. 2), and it is better to provide them with a reserve (this does not oblige the entrepreneur to anything). At a minimum, you must indicate:

1. code 74.20 - commercial activities in the field of photography;
2. code 68.20.2 - management of own or leased property.

From a financial point of view, it is more profitable to choose a patent type of taxation or UTII, if physical indicators (room area) allow this. Under the simplified tax system, income tax (6%) would be more practical, since expenses in this business are difficult to confirm with documents (and not always advisable).

There is no need to obtain special permits from Rospotrebnadzor and the Fire Department for a photo studio. Employees of the first department will appear as a scheduled audit. However, you should contact the territorial department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with an application to conduct an inspection and obtain a conclusion on fire safety.

If you are renting a premises, check with the owner for this document and have a copy of it. If you carry out re-equipment and repairs yourself, you need to order a technical design from a specialized design organization. Make sure that it is agreed with all supervisory authorities and do not allow actual deviations from the approved document.

We select the location and premises

Location is an important factor for visitors to a photo studio. However, it is very difficult to find a room with a height of at least 3 meters (preferably 7–8 m) with an acceptable rent in the central part of the city. High ceilings significantly expand the possibilities for maneuvering and lighting settings. Halls with natural, especially panoramic, lighting are in high demand among photographers. In combination with pulsed flashes this gives interesting results.

On the other hand, the time for a photo shoot is always planned in advance, and many clients are not bothered by the distance from the center. Convenient access, equipped parking, and location on a good highway are important. Quite often, photo studios are equipped in former industrial buildings with large halls, staircases, where it is possible to shoot from high points.

We decorate halls and locations

From the point of view of demand, today it is more profitable to open your own photo studio with interior zones and seasonal installations. If they are unique and change frequently, the owner is guaranteed a queue of clients for months in advance. Design requires a lot of money, but there is a lot of room for imagination.

The decor does not have to be expensive; furniture and other interesting items are often purchased at markets and antique stores.

Locations are updated at least 3 times a year with the involvement of a decorator: in spring, autumn, winter. Large photo studios offer new decorations for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter. This is quite an expensive pleasure, but it allows you to attract the attention of photographers and visitors through advertising.

Interior areas are created with the target audience of future visitors in mind. Thus, loft and fashion styles are popular among young people, but many girls also like to be photographed in a classic palace setting. Married couples aged 35–50 prefer a softer Provence and country style. New Year's decorations and animals are always in demand when photographing children.

We purchase equipment for a photo studio

A set of professional equipment is a key element in the cost estimate for those who are going to open a photo studio from scratch and attract photographers to it. There is a wide range of prices on the market; recently even ready-made kits for portrait photography, work with catalogs and rental kits made in China, Italy, and Sweden have appeared.

The table below shows the minimum list of equipment that is necessary for most specialists. This is enough to provide working conditions in a small room of 80 m2 with changing decorations. As practice shows, for a photo studio with a total area of ​​200 m2 with 3 interior rooms, investments in equipment will amount to about 900,000 rubles.

Table 1. Minimum costs for professional equipment

Not only filming, but also training... New opportunities for additional profit

Some photo salons organize training courses - this is a very profitable business, since it requires virtually no material costs, but provides income. Your photographers can teach both beginners who are just beginning to learn the art of photography, and more experienced people who need to hone their skills. Classes can be held both in the office and outdoors.

The main thing here is to create a really good, high-quality and interesting training program, good reviews of which can spread throughout the city.

How much does it cost to open a photography studio?

Investments in opening a medium-sized photo studio fall within the range of 1,000,000–2,000,000 rubles. Of course, the business plan for each individual concept and city is significantly different, but the general list of expenses remains constant. On average, in practice, the payback period for a photo studio with an area of ​​60–80 m2 is 10–12 months; for a larger scale project (about 200 m2) it increases to 24–30 months. Let's give a financial calculation for a small photo studio, which shows what its income and expenses consist of (Moscow).

Table 2. Approximate level of investment

Entrepreneurs on PSN and UTII until July 2020 received a deferment in terms of the mandatory use of online cash registers. Those who work for the simplified tax system and OSNO are entitled to benefits provided that strict reporting forms are issued to the client. When planning your business for the future, you need to remember these expenses (about 50 thousand rubles).

Reaching the break-even point

The income of the photo studio comes from the provision of the following services:

• rental of premises - average cost 1,400 rubles/hour;
• own studio photography - RUB 3,000/hour

The average number of hours rented and the number of their projects increases as the photo studio promotes and advertises. Visually, the movement of a business is most clearly reflected in the form of a Gantt calendar chart, which contains a monthly list of activities and the planned cost/income ratio.

Table 3.

When drawing up your business plan, you should not take into account the average figures characterizing the cost of services. If you look at the information on Moscow studios, an hour of renting a film set is offered at prices ranging from 500 to 3,000 rubles. You need to look at things realistically, based on what you can offer the client.

In each specific case, the answer to the question of how much it costs to open a photo studio will depend on the introductory circumstances: purchase/rent of premises, involvement of professionals in the decor/own resources, and so on. In this case, the risks characteristic of this type of business must be taken into account. First of all, it is seasonal. In summer, the flow of customers decreases, which is compensated by the long New Year holidays.

Conclusions. If you have a well-thought-out development strategy and an active marketing policy, opening a photo studio is a promising business. It is important to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with decorators, professional photographers, and stylists in order to be able to save on certain types of costs. For example, do not buy new decorations all the time, but rent them, work with well-known specialists with a good reputation. This is not the most expensive type of business in terms of investment, but it requires activity and a lot of patience.