Family portrait photography is one of the most enjoyable and yet lucrative ways to make money with your digital camera. Before you enter a new career in this field you must ensure that you have all your bases covered from the beginning or else you risk destroying a reputation that you have barely started carving.

Camera

A cheap camera will not do. You must remember that these photographs may be kept for several generations and will be lovingly looked upon by many people.

I suggest purchasing a camera that costs at least $200. I have found that cameras around this price are significantly better than those just a few dollars cheaper. A digital SLR is desirable but by no means essential.

Equipment

Lighting is critical when it comes to family portrait photography. In general, you want to achieve a soft lighting effect. You will need to invest in a number of items including flash equipment, umbrellas and reflectors. This will probably amount to somewhere in the region of $1,000. So long as you inspect it first, second hand equipment should also suffice.

Technique

Before you start taking paying customers you should develop your technique for free for family members and friends.

Few people have a great technique from the start. It normally takes a handful of shoots before you feel comfortable directing your subjects.

It is also important to bring out your personal style and make the shoot an enjoyable occasion for the family. This is especially important when dealing with children and a good tip is to use some kind of teddy bear or similar toy that you can use to easily distract them or gain their attention.

All this assumes that you have a basic understanding of how to use a camera to take portraits. If you have no idea how to configure your camera and take shots for this purpose then you should invest in a good book in this field.

Getting New Clients

Ideally you should aim to fill your entire appointment schedule with clients. At the beginning, your clients will be locally based. A good place to advertise is in local print media. It is also worth considering a leaflet campaign. Even better is to advertise on local keyword searches with at least one of the big search engines: Google, Bing and Yahoo.

After a short while you can commit to less advertising. This is because much of your work will come via word of mouth referrals. Don't forget to keep a handy supply of business cards to give out for this very purpose.