Photography becomes a business with practicality, liking what you shoot, educating yourself...

Rationality, practicality, and investing in the right things; liking what you shoot, educating yourself, and understanding marketing – these are the important things to turn photography into a business. At the event, with which Dynaphos opened 2025 in its F2Studio, a lady and three men, for whom photography has been a profession for years, gathered around these topics.

Before Stefan Dimitrov, the host from the Sofia Photographic School, Milena Gigova, Vasil Nikolov, and Lyubomir Borisov shared their experience – from working with their clients to pricing and copyright for photoshoots, highlighting some of the conclusions they have reached.

Expectations should equal results

The customer is always right, but it's good for them to know that what you sow, so shall you reap – joked Milena Gigova, a baby, family, and portrait photographer:

"Clients come to me who trust me after seeing my work. What the photographer offers and what the client expects should be aligned."

Her colleague Lyubomir Borisov, who specializes in product photography, emphasized the importance of test shots for his work. He always takes them when he has a new client or for new products:

"You come with clothes, with products – before I start shooting the whole thing, we do a positioning – for me and the client, to find the middle ground."

And wedding photographer Vasil Nikolov stressed that practice has taught him to remove photos that he knows the bride will not like:

"It is very important, when you look at the photos you are going to give, to feel if they will be liked. And I try to tell future newlyweds and my other clients that their photos will be a memory they will look at with their grandchildren."

The offer should describe everything

Since pricing is not just invented to take the client's money, but rather it calculates expenses, which include a bunch of things, the photographers agreed that it is good for clients to receive an offer with detailed descriptions, as each order is individual.

Lyubomir Borisov pointed out that the price of his sessions depends on the size of the shot, the number of photos, and the deadline, and is consistent with the complexity of fulfilling the order. Milena Gigova, on the other hand, shared that she has reached a level where she can choose her clients herself, and this happened precisely through pricing. For her, newborn, family, and portrait sessions are in different price ranges because the investment in them is also different.

"Newborn sessions involve a lot of strain on the back and knees. Retouching – also. These sessions are my most expensive. For pricing, time and expertise are important to me."

Vasil Nikolov also offers packages, similar to Milena. In the case of weddings, however, he is adamant that it is impossible to say in advance exactly how many shots he will provide to the newlyweds, because this largely depends on the wedding itself.

"You are a successful wedding photographer when you see that people are satisfied, when you see how happy they are when you deliver the photos. Location, weather conditions, and the desire of the newlyweds to be photographed – that's the most important thing," Vasil pointed out.

Find your niche and shoot things you love

Milena Gigova's principle is "what excites me":

"One can be relatively good at many things, but one can be exceptionally good at one, and must find what brings them passion," she says. And advises those starting out in photography to experiment.

For Lyubomir Borisov, many photographers can shoot products, but the question is whether they find it interesting:

"I love product photography because it challenges me. That keeps me going and developing."

Vasil Nikolov added the attitude towards work:

"If you don't enjoy it, things won't work out. Attitude is very important. I capture emotions. You have to evoke positive emotions in people. My newlyweds are not my clients – I say – these are my newlyweds, my bride."

The three photographers and the host of the "Photography as a Business" discussion also commented on investments in equipment, artificial intelligence in the context of photographic work, and learning the rules of marketing.

You can watch what they think about them and more on the topic in the video on our YouTube channel. We will soon tell you about the equipment we used to stream the event. The photos in the Gallery for this article are by photographer Dilyana Gergova.