If you’re inclined towards a career in photography but you don’t know which niche to pursue, you’ve come to the right place!
Choosing the right niche is very important as it will determine the course of your career. For instance, if you choose to pursue fashion photography when you’re actually interested in taking shots of animals, you will lose interest in photography faster than you think!
Here’s how you can determine the photography niche that is right for you!
1. What do you enjoy clicking most?
After you decide to pursue a career in photography, ask yourself the following question before anything else – What do I enjoy clicking?
As a budding photographer, you might have tried clicking a variety of things ranging from portraits and models to animals and products. Read about the different types of niches at your disposal.
You will be surprised to find a few types of photography genres that you’ve never heard of before. Shortlist a few niches that interest you. Click a few good pictures from the 2-3 niches you’ve shortlisted. This might seem like a time-consuming process. But it’s better than spending your life doing something you’re not interested in!
2. What are you actually good at?
You might love to click animals and birds, but your talents may actually lie in fashion photography. Unfortunately, what you love doing isn’t always what you’re good at. When this happens, you’re at a crossroads.
You have to choose between something you’re good at but don’t enjoy doing versus something you love doing, but aren’t really great at! If you choose the latter, you will have to spend some time honing your skills. Talk to any successful photographer and he/she will tell you that it’s best to let go of what’s not right for you.
3. Does it suit your personality type and lifestyle?
The niche you choose will either be perfectly suited to your personality type and lifestyle or it will require you to step outside your comfort zone.
If it’s the former, it’s a win-win situation for you. If not, you need to be willing to make the necessary personality and lifestyle changes.
For instance, fashion photography will require you to work several late nights and miss your social commitments more than once. Ask yourself if you’re willing to happily accept this change in lifestyle before you choose your niche.
4. What’s the competition like?
Some niches are populated with several photographers. While some others have very few practicing professional photographers.
Music and technology photography are examples of the less crowded niches.
Map out your competition before you select a photography niche. Today, most photographers in India are opting for wedding photography as it allows them a chance to travel and is considered more fun and glamorous than the other niches. But not many know that the wedding photography industry is packed to the brim. In addition to competing with beginners like yourself in this industry, you will also have to go up against established names like Sandeep Patil, Sharik Verma, and Navdeep Soni.
5. Can you make a living at it?
Just like some medical fields pay better than the others, some photography niches pay better than their counterparts.
While it is important to pursue the niche of your liking, you cannot overlook factors like how well a particular niche pays. For instance, wedding and fashion photography pay better than product and wildlife photography.
Make sure to do your research about the specific pay scale of your desired niche so you know what to expect.
It’s perfectly natural to try different types of photography before you decide a niche for yourself.
There are several types of photography like landscape photography, food photography, and sports photography. Once you’ve found your calling, hone your skills so that you build a successful career in photography!
Found this interesting? Then check out the 10 photography niches we bet you didn’t know about!
