Video for Profit

     One of the fastest growing segments open to the photographic professional is the creation of original video products from digital or film photos.  While there are numerous programs available to the average person for creating his own photo-disc, it hasn’t attracted the users that one would imagine.  There are probably a good many reasons for this including, a steep learning curve, spare time to do it, and lack of high speed computer processors to handle the rendering.  Whatever the reason, it presents the professional photographer with a great revenue generating opportunity.

     Wedding photographers were at the forefront of this market and have made great use of the sophisticated video editing tools that are available enabling them to create some really fine crafted and professional looking videos.  The companies that write video editing software were not blind to the fact that weddings and family celebrations are by far the most popular subjects for the Videographer.  A great many of your popular video editing software vendors now offer various plugins such as New Blu FX, Boris Graffiti, and of course Adobe After Effects.  The great thing about the new age video editing programs is that they offer techniques for seamlessly blending both still images and moving video into a smooth coherent presentation that looks almost like it was created in Hollywood.  By using pan and movement function you can create the illusion of movement in a still photo, a technique made popular by director Ken Burns in his original PBS production called “The Civil War” some years ago.  As a matter of fact this type of effect is still sometimes referred to as the “Ken Burns Effect”.
     Another growing field is the scanning or photo-transferring of original film images into a digital format where they can be

enhanced or repaired before they are made into a video presentation.  As I discussed in a previous post the ability to restore and repair vintage photographs is a lucrative and essential part of any professional photographers business plan, but this is a skill that takes time to master and should not be offered until you have mastered the art.  Most customers really only wish to have a DVD or Blu-ray disc made for personal viewing and possibly sending a copy to a distant relative or friend, so it doesn’t hurt to offer packages suitable for mailing to your customers thereby saving them the
task of looking for a video mailer.

     The final market where photographers-videographers  can generate income with their video productions is Youtube.  I am sure we are all familiar with the phrase “they put the video of their cat coughing up a hairball on Youtube and made a fortune.”  Well that may be but before you start filming your puppy devouring one of your socks you should be aware that making money by uploading a video to Youtube is not as easy as it sounds.  In the early days of Youtube it was realatively easy to become a “Youtube Partner” and monetize (allowing Youtube to run commercial ads on your video upload) your video channel, as a matter of fact if you utilized Blogspot you automatically qualified.  Needless to say this has changed, now only about 3 in 1000 applicants are accepted to be a Youtube Partner and the process is neither short or simple.  That being said if you do get accepted and have a talent for making videos there is the potential for making very good money from producing videos that the vast internet public will willing view.  A great example would be the EvanTubeHd channel which is hosted by seven year old Evan who reviews toys for other children and makes 1.3 million dollars a year doing it.  So maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to video your Yorkie performing personal hygiene on his rear end, you might make a million from it!