Photography is a wonderful hobby.  Advances in digital technology have allowed amateurs, willing to take the time to learn the craft, the opportunity to create beautiful images.  Today many amateurs are rivaling professional photographers in producing creative imagery. 

This means to make a living as a professional new media photographer, creating imagery for media and corporate clients on the web and digital display, takes more effort.

New opportunities are being created daily.  Within the last month I’ve received offers from companies large and small to create photojournalistic story telling slide shows for corporate blogs and web sites.  I’m also receiving calls for imagery that will be displayed on high definition screens.

A few days ago I created beautiful food images for a fine hotel in metro Detroit.  This hotel has completely ended print advertising. All of the imagery will be used in house and on the web.

As the world continues the digital transformation and high definition path the need for quality imagery will continue to grow.  Yes, stock photography will always play a large role, but when it comes to representing a company’s people, environment, product and services custom quality photography will become mandatory. 

High definition does not offer much room for error.  Bad or average imagery will offer poor results.  The fact is demand for quality imagery will continue to increase. 

Newsprint sucks.  For a long time newsprint was one of the major avenues for photography on a local level.  High quality imagery was important, but the latitude was much greater.   Today newsprint opportunities are disappearing at a rapid rate.  If a new media photographer is going to make a career of their photography then the focus must be on creative quality.

A new media photographer must offer imagery that the average photographer cannot produce.  The two areas of most concern should be lighting and post production.

Lighting is the foundation of photography.  This is not new.  The masters have always understood lighting is the key to great photography.  The new element for today’s photographer is post production. 

Every photographer has the opportunity to create lighting that defines their creative style.  Today the new media photographer has the opportunity to expand their photography into an even more unique style through creative post production.

As the need for creative quality photography increases the need for cutting edge ideas becomes even more important.   Average photography is readily available for generic use on web sites and digital advertising. But the successful new media photographer understands that companies need to stand out from the crowd and unique quality image is an excellent solution.

Rosh