Do you want to level up your skills? Let me share with you today some of the things that I am doing as a professional freelance photographer.

Photography is a huge market and I can say that it’s already saturated in the Philippines. We are in a digital era and everyone has a camera using their smartphone.

If you want to take the challenge and wanted to become a successful professional freelance photographer you should have time to invest in yourself.

It doesn’t matter if you’re the breadwinner of your family or if you’re a man/woman. We need to agree that each and every one of us is carrying a lot of things on our shoulders. We are all accustomed to free and giveaways but once we start investing in ourselves, everything will change.

How To Become A Professional Freelance Photographer?

Every time someone asks me about this popular question on how to become a freelance photographer, I always told them to keep shooting. I started holding a camera in 2007 and I’m still shooting until today and keep on practicing. I can say that more than 12 years in the industry is too short compare to other professional photographers. But I want to let you know that success is defined in many different ways. And I hope you know what I mean.

In order for me to level up my photography skills, I always make sure to have a personal project like a fun shoot once in a while. And below image is one of the results from my recent fun shoot with photography group friends from Facebook.

Our muse Jackie is wearing an off-shoulder gown and I decided to take a tight shot because I know that her looks are more suited for close-up high fashion photography. Low and behold, I am totally blown up by the results.

Gear: Sony ILCE-7RMII and FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS. Camera Settings: Aperture f4.5, Shuter Speed 1/160 sec, ISO 500

Great Ways To Invest in Yourself as a Professional Freelance Photographer
After

The shot was lit using Godox AD200 Pro in bare flash mixing the ambient light. You can see the shadow under her hand and left face. It’s too strong but I manage to nail the shot. Likewise, the shadow in her nose becomes soft after the final edit compares to the before photo below.

Great Ways To Invest in Yourself as a Professional Freelance Photographer
Before

I hope that you get the idea behind the final shot. One of the things you need to know in investing in yourself aside on keep on shooting is to continue studying. Because you can’t do it alone. If you’re not ready to invest in one-on-one photoshop tutorials, you can learn them online.

My favorite content creator on Youtube is Unmesh Dinda from PiXimperfect. Go ahead and go there now to know what technique I used to get my final results and become the next professional freelance photographer in the Philippines.

Jason Miraples - Behind The Scene
Opps! Here’s our group photo after the shoot for your reference.

Until next time and thank you for visiting my blog!