Estimate Your Annual Operating Expenses

• You may work in a studio or on the road.wedding image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Fashion, weddings, portraits, portfolios, food, business brochures, and any other variety of studio photography necessitates that you maintain some sort of physical space that you can both meet people in and do studio photo-shoots in.
  
  Factor the annual expense of renting an office into your budget. The amount of rent you pay depends upon your geographical location.
  
  If you are a nature or travel photographer, estimate your annual mileage, auto-insurance, lodging, meals, fares and other travel expenses.
  
  

Buying a Business License

• Register your business locally for a small fee which varies by locationtown hall building image by Alexey Stiop from Fotolia.com
  
  You must establish your business as a legal entity in order to legally do business. You will need to check with your local county clerk for the rules that apply to your particular brand of photography business. If your business is a sole proprietorship, you will need to register your business in your local county office or town hall and file a "doing business as" (DBA) form for a small fee if you use another name than your own to do business with.
  
  

Purchasing Equipment

• Invest in quality, basic equipment for high-resolution imagesphotographe image by Jerome Dancette from Fotolia.com
  
  For professional results, you will need to use an 8 mega-pixel camera or higher, and preferably and a single lens release camera (SLR), a camera you can use with different, detachable lenses.
  
  A mid-range SLR with two to three lenses sells from $1,000 to $1,300 as of 2010.
  
  Consider renting other specialty photographic equipment that will only be used once instead of buying it.
  
  Make an inventory list of all of the equipment that you will need such as cameras, lenses, tripods, filters, electronic flash units, studio lights, stands, backgrounds and props. Use this list to calculate your projected, annual equipment expenses.
  
  

Additional Expenses

• Market your images on a variety of consumer goodslooking for a shirt image by Ramona smiers from Fotolia.com
  
  When marketing a line of products displaying your images on them -- such as photographic paper, CDs, cards, calendars, t-shirts and mugs -- locate the best wholesale retailer. Estimate your annual expenses for wholesale materials. Factor in the cost of having your images printed on wholesale products, unless you do your own printing.
  
  

Buying Business Insurance

• Include in the cost of business insurance into your budget. If you maintain a studio office where clients visit, you need to get some basic liability insurance in the event that someone gets injured at your place of business.
  
  If your home or renter's insurance does not cover your photographic equipment, add indemnity insurance to your start-up costs to protect your valuable tools.
  
  Being your own boss necessitates that you also get health and disability insurance in the event that you become ill or otherwise unable to work.