How do photographers make their money?

We make our money on the mark-up of the photos. There are sitting fees, etc. But those are just to cover cost in case you don’t buy pictures. Most refund the sitting fee when you buy the pictures.

They get paid to just show up to the shoots, even if no pictures are taken. Then they get paid to take the actual photos and they sell their photos.

1. For commercial photography: fashion photography, advertising photography, wedding photography, etc.;
2. Take part in the game, get bonus;
3. Contribute.
4. Sell photos

There are different types of photographers. Some are staff photographers who get a salary from a publisher to cover any events they are assigned to. Others are freelancers who work on their own and when they have a marketable image try to sell it. Fine art photographs are usually sold as prints. Family and Portrait photographers often charge a sitting fee and produce proofs and the client decides which of the proofs they want prints made of for an additional fee. There are also architectural photographers who specialize in photographing buildings, product photographers who produce images for marketing and catalogs, technical and scientific photographers who photograph images for scientific study, illustration, or instruction, and no doubt a few types that slip my mind now.