PLAN No. 951. AMATEUR FINISHING
Amateur finishing offers a good field for profit, and many establishments in large cities, and even in smaller communities, provide amateur finishing in sufficient amount to keep a photographer busy long into the night in the busy season. The busy season may, in fact, be practically all the year around, as almost everyone now has a hand camera or kodak, and depends nearly altogether on the amateur finisher to develop and print films.
PLAN No. 952. MAKING HOME PORTRAITS
The home portrait worker photographs his patrons in their own home surroundings. He need have no studio. Hence his expenses are light and his profits relatively large. Home portraiture is one of the most delightful branches of photography, and the highest prices are obtained for work in this line. Equipment will cost about $200; there is no overhead; and the worker may work either during the day, or at night by the aid of artificial lighting installations, such as flashlight or electric light.
PLAN No. 953. MOTION PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Motion picture photography is becoming more and more popular, and appeals strongly to the man who has a liking for the stage and for things emotional. Good operators make perhaps the highest salaries paid photographers. Here again one can specialize as a camera man, a laboratory man, or a printer. The laboratory work is chiefly that of developing the negative and positive films.
PLAN No. 954. PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
The portrait photographer must maintain more of an establishment than is required for some other lines of work, and may perhaps have to invest more money, since his place of business should be in some degree an art gallery. His is a busy and interesting life, and the maker of portraiture by photography should be a real artist, comparable with the artist who works with brushes and pigments. The artist-photographer’s work is just enough varied, in artistic lighting of the subject, development of the negative, retouching, mounting and finishing of the photograph, to stimulate interest. Every portrait is just a little bit different, and presents new problems for the photographer. Many studios employ 5 to 50 workers, and the incomes of some of our best studio owners amount up into five figures. Some workers specialize in portrait operating, printing and finishing, and developing and laboratory work—all highly paid branches.
PLAN No. 955. PHOTO ENGRAVING AND THREE-COLOR WORK
Photo-engraving in halftone, line, and three-color work seems bound to take its place along with its great ally, the art of printing. All sorts of texts are being more profusely illustrated, and the demand for good photo-engravers keeps pace with the demand for good printers. The following subjects may be listed as indicating specialty branches in this field, each of which provides subject matter for a systematic course of training.