Photography Industry in the Time of Coronavirus

There is not a single person in this whole world who has not heard about the deadly Coronavirus, also known as the COVID-19. The fact that there is no medicine or vaccine yet makes it even more dangerous. It has a severe effect on all aspects of human life. In this article, we will have a look into the impact of Coronavirus on the camera industry and the photographers. It has both negative and positive impacts on the imaging industry.

The Negatives ☹️

Let us have a look at the adverse effects of the Coronavirus on the camera industry first.

1. Camera Manufacturing Plants Shutdown

Many of the famous brands like Sony, Canon, and Nikon have shut down many of their production plants because of this Coronavirus issue. Many of their other plants are not running in full capacity. 

There is also the lack of availability of the different spare parts for the assembly house to assemble the camera and lens. So, fewer cameras are hitting the market now.

Canon has shutdown 5 manufacturing plants due to the supply issue as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak. Earlier this year, Sony’s Hiroki Totoki (Director) has already stated that there will be an impact on the production of camera sensors due to Coronavirus.

2. Impact on New Camera 📷 Designs

Many of the countries are in lockdown state. People working in essential services are allowed to work in such countries due to life-threatening conditions. 

So, most of the employees in the design houses are left with the option to Work from Home, which will not be effective to an extent. Thus, the companies have delayed the new camera and lens designs.

New flagship models, Nikon D6 high-end DSLR camera and Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera has been delayed. All types of cameras have taken the hit.

3. Decrease in Photography Income 💵

As you all know, there are different types of photography. If you are a wedding photographer, then you can see that many scheduled weddings are getting postponed and no new wedding ceremonies are getting planned. 

There are travel bans imposed by most of the countries. Some of these bans are also applicable internal to the country. Thus, you are left only with the option to sit at home. So, if you are a Travel/Wildlife photographer, then you can’t go for any trips now.

4. Drop-in Camera Sales ⬇️

The year 2020 marked a phase of transition from DSLR cameras to Mirrorless. Most of the photographers were doing the switch because of the advance features in the mirrorless segment.

But due to this Coronavirus issue, all new purchase has been halted mainly due to lack of additional funds for camera gear procurement. Many major photography events and exhibitions are canceled due to this virus threat.

5. Photographers Getting Sick 🤒 Due to Coronavirus

Few of my photography friends around the world got infected with this deadly COVID-19 virus. 

Some of them have recovered but still continuing in isolation. Others are yet to recover, but their condition is improving. Most of them are Travel photographers. I hope everyone recovers soon.

The Positives 😇

The Coronavirus has some positive impact also in the photography industry. So, let us have a look at these aspects too. These are actually the things to do as a photographer during these times.

1. Learn More Post-Processing Techniques 🖥   

As a photographer, you have a good amount of free time now. It is a good opportunity for you to learn new photo editing techniques 😊.

As you know, there are new trends in photo editing styles and workflow, especially with the integration of the Artificial Intelligence feature in many of the new post-processing software from brands like Skylum and Topaz Labs. Even Adobe has come up with many new features in its new Lightroom and Photoshop versions in the past six months. 

So, it is a good time for you to catch up with the latest trends in post-processing and fine-tune your workflow effectively. You will save a good amount of time.

2. Improve your Online Portfolio 💻

When you are into the photography business, you may find it challenging to make changes to your online portfolio, especially when the planned change is a big one. Use this time to implement whatever change you want to do.

If you have the habit of publishing photography/camera related Blog posts, then you can start writing it now. You can use the schedule feature in your blog to auto-post these posts in the upcoming dates.

You can also add your latest images to the portfolio.

📖 👉🏻READ: How to Start a Photography Blog

3. Create Informative and Education Videos  

Your camera and lens will be lying idle at this time. So, use your camera equipment to create useful and informative photography videos, which you can shoot indoors at your home.

You can either use these videos to launch a photography course on your website. Otherwise, you can upload it to YouTube regularly to gain more followers and to build your photography brand.

You will also generate some income from YouTube once you have a good number of followers and viewers for your YouTube channel. Thus, you can create an alternate source of earning with the help of your photography/camera skills.

4. Improve your Photography Skills

You can use this time to learn new photography techniques online. If you have an indoor studio or place to shoot inside, then you can practice the same.

You can post such works online on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. It will be a great source of inspiration for other fellow photographers to sit at home and do something creatively.

5. Time to Do Some SEO for Your Photography Website

If you have a photography website/blog, then make use of this time to improve your photography website visibility using different SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques. 

You can even hire an expert online to do this work for you. Otherwise, you can learn the stuff online and do it all by yourself, which will take some time which you have now. I strongly recommend self-learning so that you can do the same at later stages too. 

These are some terrible times which we will have to overcome. So, try to stay positive and use this time effectively to build your skills. We will overcome this situation 😇.