What Distinguishes A Professional Photographer From An Amateur or Enthusiast Photographer; Just My Thoughts

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Recently a photography friend of mine and I were talking about photography, cameras, etc., you know all the things fellow photographers talk about.  At one point the conversation turned to the differences between a professional photographer and an amateur or enthusiast photographer.  After our conversation, I continued thinking about the subject.  Here are some of my thoughts about that subject, not necessarily a comprehensive discussion, but some obvious differences.

First of all, we can pretty much eliminate technology.  Technology is the great equalizer now in digital photography.  Many, many amateurs and enthusiasts use the same gear as professionals.  Many professionals use the same gear as amateurs and enthusiasts.  It used to be that there was quite a separation in the two types of systems but digital, electronics and features are spread broadly across the spectrum of available cameras from point-and-shoot digital cameras to medium format digital cameras.  Sensor quality and the camera manufacturers' image processing algorithms have reduced the differences in the image quality of different sized sensors to the point where professionals, amateurs and enthusiasts are using the same gear.  Technology, which is different from actual gear, now plays very little of a role in defining the difference between the two groups, in my opinion.

Once we eliminate technology, that leaves us with the skills, vision, ability, desire, availability and knowledge of the person behind the camera.  These, I believe, are the difference makers.

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First, I would think that one of the primary reasons professional photographers are better photographers than amateurs and enthusiasts is that they have to be better in order to 
earn a consistent income so they can do things like, say, eat!  If they weren't better than amateurs and enthusiasts, they would not be professional photographers for long.  Their level of desire is very, very high, probably higher than most of the rest of us—by necessity.  This point results in "not so good" professionals self-eliminating from the craft as they are not able to continue and survive, let alone provide for a family, if they have one.

Second, I think one of the primary differences between professional photographers and amateurs and enthusiast photographers is that professional photographers have to be able to "get the shot or shots" every time.  If they don't their clients won't hire them, their reputation will suffer and, again, they don't eat!  Getting the shot, whether a wedding photographer, a portrait photographer, a commercial photographer, a food photographer, a travel photographer or whatever genre you can name, is absolutely necessary.  They can't get it sometimes, they have to get it every time.  Amateurs and enthusiasts don't really have to worry about missing a shot.  In most cases it doesn't matter as much as amateurs and enthusiasts don't depend upon their photography for a livlihood.

That being said, many amateurs and enthusiasts are just as good and even better than many professional photographers.  They just chose to follow another path or have some reasons they don't pursue the craft full time.  Being a professional photographer is a risk and many people are not risk takers, they prefer a steady income and pursue photography as an enthusiast instead.  Some may simply not be in a position where the opportunity arose for them.  But don't classify all amateurs and enthusiasts as not being as good as professionals because that is just not so.

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The rest of these reasons why I believe professional photographers are generally better than amateurs and enthusiasts are because the individuals are professional photographers and there are benefits by nature of the occupation.

a)  some professional photographers get to travel, usually expenses paid, just about everywhere in the world, if need be.  Exotic places, largely inaccessible to most of us, are de rigueur for these professionals.  They get to travel all over the world, make photographs that most of us will never get an opportunity to make.  That makes a huge difference when looking at one's work. Psychologically, looking at photographs from exotic, little known or unusual places causes us to believe they are in and of themselves, better photographs.  We have nothing with which to compare them.

b)  a professional photographer, by nature or his or her occupation, has the time to travel around the world, work on their craft and engage in the photographic process much more often than amateurs and enthusiasts.  The more time you spend, the better you are. That just the way it is.

c)  professional photographers, again by nature of their occupation, practice photography (by doing it) just about daily so their skill levels increase at a faster and a higher level and remain at higher levels than most amateurs and enthusiasts.  They shoot much more, probably 10x more, and they are better photographers for it.

d)  because professional photographers proportionately shoot much more than amateurs and enthusiasts, their "hit rate" usually is much higher.  If an amateur or enthusiast produces 10 really outstanding images a year based upon shooting 15,000 frames, a professional may produce 100 outstanding images based upon 150,000 frames shot per year.  In other words, the odds are in the favor of a professional photographer producing and showing many more great images per year.  The percentage may be just the same (probably greater) but the volume of excellent images may be more, thus the conclusion reached is that they are better photographers since you see more great images.  Of course, you never see the other thousands of ordinary photos they shot, nor should they show you.  Their income is based upon their reputation and they only show their absolute best.

e)  Let's take a professional landscape photographer, for example.  He or she may be able to travel to the same beautiful spot over and over again, again probably paid, until they catch that optimum light in just the right weather conditions.  You, on the other hand, may only have an opportunity to go once and its a crap shoot as to the weather conditions and light you find.  You don't have the luxury of going back to the same special place over and over again.  Of course, their images will be better than yours.  The ability to repeatedly return to the same spot with unique subject matter is a factor most of will never have.  Again, the nature of the game.

f)  typically, the professional photographer, again, by nature of the requirements of the profession, may have more gear and more unique gear than will amateurs and enthusiasts.  Above, I mentioned technology, but this is about individual pieces of gear.  If needed by a birding or professional wildlife photographer, he or she will acquire a 600mm f/4 lens at a cost of about $12,000 US.  An architectural photographer will buy a number of tilt/shift lenses at about $2000 US apiece.  A sports photographer may need to own a couple of Nikon D5s, Canon D1X MKIIs or Sony A9s in order to capture what he or she needs to capture.  The costs run upward of $12,000 US just for camera bodies.  Almost no amateurs and enthusiasts cannot afford such exotic gear and make do with lessor focal lengths or cameras which don't have those extremely high end features.  When you see that image a professional sports photographer captures of a peak moment 1/4 mile away, most of us will never have the ability to replicate those kinds of images.  Professional photographers capture them and we are in awe of their work.  With amateurs and enthusiasts, we seldom get the opportunity to be in awe of their sports, wildlife or other work since very few can ever produce that kind of work.  Doesn't mean the amateur and enthusiast isn't as good a photographer, they just don't have access to such specialized tools to make those really unusual images.

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As I said in the beginning, this is not a complete list, only my thoughts and opinions about differences in professional photographers versus amateurs and enthusiasts.  Also, as I stated above, for the most part many amateurs and enthusiasts can be better than many professionals.  I'm sure that many amateurs and enthusiasts are as good as it gets but have never been "discovered" so we never are aware of their work.  Kind of like a singer you might hear and ask yourself, "He or she is better than a lot of popular singers I've heard.  Why isn't he or she famous or have a recording contract?"  In many cases, it is just being in the right place at the right time and being heard by the right person.  In our discussion maybe its having your work in the right publication at the right time and seen by the right person.  Chance.

In the end, what are the differences?  In my view, when looking at their work, the differences can be little or the difference can be great.  One group gets paid and the other does not.  One group needs to be successful and the other wants to be successful.

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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