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The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals

Filed Under Photography Business 

It seems as if everyone with a camera is setting up shop and marketing themselves as a true professional. But can everyone with a camera be a professional? Can you command professional prices just because you love taking photographs?

The answer is a definite no.

Lots of people love photographing nature, but there’s only one Ansel Adams.

Lots of people taking portraits, but there’s only one Annie Leibovitz.

So what is the difference between an amateur and a professional? How do you know when you’ve reached professional status?

1.You think like a professional. Amateurs want a photography business to give them a reason to buy more camera equipment. Amateurs want a photography business to keep them busy when they want to be busy – not on a full time basis. A professional loves capturing images, and sharing them with as many people as possible. They love to beWedding Photography Business Using Digital Cameras busy doing what they love – and making a good living at it as well.

2. You think of yourself as an entrepreneur. Yes, there’s more to a photography business than photographing. There’s production. And marketing. And paper work. And emails. And promotion. And sales. An entrepreneur loves growing a business, with photography as your passion, product and service – not the other way around.

3. You make it a goal to improve. You take your camera everywhere. You’re the one at the party behind the lens of the camera. You also attend your local photography meetings; buy videos and training materials to improve both your photography and business skills; and hire coaches to make you better at building your photography studio.

4. You spend time studying other photographers work, and try and improve your own photography by following examples. An amateur loves what they do, and thinks there is no room for improvement. But a professional knows the education will never stop. There’s always room for improvement. 

5. You create your own style. Everyone starts out imitating a mentor photographer. I remember taking posing guides from some of our favorite photographers (David Ziser, Clay Blackmore, Heidi Mauracher) and imitating poses and images produced by greats like Denis Reggie. But once we moved into professional status, we created our own style. The posing comes naturally. The fun is always there. It’s always effortless, and it shows in the images.

6. You know your stuff. There’s no more thinking about each image. You automatically know when you’ve captured the perfect image. It’s all about having fun with the client, pulling together a professional image for the client to see, and knowing everything will fall into place perfectly.

7. You’d do this even without the money. Photography is something that is inside of you, no matter what. You love doing it, and find any excuse to photograph. But you also know that as a true professional, you can command a high fee. It comes with being a professional. 

Helping your photography business, how to start a digital wedding photography business and wedding photography business visit virtualphotographystudio.com and keep up-to-date with all of the photography happenings via our free newsletter.



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Comments

8 Responses to “The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals”

  1. photographyVoter.com on June 5th, 2008 9:37 pm

    Photography - The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals…

    It seems as if everyone with a camera is setting up shop and marketing themselves as a true professional. But can everyone with a camera be a professional? Can you command professional prices just because you love taking photographs?…

  2. photonovice.net » Blog Archive » 3 Links I Voted On Today on June 7th, 2008 11:25 am

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  3. A Blast From The Past : Virtual Photography Studio on December 15th, 2008 7:41 am

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  4. photoshopv on June 9th, 2009 11:14 am

    There is always something that you can do to improve or learn. Before you call yourself a professional have someone seriously critique your knowledge, your work, your final products on a daily or consecutive project basis. Even “professional” photographers don’t call themselves professionals because they know well enough that they can still improve and learn in their field. They say so themselves (I know, I’ve been around a few) Sure, they get paid…but have they become “masters”, or “outright experts” have they learned everything there is to learn? Yes, there are those who know quite a bit…but is it their ego or their knowledge that makes them a “professional”? Even Ansel Adams had room to improve in photography.
    You can have the biggest camera, or the most lenses or have a high paid job using strobe flashes…but do you just get the job done? Do you care? Do you fall asleep when people are learning from you? As yourself, have you learned everything you can or is there room to grow or room for improvement?

  5. Virtual Photography on June 10th, 2009 2:25 pm

    Thanks for the great comment. I definitely follow in your train of thought, and consider myself always in learning mode. No matter what class I find myself in, or what book I read, or what person I’m listening to, I always find something that can help me or my business become better.

    With digital still such a new artform, and so many ways to process a photo after you’ve taken it, I know I’ll be learning forever.

    Thanks!
    Lori

  6. john on June 18th, 2009 7:08 am

    the difference between a professional and an amateur is that a professional makes a living from photography and an amateur does not. you have described the difference between a good pro and and a bad pro. the fact is, an amateur can tick all the boxes you just mentioned and not make a living from photography ( i would say i do). On the other hand there are plenty of pros out there who tick none of those boxes and still make a good living from photography.

  7. Fernando Bergamaschi on June 18th, 2009 11:31 am

    The main difference between amateur and pros are commitment, responsibility, reliability.
    It is not the camera that makes the job but the photographer.

  8. Neue Links / Neustart-Magazin on June 18th, 2009 4:18 pm

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