Okay then I'll change the wording. Who do you think of the assemblyline portrait shooters, whose photographers do not know anything about photography, make the most money. Like that better?...
Before you go off on me for that, let me say that from experience I know that's their approach. I was told of all things that I know too much, even after only a year in the business, to work for them. All they want the photographer to do is to say smile and push a button. It is the ideal place for digital photography. They don't have to wait a week to correct the setup errors.
Yes I used their business model and even their lighting setup with film... Yes they make a lot of money in their studios...Yes when you look at a picture on granny's wall it screams assembly line photography. Yes I consider them inferior to what I see here or what I sent out of my humble studio.
Nobody completes with them. If that is the most a person can afford then it is what they buy. There is no competion for their customers. The people photographers compete for is the people who can afford more. However there is a another layer I worked in for years.
The preacher whose church is paying for the shot and doesn't want the same shot that granny has of her grandson. Still he doesn't want to go out into the woods with my son in law. I chose not to drive a half hour and walk around in the park but to sit in my heated studio and shoot a shot in ten minutes. I charged more than walmart, but less than the man who did the custom portrait. I like to think the customer got a little better service and a lot more knowledge than from a ford motors type portrait.
So a compromise how about, of the assemblyline portrait studios who do you think makes the most money. Actually I think the answer has already been given.