Can someone convince me about the professionalism of photography?

[snowbear]

Auto mode = paint by numbers

I might just have to grab this for my signature!

Cool! Does that mean that I get automatic "like" royalties for anytime someone likes your posts?

Sure, why not -- cool by association!

 

[timor]

Auto mode = paint by numbers

I might just have to grab this for my signature!

Cool! Does that mean that I get automatic "like" royalties for anytime someone likes your posts?

You got "automatic" like from me, I like that statement... but usually I go deeper with it.

 

[weepete]

Two words....

Great light.

 

[Bebulamar]

If someone told you that you are funny, actually don't believe him.

her. it was my mom!

Don't believe her please, just a compliment from a mother to her child.

Who should one believe if one can not believe his/her mother?

 

[table1349]

 

[W.Y.Photo]

If someone told you that you are funny, actually don't believe him.

her. it was my mom!

Don't believe her please, just a compliment from a mother to her child.

Who should one believe if one can not believe his/her mother?

His or her's self.


Wait.. was that a rhetorical question?

 

[soufiej]

IMO your actual question is not in keeping with the title to your thread. "Can we convince you about the 'professionalism' of photography?" is not really the same as asking what differences exist between the novice and the "professional" in any field. To my way of thinking, the person who desires a title and status of "professional" simply has a different drive to succeed in their chosen field than the person who is content to be very good and possibly happens to be exceptionally talented while maintaining an "ameteur" status. How they arrive at being "pro" is different for each individual and being a "pro" doesn't necessarily imply higher skill levels or greater talents. The title "professional" is like any other title, just a title and a title alone doesn't apply equally to all who share the same title. There are great numbers of "pros" in the minor leagues of baseball. Most don't make it to the big leagues and, of those who do, only a very few are considered to be exceptional while an even smaller number have a name that is remembered after they retire. And, yet, each year another crop of wanna be's will be starting their rookie "pro" year in the minors.

One advantage a "pro" has over the ameteur is time. First, it's likely the pro has spent more time getting to where they have arrived. They have probably either spent more time learning and mastering more information and its practical application than the ameteur can or than the ameteur is willing to afford to the effort. If they have succeeded at their drive to be a pro, they likely have the advantage of being paid to spend more time with any assignment. With time comes to ability to think on their feet and react quickly, and in the correct fashion, to most situations as they develop. While I expect a few pro's here to say they are under a deadline, IMO a pro has the opportunity to explore a subject far more than the average weekend or travelling photographer. The pro can spend their time looking and observing how light changes the subject over time. Just as you would pay a professional carpenter for their time spent analyzing and developing a plan for how to build a special fit cabinet, so too does the pro photographer get paid for the time spent in evaluation and preparation. How their shooting position and angle can make for a more interesting image is a part of that. And, unlike the "average" shooter, they are often allowed the luxury of shooting dozens of shots of the exactly or close to exactly the same thing and type of shot.

All of this goes to the answer to the question, how do I get my shots to look like "that"? As explained to me a very long time ago, you must first shoot one thousand shots before you get to that one and then you must shoot several thousand more before you get to the next "best" shot. Most ameteurs simply do not have that luxury. Go out on an organized photo "safari" and you're probably going to come back with more keepers than shooting on your own over one weekend.

Think of how most photos you see from the weekend shooter have been taken. Very few have the luxury of being somewhere for more than a day or so. Most are taken while the photographer feels a little pressure to get a shot and move on to the next before time runs out. So the ameteur takes a quick look around and conceives their shot in their head all the while setting up their gear and taking the shot before moving on. In most cases, that is not how I think most pro's would work. A pro may return to the same spot several times before they really begin to think of the final shot they want to get. Time simply makes a tremendous difference between results.

Next, would you expect a professional musician to come on stage with a cheap, made to a price point, student instrument? Would you say B B King would just as well be playing a $200 Fender Squier guitar? Probably not. While guitarists will concede King would sound very much like King if he played an inexpensive guitar, you wouldn't expect King to do so. While a better guitar does have the potential to make any reasonably good player sound like a better player, so too does the better quality instrument demand more of the player to achieve the best results. Being more sensitive to the user's input is a knife which cuts both ways. Once again time spent with the better instrument allows the pro to devote more effort to their chosen instrument while also allowing them to better comprehend how to achieve more "professional" results from any instrument. If King picked up that $200 guitar, he would simply know how a guitar works and therefore know how to achieve his desired results from any guitar. And he wouldn't be trying to make the guitar perform in ways it simply cannot. Translating that to photographer, a better understanding of their own equipment, better equipment to begin with and a far better comprehension of the concepts of photography are values you're likely to find in the pro that typically escapes the ameteur. Though, once again, the real difference between pro and ametuer may be very slight. I wouldn't though expect the average audiophile/music lover to be capable of designing from scratch and then building on their kitchen table their own audio equipment. I would expect the designer of the equipment to also be capable of being an "audiophile" extremely familiar with the live music experience. In between those two points, there are hundreds of individual steps.


PS: This is, in my experience, a very tough forum to enter into. Particularly when asking a question which is essentially about the value of someone's title or how they think of themself. No one, no matter how inexperienced they may be nor how honest their question, is beneath contempt by the "established" members. Approach the forum as if you were back in junior high school and you have been deemed not one of the "cool guys" and you'll know what to expect.

Good luck.

 

[Braineack]

that reply was very professionalism.

 

[Designer]

My question is:

What is the professional photographer can do more than an amateur one?

This is where you should have stopped to wait for an answer.

My answer:

A professional will know how to compose the scene, make adjustments to the light, operate the camera skillfully, edit the image (if required) with skill and finesse, and of course be paid for his efforts.

 

[timor]

All this considering, that title "professional" in photography... or baseball, is only social courtesy for people engaged deeply in their trade. Anyone heard of "professional lawyer" ? Or "amateur lawyer" for that matter ?

 

[pgriz]

All this considering, that title "professional" in photography... or baseball, is only social courtesy for people engaged deeply in their trade. Anyone heard of "professional lawyer" ? Or "amateur lawyer" for that matter ?

'course we have. half of them are on this forum. Amateur lawyers that is.

 

[timor]

Beside internet.... Here anyone can be anybody. It's a virtual world.

 

[timor]

Thanks. You see, I am not really Timor, I am experimental computer program built by... well, you know... Name comes from the words: The Intelligent Machine Of Ridiculousness.

 

[otherprof]

Many thanks all for the positive feedbacks and clarifications, I am newly registered here in the forum and I have never discussed anything related to photography here or anywhere else.

I am just surprised from some replies that attacked my self instead of replying positively and explain things, I already said I have a little experience in photography, and my question may appear to be not logic to some people, I also said the I know there are a lot of replies to my question those replies I didn't know till I get the answer from the wise people who discussed the question positively instead of criticizing and humiliating.

Someone says this topic is weird!! What could possible be my aim from asking this question, another one hey you don't understand ABS, I am sure that the owners of these replies don't understand neither photography nor ABS, these replies is not a mentality of someone who understands anything.

On the other hand the majority of the replies were really good and supportive.

Thanks to all of you for clarifications and reasonable replies.

Another question, I got camera with a 18-55 mm f3.5:5.6, actually the zoom it too small, 3x only due to its short focal length, what are the good lenses I may need? I believe 70-300 mm, and I also like the macro photos.

I understand photography and ABS.

Do you really think your ABS system is reading and understanding the road?

No, it just stops your brakes from locking up.

It is quite annoying when my car does something I'm not directly making it do.

Just like it's annoying when my camera would do the same in auto.

Which is funny because my camera body has no auto or picture settings.

It only has M, A, S and P just like every other professional camera body.

Is there anyone else out there who relies on auto in certain situations? I like having the control manual settings allow me, but there are some times I think my camera is going to be "smarter" or faster than me, and I just really want to get the shot.

 

[Designer]

Anyone heard of "professional lawyer" ? Or "amateur lawyer" for that matter ?

'course we have. half of them are on this forum. Amateur lawyers that is.

YO!