Last Updated: February 15th, 2020

While we all know there are “professional photographers” out there, some with a lot of fame and prestige even (Annie Leibovitz being one of the most notable we’ve come across lately), most photographers are not always taken seriously.

It might be pure speculation on our part, but a big reason for this is because the barrier to entry into the photography industry is very low. New photographers are popping up every day, and reaching an audience is easier than ever thanks to social media platforms like Instagram. Even becoming a “good” photographer is easier than it once was, thanks in part to so much free educational content that can be found online, a huge array of books on the topic of photography (in all its forms), and many great online courses you can get access to to take the deep plunge.

The heart of photography – whether as a career or just a hobby someone enjoys – remains the same. Go out and take pictures. People do this all of the time now, even just using the latest iPhone to capture surprisingly good quality images. It’s not like it once was, where all cameras were pretty cost prohibitive, and the learning curve was pretty steep thanks to the complexities that came with film camera image processing in a darkroom. You had to really be committed to the craft to get something out of it, incredibly so if doing it as a profession (ie: for money).

In the modern day, there are many excellent professional photographers. Some with notoriety as we’ve mentioned, and some that just operate in smaller niches, like the wedding industry, that provide a distinct and necessary service.

Fortunately, we have a lot of experience “being professionals” due to pretty extensive career histories, and in particular now working in the photography industry ourselves. We’ve seen a lot in our exploration of other photographers as we’ve learned the ropes, and now have pretty established feelings about what makes a good professional photographer.

What is a Professional, Anyways?

Stepping away from the photography industry as a whole, it is a good idea to concretely lay out what a professional is & what they provide that is different than the average person.

As we’ve mentioned, with so many new photographers popping up, only the best have the ability to last. What defines the “best” can vary – and in a lot of ways it isn’t just tied to the quality of images they produce.

At it’s simplest, here’s how we would define a “professional” ourselves:

• They charge for their services – and specifically will charge what they are worth OR what the market will allow

• They are responsive and maintain a good demeanor when dealing with their clients and prospective clients

• They understand the difference between being hired to do a job and being a friend

• They manage their time effectively

With these things outlined, let’s talk a little more in detail about each one right now:

A Professional Charges for Their Services

Once a person begins charging others for their service, be it photography or something else, they immediately become a “pro.”

Being able to book clients suggests a need in the market.

New photographers take advantage of this by joining the industry and charging low prices. It’s a simple and effective method to start, and will most often attract people who have budgetary restraints when it comes to photography.

We see this a lot in the wedding industry in general – people without a lot of money in general, or who don’t want to spend a lot of money on photography and would rather prioritize other things like the venue, food, videography, a band, etc. instead. Certainly, this is a market that needs filling – and it can be a good way to get a start as a wedding photographer specifically. We started there ourselves and used it to get our first clients, some through Thumbtack, but longevity requires charging more over time.

For ourselves, a real professional, one who is really to be respected, is the type who is able to move beyond the introductory rates (assuming that is their goal, of course) and charge what they want to charge. As you might expect, there are limits to this for most people. In our area, average wedding photography costs are in the $2,000 – $3,000 range typically – so as a result charging too much higher can have an adverse effect. Being willing and able to travel, however, can afford a photographer at least the potential to extend their reach and influence (and justify higher price points, of course) to a more global market beyond their local market.

There is certainly a business sense that is required when defining “what you are worth” and “what you should charge.”

Having the quality required to discern your value, charge your value, and not give in when people reach out for a discount arbitrarily are qualities that really help to define a pro photographer in our eyes.

Of course, professionalism isn’t just about the exchange of money for a service.

A Professional is Responsive and Has a Good Attitude

All right, so this one gets into more subjective territory.

We’ve all heard about “that photographer” who isn’t particularly nice, and maybe even pretty anti-social in how they behave. But they produce a great end product, and it works for them. This is certainly one type of professional, and it can’t be discounted.

However, it is our opinion that getting to the heart of what makes someone a professional is better defining what makes the optimal professional.

Generally speaking, the best professionals are those that can attract people to them based on their personality and character traits. This begins by enabling a good line of communication, not just to get a sale – but even after a client has booked. Following up with emails, texts and calls are all simple examples of this. Even when things are difficult, maintaining a positive attitude – at least in front of your clients.

One compliment we receive over and over during wedding days is how we help to reduce stress and make them easier for our clients. We are often upfront that, yes, getting all the photos needed during the day can be a bit stressful as we go through the motions of getting all of the family portraits and have to run off into a field for some beautiful bride & groom photos. But, through and through, we try to acknowledge that time spent during the wedding shouldn’t just be on getting good photos and they need to enjoy their wedding day as it’s the only one they will have (more than likely, anyways).

We always aim to strike a balance between doing the job we need to do for our clients, and letting them have the breathing room and freedom to step away from the camera if they need to. Sometimes it’s arranged beforehand, other times it’s the day of, in the moment, when they feel they’d rather spend more time at cocktail hour than getting a certain photograph. In this respect, a lot of things boil down to just having a certain level of flexibility to enable the client to get the service they want – all while being able to manage expectations along the way.

Ultimately, we sum up our thoughts on all this pretty heavily in It’s Not the Photography Industry – It’s the People Business.

A Professional Knows the Difference Between Being Hired to Do a Job and Being a Friend

This is probably one of the more difficult ones that can impact photographers.

Unlike a job like that of a call center employee whose job it is to cold call people and try to make sales, photographers do a lot of interacting with their clients in ways that really requires a certain level of trust. Gaining this trust often boils down to being authentic with them in your interactions.

During engagement sessions, as an example, the easiest way to do this is take some space and talk with the client about things they are into. It sounds pretty dumb writing it out like this, really, but for many photographers this is something that comes about naturally.

In the course of our business, we have made friends in the process, but during the length of the contract (at least) – professionalism is required. By becoming friends, it leaves open a door for negative consequences if something doesn’t work out just right. How do you even begin to respond if they don’t like the photos they receive? It’s maybe easier to handle a situation like this if you can keep up a “wall” (so to speak) where you are the photographer and they are your client, but friend-to-friend? That’s a more difficult challenge to work through.

It’s worth noting, professionals also have discretion in this area as to what’s acceptable and what’s not. We don’t mean to sound like we are trying to sterilize all the great interactions you can have with clients – certainly we’ve enjoyed our share of drinks with clients from time to time – but the important takeaway is being aware of the boundaries that will need to be in place to be successful.

A Professional Knows and Understands Time Management

As we often work weeks upwards of 100+ hours (split between our day jobs and our photography business), we know a lot about how to manage our time.

It can sometimes seem like a daunting task. Certainly for us, in the middle of a busy wedding season, it can seem virtually impossible.

The key to time management is carving out time to be that professional business owner, and setting aside time to not be that person. Having alone time, time away from the computer, and personal time with family and friends is all a valuable part of running a business. You need to be able to relax when necessary, and hunker down and get the job done (all that editing) when it’s necessary.

Sometimes these lines blur, but we are always trying our best to manage our own time so we don’t go completely nuts!

How to Be a Professional Photographer

Now that we’ve squared away what a “professional” is (or at least how we would characterize this type of person), we can talk about how you can become a professional photographer yourself.

For those who don’t know, we started our photography business in January 2017, and since that time have really evolved into the professionals we currently are. It’s not a simple or overnight process, but it begins with determination fueled by authenticity. Through and through, most of the clients we attract are like-minded. They’ve read our About page and are into similar things as us. They, of course, also like our approach to photography and our portfolio of images, too.

We’ve made a conscious effort to provide a service that is larger than just photography. Sure, the end product is a beautiful gallery of pictures, but in the sessions, weddings, and charity events we’ve photographed, many of the comments we’ve received have less to do about the resulting images, and more about how we approached the day.

As we discuss among ourselves often, people don’t just buy a photography service for the photographs, but for the photographer(s).

When you have received a level of commitment from someone, to invest thousands of dollars into your service, you are doing something right. You are providing a professional service, something that can be appreciated even by a client’s parents who see the value added into their lives.

The Steps You Can Take to Be a Professional Photographer

If we were to lay out some simple steps to guide you in the right direction to make photography your career, we’d suggest the following:

1. Know how to use your camera and camera gear inside and out, and have good quality equipment

2. Incorporate your business

3. Offer photography as your service, but approach the service like someone running a business (you are now, after all!)

4. Charge what you need to thrive or at least have a business plan to get to that point once you’ve proved your worth

5. In all sessions, offer more value to exceed expectations – stay an extra 15 minutes if you need to just to get those final shots (but also know the hard limits so you aren’t being taken advantage of)

6. Have a social media presence and website, and convey your authentic voice

7. Streamline the booking process (one way to do this is by using Honeybook or a similar CRM platform for contracts, invoicing, and more)

8. Define your brand and what you are willing to do (and not willing to do)

9. Set reasonable expectations, and manage expectations when clients have unreasonable requests or demands

10. Always over-deliver if you can

Our Last Words

There are some defining attributes that make a personal a “professional,” and further a “professional photographer.” But – there are also a lot of areas where the meaning of these words is more fluid, allowing you to define what it means for you and your business.

Hopefully you find our input on how we approach defining a professional in this industry to be useful. Maybe you’re looking to have a better understanding of whether or not you should call yourself a “pro,” so maybe you can see now whether or not you should do this. Certainly for ourselves, early on in our photo business – we were skeptical if the term really suited us. These days, given the amount of energy and effort we put out into providing a good customer experience – it just works.

To end this article, we’re going to leave you with a quote to think about. Feel free to give us your own thoughts on this topic in the comments, too!

“A lot of people assume that all you need to make money off photography is to be good at taking pictures. So, if people are paying you for photography (ie you’re a “professional”) then you must be good at photography.

And if you’re not a “pro” then you mustn’t be very good at photography, because if you were good then of course you’d be selling your work.

In the real world, running a business is a lot of work, so the thinking is of course based on a false premise. But asking “are you a pro?” is often the only way many people (mistakenly) feel they can determine how good we are at photography.”