What qualifies someone as a pro photographer?

someone with the ability to use lights and achieve professional results in their chosen niche day in and day out, of course they do it for money

where people put a percentage on it seems odd to me, why not 60% or 70%?

like fotoz he calls himself a truck driver on his photography site - and his images are far from pro standard, does he spend 49% of the time driving a truck?

Have the standards of "Pro" changed? - maybe it includes driving a truck now?

Q-Ball sums it up pretty well, if you earn your living taking pictures you're a professional - maybe. You can get a job at any number of studios doing walk-in portraits. Are you a professional? Not really, you're a technician at best. Same for some companies that hire, train, supply the equipment and then turn people loose to do certain types of real estate photography. One thing being a professional implies is a base level of general competency. This is the technical understanding & competency to use the equipment to get the images the customer wants. Are professionals the only ones that have that - nope. Many amateurs are excellent photographers, better than a lot of pros. A pro will know something about composition and have an enhanced sense of aesthetics that comes with self and external criticism. Again, many amateurs have the same resulting from the same process. So, if it's not skill because there are amateurs who are just as good on a picture by picture basis, what is it? Amateurs, by and large, take the photos they want to take. Professionals take the photos that the customer wants taken. This can overlap. Landscape photographers and fine art photographers have to take photos that people will buy, but they can also be photos that they want to take. Other photographers, like photojournalists, event photographers, etc., are usually shooting things that they could care less about because someone is paying them. A newspaper isn't looking for great art, they want a visual document that supports the story. Period. I know what they want, they know I know what they want and they know I can deliver. Simple. As far as education goes, photography classes are great. Does that mean that someone who has taken classes is a better pro than someone who hasn't? Not even. The purpose of education is to provide knowledge, but formal education is only one way to get it. Experience certainly counts, and even a beginning pro that has gone through some process of explicit learning, has a base of experience to draw on that goes into the picture. The same with an advanced amateur. Those who start off with the goal of being a professional photog usually have a broader level of experience than an amateur because they have studied and shot a broader range of subject types. I know excellent amateur landscape photographers that couldn't shoot a portrait if their life depended on it. They never learned about portraiture. A pro usually has a more complete toolbox than a non-pro. What makes a pro is that there is an implied level of performance that the customer should be able to count on and they can be held accountable for if they don't meet it. As a photojournalist, I don't get hired if I don't perform. Not good. As a wedding photographer, I can be sued for not providing what I have contracted for at a level that is generally accepted by the field as professional. Again, not good. The minute you put yourself out there as a professional, you will be held to a standard and are accountable for not meeting it. What sets a professional apart from an advanced and talented amateur is that they go out, day after day, and produce good images that get the job done and they do it under a wide variety of circumstances. Vance

I think you will find that your first notion is the closest to the truth. There is no board of directors or organization that gives an official stamp of legitimacy to someone that takes pictures that marks them as a "Pro". It's not like being a lawyer or doctor.

I do believe though that you would be stretching the truth a good deal if you called yourself a Pro Photographer and didn't make a certain amount of income at it. That said...who's going to stop you...again back to your first notion.

Keep in mind that just because someone is a pro or calls them self a pro does not mean that they take good pictures just as someone that is an amateur does not necessarily take bad pictures. That's probably a given though.

When the word "professional" is appended to a specific vocation or trade, it is used as an adjective. The adjective definition of "professional" is one that makes money with a skill or trade.

If someone is wonderfully skilled basketball player, but they play for fun, then they aren't a pro, are they?

A professional photographer is someone that makes their living (have no clue what the percentage business is all about) from photography.

This weird idea that somehow being good makes one professional is ludicrous. Having skills and making money are separate things. There are plenty of skilled folks that don't have the business sense to make money, and plenty of people that can make money with few skills...

well anyone who takes pictures for a living is a pro, anyone who takes it for fun or as a hobby is an amateur. dont think that pro means you're really good and that amateur means you're bad.

pro means Professional and Professional means its your profession and that means your job basically.

i know what you mean by "what classifies someone as pro" now ask yourself this what makes a painter better than another person at painting? photography is an art you cant judge someone on how good they are.

Pro, gets paid to make images..

Full time pro more then 50% of income..

part time anyone who makes less %

That is the ONLY thing that does it..

I know non pros that make images better then 90% of the pros out there.

So, how good the work is does not make one a pro.. wish it did..

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Oooo... Ooooo... I know... I know !!!

You make better than 50% of your income from photography.

That's the rule.

If you can make a living at photography, you are pro material.

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