If you hang around the internet, YouTube or cameras clubs long enough, you’ll hear various “facts” thrown at you by photographers who think they understand professional photographers. The simple fact is, most of these are misconceptions or flat out lies.
While there are situations and certain types of photography that require a certain discipline (such as studio work and high end portrait work), this accounts for a tiny percentage of professional photography situations.
Here are a few of the things we hear which need to be addressed.
Things You’ve Probably Got Wrong
“They always shoot in manual mode”
Probably the biggest misconception is that professional photographers shoot in full manual mode. While indeed manual will be used in certain situations (such as in a studio, long exposures and things that can only be done with controlled exposure), professional photographers will generally use whichever mode is needed for the task at hand.
Generally speaking and after years of working with others in various situations (as well as reading others blogs etc) you’ll find professional photographers using Aperture Priority mode. It just works, and when you’re shooting any kind of work, the last thing you want to do is think about your settings when its all about your subjects and compositions.
“They only shoot in raw”
Another huge misconception, probably influenced by those pretend YouTube photographers that you see giving bad advice for many things. As with manual vs a priority mode, many professional photographers will shoot in both raw and jpeg.
There are of course huge advantages to shooting both jpeg and raw that I’ve discussed both here and here (and here is a useful look at how you should really look at raw vs jpeg). When you’re at an event (such as a wedding or social event) you can quickly offload photos straight to a printer without the need to edit. Also for things such as sporting events, press photographers etc they don’t need to edit and will get the photos off too the relevant departments as soon as possible.
Plus of course, some professional photographers just like to use jpeg. As simple as that. Especially those who shoot in black and white or those with cameras known for their colour recipes.
“Photographers are rich”
This is one of those things you hear often. I’m sure, like in any job, there are those in areas where you can live a comfortable life. While for others, it pays the bills and can be quite seasonal depending on what they are shooting.
“Professionals only use the best gear”
No, no, no! You obviously don’t know professional photographers. Hang around the scene long enough and you’ll see that not as many many pros as you think actually have the latest and the greatest cameras.
Over the last 10 years, cameras have come to a point where they are all really good at their jobs. A camera is a tool and so it’s treated like one, and many of us need the feel and familiarity of a camera.
My 6 year old Nikon Z6ii might be a dinosaur to many gear-head amateurs, but in the professional world it is often the newest camera around!
“Professionals get it right in camera”
I honestly believe that everyone doing photography strives to “get it right in camera”. Everyone wants to protect as much information on the sensor as possible.
However, there are people who think they get it right so that they don’t have to edit. While a tiny minority may use images straight from camera, there is no question that the vast majority of pros will edit their images, be it a raw file or a jpeg. The camera rarely sees exactly that we see.
“If they’re professional they wouldn’t have made that mistake”
Hey, believe it or not pros are humans too. They’ve left they’re lens cap on, they’ve forgotten to change their settings, they’ve forgotten gear… You get the picture.
Conclusion
I think many of us blame the upturn in misconceptions on the advent of YouTube Photographers. Of course, among them all there are genuinely great photographers, but that are so many (especially the popular ones) who simply only do photography for YouTube. YouTube is their job, so they need to make content, and click-bate headlines sells views!
The same can be said about certain bloggers who parade around giving advice which is hardly ever based on their own experience. Take what they say with a punch of salt.
Being a working photographer is really tough work. You REALLY need to love the job, REALLY need to know the job and you REALLY need to always counteract the endless misconceptions that you hear being thrown around.
It’s far too often we hear bad, or grossly inaccurate advice on software, cameras, techniques and other photography related content.
Enjoy your photography. Go out and take images your way.
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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
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