Pro Photographers out of business in 10 years?

Question

So someone answered a question that : professional photographers wont exist in ten years because everyone will be able to "take" professional photos.

This answerer proberly believes it

What do you think??

I think this person is clueless, how will digital cameras set up lights? Will sport illistrated be full of soft out of focus, poorly lit images taken on a point and shot? Will playboy be shot by our next door neighbours.

Are we heading towards crap images being called professional?

Do you think the answerer is clueless also??

edwin i dont worry im in the camera, its a dying art, nice answer

nice work cody

touche george

looks like the answerer is more clueless than i thought

cab im not with you, i dont do photoshop i get experts to do it, they hire me to get the source images because i can and they cant, im a shooter not a PS artist, as i see it anyone but me can doi photoshop, not anyone can use shift n tilt or shot change of light or actually use a camera well............

Evan very good points

Answer 1

If we follow this faulty logic, then it stands to reason:

When everyone gets a computer with word processing, there will be no more professional writers, because anyone can write a book.

When everyone gets a microwave, there will be no more chefs because anyone can make a meal.

When more and more corner drugstores open up in the neighborhood, then we won't have any more doctors, because everyone can just buy the medicine they need.

When everyone gets the internet, we won't need libraries or schools, because everyone can find out anything they want.

No camera manufacturer has yet been able to reproduce life-experience, learned skills, and judgements based upon thousands of photographs taken. I look at the hundreds of images I create every week. I remember the time and energy spent to get the perfect viewpoint, exact angle, and the correct lens for the image in my imagination. I think about the many decisions, modifications, enhancements, and deletions that come with the post-processing. I pause, and reflect upon the lifetime of decisions and experiences that lead to every image I cherish.

No "professional" camera can replace that - ever.

Answer 2

I don't feel like I have lost business at all. The people who are hiring an amateur or having a friend do it would not have hired me in the first place. The people who have a friend shoot their wedding probably could not afford to pay a pro. That said no corporation is going to have the data entry clerk with a good camera shoot their new products. Newspapers aren't about to send the paper boy to cover a football game. Some people trying to get into modelling or acting might have a friend do their head shots but if the person was ever accepted by an agency they would be sent out to get proper head shots done. When my father was young photographers were complaining about the same thing except the cameras were 35mm. If a technology becomes affordable to the public then you will have amateurs using it and the need for a professional will be diminished somewhat but never replaced. Your business needs to change with the economy and technology

Answer 3

Antoni,

As a working pro of course I believe there will always be a market for talented and trained photographers who produce quality images. No one is going to send out amateurs to photograph the superbowl, Eva Mendes, or an advertisement for the new BMW. I don't foresee the technical wizards ever being able to program aesthetic sense into a camera.

But rather than jump on the bandwagon and say "of course not" like everyone else, I think its instructive to note the trend of established photo studios going out of business (at least here in the States). I believe that as technology has improved to the point that the average person can, with the automatic settings on the camera, produce an adequately exposed and focused image, people in general have begun to place less of a premium on quality portraits. For generations, having a portrait of an individual or family taken was a rare and special event. Now, the thousands of images a family member may take on their digital camera (be they of ever so low quality) de-value the professional portrait by sheer volume. Now, only those families that really value (and can afford) true artistry bother with professional portraiture.

Thus I think that the grain of truth in the statement is that it will be increasingly difficult for some types of photographers to stay in business... Most consumers are happy with McDonalds, and don't feel the need to pay for the true artistry in a Michelin starred restaurant. Now that these customers have the ability to take their own snapshots, I believe we will continue to see a culling of photo studios over the next few years.

Answer 4

I would take this as a sign that pro photogs need to keep up with the current trends.

Photoshopping is a big part of that. Not to fix photos, but to create images that didnt really exist. Or to create photo books. Or capture a HDR image. Or stitch 5 consecutive shots together to create a panoramic image.

As long as pro photogs keep reaising the bar, people will see the value in it. Its when the pros get lazy that they will be over run.

Additional: Of course you need a pro to take good images to begin with, but the customers are expecting so much more with their pictures. The portrait shops in the malls use photoshop heavily, and not to just get a good image, but to combine 3 small images and 1 large one on a white background, printed in about 2 hours. Stuff like that. You cant do that with film. I guess it depends on the customer base.

I'm not saying that you shouldnt know what your doing, but this sort of thing is what your up against, not people buying better cameras. There's alot of people out there that know how to take a good picture, so companies are trying to do something that stands out.

Just being a good photographer just doesnt cut it for most.

Answer 5

When television became widely available it was predicted that it would destroy the movie industry. Didn't happen.

When the VCR became common-place it was predicted that with time-shifting and fast-forwarding through commercials TV viewership and revenues would plummet. Didn't happen.

I believe there will always be a demand for professional photographers. It may be less than it is now but it will remain. The advertising agencies and magazine publishers are unlikely to entrust their livelihood to poorly trained, poorly equipped "wannabe pros".

So, Antoni, relax. You and all the other pros aren't going to be on an "endangered species" list any time soon.

Answer 6

Although the start-up costs and equipment is becoming more readily available (and easier to use) it will always take a professional photographer to bring together all the elements of light, camera, scene and model to create true quality images.

Just as the creation of analog light meters didn't create cat-eye obsolescence, so too will new tools be added to our professional arsenal to create quality images in a way perhaps never thought of previously.

Plus, we're all super cool so how could we be replaced?