tdekany Loc: Oregon

Motorbones Loc: Fair Oaks, CA

Blessed are those who run in circles, for they shall be known as wheels...

tdekany Loc: Oregon

That is deep stuff man!

Motorbones Loc: Fair Oaks, CA

bluechris Loc: Grapeview, WA

Is it not a subjective question? If my photos are in demand for websites and used quite often; does that mean I meet the requirement for editorial use. I may not be paid but I have a body of work that speaks for itself. So, who decides what pro quality is? It meets the need and the response to my photos have been mostly favorable, unless one is a notorious nitpicker and there are many out there. I continue to do what I do best regardless of what people think and my work gets used. Is it pro or amateur, I guess it is all up to you to decide for yourself.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

I know wedding photographers that are in demand also, but not because they are any good but because they are cheap!!!
I'm sure your images are very good to be in demand and get used. That's good for both you and the user, but that in and of itself does NOT mean they are of the highest quality work that we are speaking of here and trying to establish.
Post a few of your pics here and we can be the judge, however subjective that may be, as to whether they are of high quality!!! We all know that quality when we see it though!!!
SS

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

I will bite.
Here are 3 photos that I "like". Fire away on the critique... :-)

each one has technical flaws in many ways (slight blur, exposure issues, didnt remove the noticeable bird in the background, background is distractingly busy or not sufficiently DOF'd into oblivion, crop could be better etc etc etc). You decide.

For me, a "professional" photograph is distinctive in 2 ways
- it creates an emotion ("wow, wish I took that") or a pic you keep wanting tomcome back and look at
- any technical issues are not distracting or not noticeable... (all photos have "technical" flaws as these can be somewhat subjective too...."did the photog mean to do "pan-blur", "did he really mean to focus on the foreground flower", "why is half the photo almost completely dark"....some technical flaws are...well... purely tech flaws (Camera shake etc).

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Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Yup!

deer2ker Loc: Nashville, TN

All I can say is "wow" to your pics Martin! I don't get into these kind of discussions normally & art is always subjective but when you get a "wow" well.....

d3200prime

Creatans are Greeks. They just happen to live on the isle of Crete. Also, one definition of subjective is: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. This definition of subjective is what makes the question: What Constitutes Professional Level Photography a subjective one and is to what I was referring. To your point about SS not allowing artistic and technical aspects equal footing: maybe that is SS's SUBJECTIVE take on the subject. Your objection to SS not including stock photos shows YOUR subjectivness and proves my point that the OP's question is subjective. Thank you! Good shooting to you.

Dabe Loc: Southern Missouri, Ozarks

I agree with SS, there is a difference between being a professional, and doing professional level work. About 15 years ago I was working in a plant with 12 seven-ton ground source heat pumps. The units had some age on them, and were starting to develop problems. One particular unit developed a crack in one of the refrigerant lines which soon lost all of its refrigerant. At the time, I had neither the proper equipment, nor the certification, to handle refrigerants, so I called in the "professionals". On their first trip, they recharged the system and said they couldn't find a leak. Two days later it had again lost every bit of the refrigerant. This was no small leak, and was in no way difficult to locate. So this time I brazed up the leak myself and called them back to recharge the unit.

This time the guy who showed up was an old classmate from high school, and he had taken a vocational class on heating and air while in high school, from a very capable instructor. He had been doing this type of work as a profession for probably 20 years. I didn't ask, but as he began to work, he also felt the need to explain to me how a heat pump worked. The only problem, I knew very well exactly how a heat pump worked, and he didn't have a clue! I had to wonder, how in the world can you do that type of work for 20 years, and not even understand how it works? Were these guys "professionals"? In a literal sense, I guess they were, they were making a living at it, but were they doing "professional level work"? Absolutely not!

I am a real photographer, but I am an amateur photographer in every sense of the word. I'll continue to strive to learn all I can, and hopefully someday I'll reach that professional level of work.

CyberDave Loc: Pennsylvania

#1 photo> A 'millennial' relative of mine (a 'social-media' junkie)~ 'Zapped' a 'pic__of my father-in-law, on his ninety-fourth birthday. And as always, she quickly posted (everything/anything) to her 'coveted' FB page, and then anxiously awaited>for all those 'superficial'-canned~responses!
*I managed to quickly 'lift' her image> thus, giving me the opportunity...to take it, to another 'place and time'. I then re-posted my 'enhanced'-heartfelt version.
#2 photo> Enhanced version, of my 'full expression', of 'Love', for my father-in-law!:>

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Larz

I'll give this another shot. A "professional level photograph" is one that possesses attributes that evoke thoughtful contemplation, emotion or conveys information that seems to imply that it was created as intended by someone who possesses a mastery of his tools and vision.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Professional is a bit like famous.....it depends.
Some people get to portray their work in a national gallery and can then get multiK per installation with a portfolio of less than 50. Others plug away producing a massive amount of work that sells cheap.

Photography has exhibits of old photographer's work that would not stand up in today's market. Proffessional photogs that do more blogs, talks and articles than images. Putting a quality standard to their work is like asking a journalist to write literature.

Professional standards often mean consistantly passable - a standard that many hobbyists consistantly exceed in most fields.

In the past, people were discovered....their work appealed to the rich or struck a chord with the affluent middle class. Now the internet allows the 'idiot' to become famous because they have XK 'followers'. We have instant celebrity. Those that learn the 'game' get to reinvent themselves often enough to remain in public.

Quality is in the eye of the beholder, 'Reputation' too. Some craftsmen plod along creating masterpieces but earning a mere living, some get rich by talking the talk and having a team produce standard work only for rich people.

They say 'getting a great image is 99% being in the right place at the right time.' So a professional image probably means 'getting an image into the right part of the public domain at the right time.'

Quality - is the back story of the individual, the person that bought their work and the pretentions that society use to portray how 'special' and 'clever' it is.

jjanovy Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

In my opinion, if a person earns any money as a photographer, and also uses a Schedule C for tax reporting purposes (in the USA), that person is a professional. This is the same criterion I would put on all kinds of artists, writers, and musicians. If a person earns money in the creative arts, and does it on some regular basis, and handles those earnings in a certain way relative to taxes, that person is functioning as a professional. Now, in my opinion, photography as an art is not much different from other arts in one respect, and that is: potential customers vary widely in their tastes and reactions to your creative product, no matter if it's photography, painting, or literature. Now, however, there is a certain level of technical proficiency involved in the creative arts, and if you don't demonstrate it fairly regularly, your earnings will eventually dwindle down to nothing. I'm not convinced that you can distinguish professional from non-professional based on the image and print. Just go to an art museum and study the photographs on exhibit. Most of them will have some kind of a narrative, a deeper story than just the image, but the artist's name on that museum label is likely to lead to a large body of creative work, only some (or even just one) of which shows that individual's talents to you, an observer, in the museum.