Suggestion: professional photographers include 'P' with your photo?

dinneenp

Hi,
I have a suggestion-
if someone is posting a photo (to any thread; challenge, random photos, c&c etc.) and they're a professional photographer how about if they include 'P' or similar before their image?

My rational is:
I've read some posts saying 'I'm blown away by the standard of photos (someone said that about landscapes recently), I'll never be as good as X

For challenges it's nice to know which photos are by an amateur and which by a pro. e.g. if winner & top mentions are all pro it makes me feel a bit better knowing I was beaten by pros.

etc.

This idea could get totally shot down but I just thought I'd put it out there for discussion....

Cheers,
Pa. 101% amateur

sineadw

Can, worms, etc.

Eirebear

To be honest, i would say the majority of shots posted in here by "Pros" arent actually their professional work, rather something which they have shot because, just like the rest of us, they enjoy taking photographs.
(Outwith sports shots, i think we see a fair few "Pro" sports shots?)

Also, without getting too far into the define a pro debate - where do we draw the line?
What about the likes of Sineadw who if i'm correct has just finished a degree in photography - should she add B.A after her name in order to define herself?

Thirdly, i think something like that would actually drive the pro photographers away from the forum - why would they post something in here for C&C, or something they're not quite sure of in the Random thread if they have to label themselves as Pro? They don't particularly want any potential client/customer to think "Oooh, that person says theyre a pro yet he doesnt know how to gain certain effects and is asking a bunch of people online - maybe they're just not that good?"

Fourthly - Do you actually feel bad about not getting enough thanks to win a challenge? Maybe you need to reallign your thinking on that one.

jpb1974

'P' for 'Pro' does not automatically equate to 'B' for 'Better Photographer'.

There's no known correlation at all to be honest.

Paulw

If you shoot in "P" (professional mode) on your camera, should you mark that down too, when you post a photo?

thefly

Just because you are pro, doesnt mean you are good. Magnum Photograhy have a "flickr Friday"

They dedicate Friday afternoons looking through flickr for amateur photographers to sign up.

Don't be fooled, you could be a brutal photographer but a great businessman and make a living from photography

DaireQuinlan

Paulw wrote: »

If you shoot in "P" (professional mode) on your camera, should you mark that down too, when you post a photo?

Aww, I always shoot in 'A' , I had no idea that meant 'Amateur' mode,

Misa-san

IMO - There's a big difference between a "Professional" and "Pro-sumer".

There are many "amateurs" or "enthusiasts" who are cable of shooting something comparable or of a higher quality of a "professional" - but which is the better image is a matter or opinion. I use quotes because title are purely for formality, and I, clearly, don't see a case for distinguishing between them.

Just because someone makes a living from photography doesn't mean they're any better than an avid hobbiest.

thefly

@Eirebear

Seriously, what pro worth their salt puts pictures on boards looking for c&c ?

melekalikimaka

i studied photography, does that automatically make me a pro...no

Paulw

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Aww, I always shoot in 'A' , I had no idea that meant 'Amateur' mode,

No, no, no ... Av is for "Advanced". It's the step before P "Professional".

OldGoat

Wonder how it would work out if/when the professionals images were to be constantly outthanked by those of the amateurs?

sineadw

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i studied photography, does that automatically make me a pro...no

No, but it does mean that you possibly know more than someone who's just picked a camera up, which by the OPs post could possibly put you at an advantage. But it may well not. And it's all fairly arbitrary what exactly these terms mean anyway, so again.. can, worms etc

Gregor Samsa

Paulw wrote: »

No, no, no ... Av is for "Advanced". It's the step before P "Professional".

My Canon compact has a Tv setting. I don't use it in public, but have experimented with it in private. Strictly for reasons of comfort, of course.

the_syco

Oooh...

P

P for Pretttty... :pac:

=-=

On a serious note, are we to write P only if the picture is what you shoot, or P for all pictures? For example, a few shoot weddings professionally; should they have to write P in front of their first ever C&C landscape photo?

I disagree with the idea.

pete4130

Professionals work with clients who know what they're after and wouldn't accept anything less.

A few people on here work with clients (joe soap/family/friends/friends of family) who are happy with what they receive and are none the wiser.

Define professional?

DaireQuinlan

We should have a Professional categorisation (or P) and a Non Professional categorisation (or NP). This would have the added bonus that if a professional shot got the same amount of thanks as a non professional shot then we would have proved P=NP and laid to rest one of the most intractable problems in modern day computer science. There's a 1 MILLION dollar bonus for a solution so I suggest we get cracking. Then we can work on the Riemann hypothesis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Prize_Problems

dinneenp

Ok, great that everyone agrees with my suggestion. So here's the classification to use when posting photos:
P: professional
PP: professional and photo posted was used when I was doing a professional shoot
PA: professional and photo posted was used when I was doing a amateur shoot
A: amateur
AP: amateur but I could be a professional if I wanted to. Really.
AA: awful amateur
DBNP: I have a photography related degree but I'm not a Professional
AN:Amateur newbie
H: Hipster. I shoot with film


On a very very slightly related note I just read this funny article from Shutterfingers:

You can tell a lot about a photographer from the lenses he or she uses.

The Purist—The Purist’s motto is “Less is more.” He therefore carries only one lens and it’s almost always a fixed focal length. The advantage of this approach, as he sees it, is that he becomes intimately familiar with the way a particular lens “draws” a scene, its angle of view, its strengths and its weaknesses. Purists can see a scene and know exactly how it will photograph with their lens of choice. Anything they should happen to see that can’t be shot with The One Lens simply isn’t worth shooting.

The Prime Fetishist—The Prime Fetishist’s motto is “It’s all about the lens.” A Fetishist is easy to mistake for a Purist because they both shoot only with primes. The difference is that the Prime Fetishist owns many primes; the more obscure, exotic, and hard to find the better. Unpronounceable names (such as Goerz Dagor or Apo-Apocalypse) earn bonus points. Any given scene can best be interpreted by only one particular lens, which must then be mounted to a camera with an equally obscure adapter. The Fetishist’s main challenge is finding a subject worthy of his lenses.

The Lugger—The Lugger’s motto is “Be prepared.” With that in mind, he (and it’s always a he) carries enough glass during his photo excursions to cover every focal length from super-wide angle to telephoto, with macro capability thrown in for good measure. Zooms are his optics of choice because they are so “practical and versatile.” A standard accessory includes a bottle of Motrin to dull the pain radiating from their back and shoulders. Luggers favor cameras with good low-light performance because by the time they have everything sorted out and are ready to shoot, the sun has begun to set.

The Artist—The Artist’s motto is “It’s just a lens.” They therefore take pride in using what other photographers would politely refer to as “junk.” Equipment that’s twenty years old, dented, scratched and worn offers evidence of continuous use for Artist Purposes, even if it was bought at a yard sale the week before. As for the results, where you see flaws the Artist sees “style and character.”

The Kit-Zoomer—Kit-Zoomers don’t really have a motto. They just use the lens that came with the camera and make the best of it. They zoom until the image in the viewfinder looks pretty good and then they click the shutter. If zooming doesn’t do the trick they move closer or further away, if they can. Kit-Zoomers take an equally casual attitude toward lens aperture, which is probably just as well: Kit-zooms are so slow there are only four full stops to choose from anyway. This freedom from the boring details of photographic technique frees Kit-Zoomers to produce photographs that, much to their surprise and delight, are acceptably sharp and well-exposed.

EyeBlinks

I always use the A for Artist button

bullpost

My EXIF info oftens shows me that I've used the "S" for ****e button , even though I can never remember selecting it.

DaireQuinlan

dinneenp wrote: »

Ok, great that everyone agrees with my suggestion. So here's the classification to use when posting photos:
P: professional
PP: professional and photo posted was used when I was doing a professional shoot
PA: professional and photo posted was used when I was doing a amateur shoot
A: amateur
AP: amateur but I could be a professional if I wanted to. Really.
AA: awful amateur
DBNP: I have a photography related degree but I'm not a Professional
AN:Amateur newbie
H: Hipster. I shoot with film

We can mail Gursky his 'H' button in case he wants to post in the random photos thread I suppose.

stcstc

i use the H buttton

for havent got a fecking clue


I cant belive this thread even exists

squareballoon

All I do is shoot for money (apart from a little illustration work) BUT I don't make that much from it. Less than social welfare probably. When I post on here I only post the photos I've taken in my spare time as part of a learning process and they are rarely what I would shoot for clients.
I would like to see camera specs for photos looking for c&c though. ie body, lens type, f stop and ss. I think you learn lots that way from looking through people's photos.

dinneenp

stcstc wrote: »

I cant belive this thread even exists

My post about PP, A, PA etc was (obviously to me anyway) meant to be a joke. My idea got shot down straight away.

Eirebear

thefly wrote: »

@Eirebear

Seriously, what pro worth their salt puts pictures on boards looking for c&c ?

I dunno - i'm fairly sure i've seen some of our pro/semi-pro posters sticking images on here in an attempt to gain feedback over the years.

It may be that they are normally a sports photographer but decided they would give a landscape shot an airing, or a social photographer who stuck up a sports shot as they'd never done it before.

I'm not for a second suggesting that a Pro was going to work, coming home and sticking his shots up for your approval - that's just a bit silly.

Paulw

squareballoon wrote: »

A
I would like to see camera specs for photos looking for c&c though. ie body, lens type, f stop and ss. I think you learn lots that way from looking through people's photos.

I do agree that you can learn a lot from looking at the equipment and settings used. In fairness, most people link back to pix.ie or flickr, where you can see the exif of the images (if the exif was included in the image in the first place by the poster).

challengemaster

the_syco wrote: »

Oooh...

P

P for Pretttty... :pac:

=-=

On a serious note, are we to write P only if the picture is what you shoot, or P for all pictures? For example, a few shoot weddings professionally; should they have to write P in front of their first ever C&C landscape photo?

I disagree with the idea.

I would have thought that was P for the pee that made the snow yellow :pac:

The Snipe

I use 'M' mode.. Cause I'm a 'Master'

Hugh_C

What about the AF switch? Does that mean I'm an AmFessional? Or M, just Mediocre?

Think I'd prefer AmFessional.

Adrian.Sadlier

Why all the "labels" - just let the photos speak for themselves :-)

Gallant_JJ

What about [] for those of us shooting in green box mode

AnCatDubh

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

we would have proved P=NP

The answer I believe is sometimes..... now where do I pick up my cheque?

AnCatDubh

Eirebear wrote: »

I dunno - i'm fairly sure i've seen some of our pro/semi-pro posters sticking images on here in an attempt to gain feedback over the years.

Yup, correct.

challengemaster

AnCatDubh wrote: »

The answer I believe is sometimes..... now where do I pick up my cheque?

P to the left, NP to the right.. :pac: