I’ve noticed something similar, but from a different angle.

I’ve been sorting though and tagging 15 years worth of photography ever since getting my NAS, and I’m noticing so many instances when I first started where I was so excited that I got something tricky in-focus, I didn’t notice the composition was awful, the lighting was bland, the image told no stories, etc. I was just happy to have a picture of a thing.

I also had cheaper gear, but I wanted sharper, clearer pictures so I over-sharpened the crap out of everything and abused that clarity slider.

At the time, I honestly didn’t see it and thought I was doing good work, but now it’s all I can notice when I see those old images.

The difference between an amateur and a pro is that the pro gets paid.

I was an amatuer photographer while managing a photolab at an upscale camera store… And it blew my f’ing mind how shitty some of the photos were coming out of wedding photographers that regularly got paid >5K per wedding on a regular basis.

I’d say the more-likely thing is that some people have bad imposter syndrome, myself included… I’ve done weddings and the most I’ve ever gotten paid was $2k… but most I did as a gift to the bride and groom, as an alternate photog for candids, primarily at the reception while the paid photog handled the ceremony and portraits. I’ve been told they liked mine better on multiple occasions, but I could just never bring myself to asking $5k for a wedding shoot or persuing it as a career.

Those shitty photogs have no such compunctions.

It pissy me off that ppl are taking better pictures than me, whenever I see a picture better than mine, I’m already thinking about how they did it and how I can make a better picture

JK I don’t get mad, but I do feel the competitive drive

Dunning-Kruger is all over the place in Reddit photography communities!!

have a gander at the Fujifilm subreddits.

I will suggest a lesson from the story:

In the photography business, many decision-makers value business skills over photography skills.

I am not saying that’s a pleasant thought, but it might be true.

I think this is pretty accurate

https://preview.redd.it/z8vg7q971y1c1.png?width=1116&format=png&auto=webp&s=82b19dded48047a3c28eb853039b013a8b7a354d

Get used to it there are plenty of them out there

“Theres a difference between 20 years of experience and one year of experience 20 years over.” -William Deming

Why does McDonalds always have a line? After all they don’t have amazing food. What they do have is consistent food that is served quickly. McDonalds is good at business. Knows how to market, knows the best location to attract the most people. People are looking for different things. McDonalds customers are different than steakhouse customers, Dunking Donuts has different clients than Starbucks and people who buy BMWs are not buying Fords. Photography is similar people are looking for different things.

Hmm

The thing here is that you are equating technical photography skill with commercial success. This happens very often and you won’t be surprised to find that some of the greatest charting music artists have the least technical ability.

You may be obsessed with colour banding and correcting highlights, but I can guarantee you that 90+% of the general public don’t care. Get the composition right, capture an important moment, add some bokeh and filters - most people are really happy.

You want to be a commercial success as a photographer? Learn how to market yourself and become an expert in managing relationship with your clients.

I’m not a professional, but I do gigs for friends and family because it’s fun. I do them free because I can’t guarantee I’ll get anything good.

But what is the bare minimum quality a professional photographer needs to provide? Arguably, portraiture should be in focus to the point that you don’t think the photographer is visually impaired. Whether the photo is as sharp as it could be, well…I think customers can forgive slightly out of focus photos if they’re sold as “soft” or “dreamy.”

As far as composition/framing/lighting, most customers won’t really pay attention or notice. Or, they’ll think it was a style choice. After all, they have paid a “professional” and he selected the “best” photos that he took.

I’m not doubting that his work may not be up to your standards, but it sounds like it may meet the bare minimum expectations of his clients.

I’ve been hobbying for 4-ish years and just had the absolute worst “shoot” of my life a couple of weeks ago. I still got some amazing photos, but I was fighting against my skill level the whole time. It’s possible with this dude he’s just phoning it in. He gets good enough photos and doesn’t think twice about it.

Lastly, I’ll say that I’ve seen some professional photos that I just don’t get but they’re praised anyway because the photographer is highly esteemed.

I’ve been a full time photographer for about 8 years, make decent money at it too……at no point did I ever have the slightest bit of confidence. Instagram is a bitch, makes me hate myself all the time.

Never shot raw professionally, not once, ever. Just because someone doesn’t do what you expected doesn’t make it bad nor them unprofessional. There’s lots of different paid types of photographers and some workflows you seem call substandard are actually the standard in certain forms of photography. As a newspaper photographer our role was fast, small file size and unedited other than minor exposure adjustments and cropping. Newsprint color sucks and BW wasn’t much better. Jpeg was perfect, most of us got it right when the finger hit the shutter not hours later on a computer. All of us were paid with full benefits.

The DK effect is fully apparent in thinking there is only one way to do something and only one acceptable output that works for everyone and every style of professional photography even those one has never experienced

banding in the skies

I wouldn’t even know how to achieve this with a modern camera without editing. I am somewhat impressed. Is he using a 15 year old camera?