Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code RAC

Photographers

Photograph people, landscapes, merchandise, or other subjects. May use lighting equipment to enhance a subject's appearance. May use editing software to produce finished images and prints. Includes commercial and industrial photographers, scientific photographers, and photojournalists.

Also called: Commercial Photographer, Photographer, Photojournalist, Portrait Photographer, Advertising Photographer, Graduation Photographer, Newspaper Photographer, Photo Editor.

O*NET 27-4021.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $44,660; Middle half earn $36,050 to $62,740. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Most common education: Some College Courses; 27% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 3 of 5; Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +2% · Slower than average; 151,200 jobs in 2024, projected 154,000. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Photographers".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Adjust apertures, shutter speeds, and camera focus according to a combination of factors, such as lighting, field depth, subject motion, film type, and film speed.
Create artificial light, using flashes and reflectors.
Determine desired images and picture composition, selecting and adjusting subjects, equipment, and lighting to achieve desired effects.
Transfer photographs to computers for editing, archiving, and electronic transmission.
Use traditional or digital cameras, along with a variety of equipment, such as tripods, filters, and flash attachments.
Manipulate and enhance scanned or digital images to create desired effects, using computers and specialized software.
Take pictures of individuals, families, and small groups, either in studio or on location.
Enhance, retouch, and resize photographs and negatives, using airbrushing and other techniques.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.8 / 5
Speaking3.8 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
Critical Thinking3.1 / 5
Active Learning3.1 / 5
Monitoring3.1 / 5

Knowledge areas

Customer and Personal Service4.7 / 5
Sales and Marketing4.5 / 5
Computers and Electronics4.2 / 5
Administration and Management3.9 / 5
English Language3.7 / 5
Communications and Media3.7 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic76
Investigative20
Artistic71
Social16
Enterprising21
Conventional39

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

special effects artist · DE Spezialist für digitale Effekte/Spezialistin für digitale Effekte · FR infographiste effets spéciaux
photography teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Fotografie · FR formateur en photographie/formatrice en photographie
picture editor · DE Bildredakteur/Bildredakteurin · FR iconographe
video artist · DE Videokünstler/Videokünstlerin · FR infographiste vidéo
director of photography · DE Kameramann/Kamerafrau · FR directeur de la photographie/directrice de la photographie
photographer · DE Fotograf/Fotografin · FR photographe

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Newspaper, periodical and broadcast editors (2491)43,100 employed
Newspaper and periodical broadcast journalists and reporters (2492)45,100 employed
Graphic and multimedia designers (2142)123,000 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “美術家，写真家，映像撮影者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay: ¥287,000; Middle half earn ¥243,300 to ¥330,100 a month.
Workers in the category: 16,950; Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Technicians and associate professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€50,992
Austria	€46,986
Germany	€44,473
Netherlands	€42,448
Ireland	€41,613
Sweden	€41,155
Italy	€34,882
France	€34,816
Spain	€29,757
Portugal	€18,080
Poland	€12,108

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Exposure to AI

This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.17. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.

Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.

Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-4021).

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

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