Job Profile:      Advertising Photographer


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.

27-4021
Job Information
   
   
34,850 59,100 102,350

Select Tasks
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. Use traditional or digital cameras, along with a variety of equipment, such as tripods, filters, and flash attachments. Create artificial light, using flashes and reflectors.
Determine desired images and picture composition, selecting and adjusting subjects, equipment, and lighting to achieve desired effects. Test equipment prior to use to ensure that it is in good working order. Review sets of photographs to select the best work.
Estimate or measure light levels, distances, and numbers of exposures needed, using measuring devices and formulas. Manipulate and enhance scanned or digital images to create desired effects, using computers and specialized software. Perform maintenance tasks necessary to keep equipment working properly.
Perform general office duties, such as scheduling appointments, keeping books, and ordering supplies. Determine project goals, locations, and equipment needs by studying assignments and consulting with clients or advertising staff. Select and assemble equipment and required background properties, according to subjects, materials, and conditions.
Enhance, retouch, and resize photographs and negatives, using airbrushing and other techniques. Set up, mount, or install photographic equipment and cameras. Produce computer-readable, digital images from film, using flatbed scanners and photofinishing laboratories.
Direct activities of workers setting up photographic equipment. Employ a variety of specialized photographic materials and techniques, including infrared and ultraviolet films, macro photography, photogrammetry and sensitometry. Engage in research to develop new photographic procedures and materials.
Set up photographic exhibitions for the purpose of displaying and selling work. Load and unload film. Develop visual aids and charts for use in lectures or to present evidence in court.
License the use of photographs through stock photo agencies. Mount, frame, laminate, or lacquer finished photographs. Photograph legal evidence at crime scenes, in hospitals, or in forensic laboratories.
Transfer photographs to computers for editing, archiving, and electronic transmission. Develop and print exposed film, using chemicals, touch-up tools, and developing and printing equipment. Write photograph captions.
Send film to photofinishing laboratories for processing.





Select Abilities
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem. The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures. The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns. The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object. The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you. The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources). The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects. The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion. The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part. The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears. The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists. The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects. The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object. The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing. The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath. The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs. The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion. The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). The ability to see details at a distance. The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
The ability to see under low light conditions. The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead. The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
The ability to see objects in the presence of glare or bright lighting. The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness. The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated. The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.




Tools Used
Bubble machines Camera cleaning brushes Camera flash attachments
Camera positioning tripods Computer inkjet printers Computer laser printers
Contact print frames Darkroom thermometers Darkroom timers
Digital pens Digital photo printers Digital still cameras
Dimmers Dye sublimation printers Electric print dryers
Film cameras Film drying cabinets Film scanners
Flash memory data storage devices Flatbed scanners Focus assists
Fog machines Force film washers Global positioning system GPS devices
Graduated neutral density GND filters Graphics tablets Haze filters
Image enlargers Incident light meters Label printers
Lamp reflectors Laptop computers Large format printers
Macro lenses Magnifier loupes Mobile adapters
Negative proofers Neutral density ND filters Optical media printers
Optical viewfinders Personal computers Polarizing lens filters
Rapid photo print washers Reflected light meters Ring flashes
Snoots Softboxes Sound blimps
Special effects projectors Studio strobe flashes Tablet computers
Telephoto lenses White balancing lens filters Wide angle lenses
Wireless flash triggers Zoom lenses

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