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Version:
OaSIS 2025 Version 1.0
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53110.00 – Photographers

Photographers operate still cameras to photograph people, events, scenes, materials, products and other subjects.

Overview

Example job titles

  • Aerial photographer
  • Commercial photographer
  • Forensic photographer
  • Industrial photographer
  • Photographer
  • Portrait photographer
  • Scientific photographer

Core competencies

  • Oral Communication: Active Listening to understand the expectations of clients, including the style, mood and purpose of the photographs, ensuring the final product meets or exceeds the client's vision
  • Social Perceptiveness to recognize subtle cues like facial expressions, body language and mood changes, allowing them to capture moments that feel genuine and natural
  • Colour Perception to accurately capture and represent the true colours of a scene, ensuring the final image reflects the intended mood, composition and realism
  • Far Vision to clearly focus on distant subjects and capture sharp, well-composed images from various distances
  • Attention to Detail to ensure the subject of a photograph is in sharp focus, which is essential for good photography
  • Knowledge in Arts to understand the principles of composition, balance, symmetry and leading lines to capture compelling and visually coherent images

Main duties

This group performs some or all of the following duties:

  • Study requirements of a particular assignment and decide on type of camera, film, lighting and background accessories to be used
  • Determine picture composition, make technical adjustments to equipment and photograph subject
  • May operate scanners to transfer photographic images to computers
  • May operate computers to manipulate photographic images
  • May adapt existing photographic images and create new digitized images to be included in multimedia/new media products
  • May use delicate instruments, such as optical microscopes attached to cameras
  • May process exposed film
  • May use airbrush, computer or other techniques to retouch negatives
  • May operate unmanned aerial vehicle/drone to capture aerial photographs of the landscape or any subject.

Additional information

  • Photographers may specialize in areas such as portrait photography, commercial photography, scientific photography, forensic photography, medical photography, digitized photography, multimedia photography or photojournalism.

Similar occupations classified elsewhere

Exclusions:

  • Film and video camera operators (52110)

NOC hierarchy breakdown

NOC version

NOC 2021 Version 1.0

Broad occupational category

5 – Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport

TEER

3 – Occupations usually require a college diploma or apprenticeship training of less than two years; or more than six months of on-the-job training

Major group

53 – Occupations in art, culture and sport

Sub-major group

531 – Occupations in art and culture

Minor group

5311 – Photographers and support occupations in arts and culture

Unit group

53110 – Photographers

Occupational profile

53110.00 – Photographers

O*NET in-it

This page includes information from the O*NET 27.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Employment and Social Development Canada has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.