Photographer Profession

Photographer Profession

Photography as a skill was introduced with the World Adventures expansion, and if you played that you will no doubt already have a basic understanding of it.  There have been some significant additions to the game to better support the skill -- there are a number of cameras of varying cost, with the more expensive ones having some complex features allowing for truly artistic photography, and they have even added a number of different "Digital Picture Frames" to the game that, once bought and hung on the wall, your Sim can then transfer their photos to and have a slide-show display of their work right on the wall!

Of course they can still hang physical copies of their photos, or frame them and set them on their desk, dresser, and coffee table to be sure, and in addition to the nifty photo subject collection (and the chance that a Gnome or a ghost will sneak into the view as you are taking your pictures), there is the new profession which you can register as self-employed at City Hall to participate in, and that has advantages of its own that we will soon cover.

There is a bit more to the new skill of Photography than you might be expecting -- for instance in addition to allowing your Sim to take photos that are of better quality than those taken by the camera on their cell phone, it permits them to create an album of themed photo collections, the point of which is to have your Sim take Photos of different places, events, people, and objects -- though completing some of the collections requires that they take some rare photos.

Learning the Photography skill does require that your Sim own a camera -- but they can obtain one simply by enrolling in the LeFromage Art School, where they can learn the Photography skill and come home with a camera in their inventory.

When you are on holiday you can check the bulletin and notice board for Photography Jobs, then find the person and take the job on, complete its goals, and you can earn some Ancient Coins and experience.

The Professional Photographer captures Sim Moments

-- The Camera --

Just how good a photo your Sim can take depends upon the quality of their camera, and their skill level. Sims with low skill levels only have access to the more basic features on the better cameras, but as they level up they can use more of the tech that they contain.  Bear in mind that there are a variety of quality levels in the cameras that you can obtain in the game, and while a lower-quality camera may make sense for a lower-level Photographer, eventually you will want to get the best that you can.

Unlike taking photos with your Sim's cell phone, when they take a photo with their camera it costs them money -- it seems that digital cameras have not quite made it to the world of the Sims -- and the cost of each shot depends upon the filter and size selected, so it is generally a good idea to take shots that are worth taking -- unless you have the extra money to not care.

The collection system relies upon a mechanism by which your Sim's cameras identifies the objects, event, or Sim that you are shooting, and will only reward your Sims for capturing the object once in any day.  The rarer the place/Sim/object the more valuable the photo is, so you will want to bear that in mind, right?


Helpful Traits:  Ambitious, Charismatic, Friendly

There are a few ways that you can learn the basic skill of Photography -- and no, the camera on your Cell Phone does not count and will not give you skills -- you need to buy a camera at one of the stores in either China, France, or Egypt to do that.  As for getting your foot in the door, the best path is to buy the skill book at the Bookstore in France and read it to get at least to Level 3.  Beyond that just doing the photo collections will give you the skill gains you need to master the craft!

In addition to the collection scenes that you get XP for shooting and collecting, you also gain a bit of XP for every original shot you take -- but you should remember that shooting duplicate images of the same subject/scene does NOT earn you XP!  Once you take a picture of your friend on a bench and get some XP for it, you have to wait until the next day to do that again, but you will get XP for the same image again if it is a day later...

While you first pick up your camera and skills in a foreign land, you do not actually need to be there in order to level your skills -- it would be terribly expensive and time consuming if you did have to LOL.  No, once you have the kit and basic skill you should be gaining the lion's share of your XP by shooting things in and around your home, neighborhood, and city!

There are a number of challenges you will get and complete as a Photographer, and you will take photos that you want to keep and display in your home, but when it comes time to clear out your camera memory for a new session, do not delete photos!  Sell them.  Every Simoleon in profit adds up and counts towards your required level unlocks, so even the out-of-focus fuzzy ones that are only worth a few bucks are still worth the effort of selling.

-- Career Levels/Titles and Details --

There are ten Levels for this non-traditional career, and listed below are the levels and their titles along with the amount in profits that you must make from the sale of your photos to unlock that level:

Level 01: Papa/Mama Paparazzi
Level 02: Dark Room Destroyer ($20)
Level 03: Awkwardly Close Zoomer ($50)
Level 04: Social Network Profile Photographer ($150)
Level 05: Disposable Debutante ($750)
Level 06: Aperture Scientist ($2500)
Level 07: Titan of Timeliness ($5000)
Level 08: Lens Lover ($10000)
Level 09: Memory Catcher ($25000)
Level 10: Snap Dragon ($45000)

-- The Camera Controls --

Whenever your Sim uses their camera to take a photo the camera interface will open, allowing you to adjust the frame and focus:

Press I to cycle through the available sizes of photo.

The choices that you have are Small Portrait, Medium Landscape, Large Portrait, and Panorama.

Press F to cycle through the available photo filters.

The choices for filters are Black and White, Classic Vignette, Color, and Sepiatone.

Press X/Z to zoom out or in on the subject.

Press C to take a photograph.

If any of the options are grayed-out, it means that the camera is not able to use them, or your Sim's skill is still too low to access them.


-- Photography Levels and their Abilities --

Level 2 Take Black & White photos.
Level 4 Take Sepiatone photos.
Level 8 Increased ability to zoom in and out.
Level 9 Take Classic Vignette photos.
Level 10 Take Panorama photos.


-- Photography Challenges --

Architectural Eye
Completed by capturing 10 unique landmarks -- rewards your Sim by giving all landmark photos higher value.
 
Human Form Expert
Completed by capturing 50 unique Sims -- rewards your Sim by improving their relationships with other Sims just by taking photos of them.

Paparazzi
Completed by capturing 60 unique Sims who are strangers -- rewards your Sim by making photos of strangers worth more.

Photog
Completed by capturing 75 unique subjects -- rewards your Sim by giving their photographs a higher base worth.

Shutter Nut
Completed by completing 5 Photo Collections -- rewards your Sim by making all photos after that free of cost.

-- Photo Collections --

As mentioned above here are theme-based collections for your skills -- basically images of specific scenes/objects/poses -- and when you take a snap that is part of one the game will tell you that.  Each of the expansions adds something (often a new collection or two) to the profession, but we are only covering the ones up to Ambitions for the purposes of this guide, and those include:

(Print this section out and use it as a ticklist)

I. The Architectural & Buildings Collection
o -- Academy
o -- Bookstore
o -- Chinese Garden
o -- City Hall
o -- French Market
o -- General Hospital   
o -- The Market
o -- Mausoleum
o -- Nectary
o -- Sports Stadium   
o -- Theatre
o -- Town


II. The Around Town Collection
o -- A Party
o -- Bicycle
o -- The Bistro
o -- Car
o -- Diner
o -- Grocery Store
o -- The Gym
o -- The Park
o -- Picnic    The Beach
o -- Places in Town
o -- Police Car
o -- School   
o -- The Spa
   

III. The Best in Class Collection
o -- A Limo
o -- A Money Tree
o -- A Top Chef
o -- Chief  Lifesaver
o -- Diplomat Extraordinaire
o -- Expensive Stereo
o -- Fancy Tent
o -- Luxury Car
o -- Master Criminal
o -- Military Bigwig
o -- Nectar Rack
o -- Omniplant
o -- Supercop
o -- Superstar


IV. The Collectables Collection
o -- Canopic Jar Set
o -- China Statue Set
o -- Copper
o -- Dangerous Creatures Statue Set
o -- Dropa Stone Set
o -- Egyptian Statue Set
o -- Geode   
o -- Gold   
o -- Iron
o -- Luminous Gem
o -- Magic Gnome
o -- Mercury Vial
o -- Mummitorium   
o -- Opal   
o -- Pink Diamond   
o -- Quartz
o -- Rainbow Gem   
o -- Silver
o -- Space Rock
o -- Tiberium
o -- Topaz
o -- White Diamond   


V. The Everyday Moments Collection
o -- A Group of Sims
o -- A Sim Cooking
o -- A Sim Fishing
o -- A Sim Gardening
o -- A Sim in the Area
o -- Babysitter
o -- Chess Match
o -- Child Being Carried   
o -- Firefighter
o -- Four Sims Eating
o -- Kid Playing with Oven
o -- Kid Playing with Toy Box
o -- Lovers at Night
o -- Maid at Work
o -- Mail Carrier
o -- Photo of Photographer
o -- Pizza Delivery
o -- Political Demonstration
o -- Police Officer
o -- Remedy for a Hot Day
o -- Repairman on the Job
o -- Sim using a Computer
o -- Someone Painting
o -- Three's a Crowd
o -- Two's Company   


VI. The Family & Friends Collection
o -- A Nice Garden
o -- A party (with Party Objects)
o -- A Toilet
o -- Baby Stuff
o -- Bathroom Stuff
o -- Cute Teddy Bear
o -- Family Member
o -- Furniture
o -- Gadgets Galore
o -- Ghostly Family
o -- Home Decor I (2 objects)
o -- Home Decor II (Ambitions Sculpture)
o -- The Home Sweet Home Collection
o -- Housemate
o -- Kitchen Kitsch
o -- My Child   
o -- My Friend
o -- My Grandchild
o -- My Main Squeeze
o -- My Spouse   
o -- Outdoor Stuff
o -- Three of my Friends   
o -- Toys & Hobbies
o -- Two of my Friends       

   
VII. The "Oh, the Calamity!" Collection
o -- A Fight
o -- A Singed Sim
o -- A Social Worker
o -- A Thief
o -- Oh No, Snake!
o -- One Sick Sim   
o -- The Repoman
o -- Slap Fights
o -- Soaked to the Bone


VIII. The Paranormal Collection
o -- A Ghost
o -- A Ghostly Problem
o -- A Mummy
o -- A Serious Ghost Problem
o -- Death on Vacation
o -- Doubly Dead
o -- It's Haunted
o -- Mummy Having a Snack
o -- My Dead Enemy
o -- My Dead Spouse   
o -- Simply Death   
o -- Too Many Ghosts
o -- Wondering Ghost
   

IX. The Plants & Flowers Collection
o -- Apple Tree
o -- Averlino Grape Vine   
o -- Bell Pepper Plant
o -- Cherimola Blan Grape Vine   
o -- Cranerlet Nuala Grape Vine   
o -- Death Flower
o -- Flame Plant
o -- Garlic Plant
o -- Gralladina Grape Vine
o -- Hydrangea
o -- Lettuce Plant   
o -- Life Plant
o -- Lime Tree
o -- Meloire Grape Vine
o -- Onion Plant
o -- Plum Tree
o -- Pomegranate Tree   
o -- Potato Plant
o -- Red Rose
o -- Renoit Grape Vine   
o -- Sunflower
o -- Tomato Plant
o -- Watermelon Plant   
o -- White Rose
   

X. The Sims in Motion Collection
o -- Board Breaker
o -- Dumpster Diving
o -- Fighting a Fire
o -- Fighting Flab
o -- Get a Room!
o -- Great Tunes
o -- Honing Body and Mind
o -- Making Nectar
o -- Playing Catch   
o -- Pleading to Sphinx
o -- Pushing Statue
o -- Refreshing Swim   
o -- Running
o -- Sim Making the Bed
o -- Sims Dancing   
o -- Sims Sparring   
o -- Solo Dancer


XI. The Still Life Collection
o -- Box of Tissue
o -- Candles
o -- Couch
o -- Flowers
o -- Garden Decorations
o -- Nectar & Food   
o -- Objects
o -- Television
o -- Tombstone   
o -- Video Game System


XII. The Travel Collection
o -- Abu Simbel
o -- A Pyramid
o -- Dragon Cave
o -- Floor Switch   
o -- Floor Trap
o -- Giant Boulder   
o -- The Great Sphinx
o -- Lovers in China
o -- Lovers in Egypt
o -- Lovers in France
o -- Pile of Ancient Coins   
o -- Pile of Rubble   
o -- Pushable Statue
o -- Relic
o -- Sarcophagus
o -- Shower in a Can   
o -- Snake Charmer
o -- Soulpeace Statue
o -- Torch of Anubis
o -- Treasure Chest   

Clearly some of these collections are going to be more difficult than others to complete, and in particular the ones that require your Sim to get photos of supernatural beings or other Sims doing specific actions, but it should be easy to grasp now that you have seen the list of the collections and their requirements why we said that you will be able to level Photography just doing the collections alone!