The Datum Report

Occupation 3417 · Associate professional occupations

Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators

Half of full-time photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators in the UK earn more than £32,643 a year, and half earn less.

Photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators operate and assist with still, cine and television cameras, operate other equipment and software to record, manipulate and project sound and vision for entertainment, cultural, commercial and industrial purposes, including digital and interactive media; and operate drones to provide aerial video and photographs.

How people enter it

There are no set academic requirements although entrants usually possess GCSEs/S grades, A levels/H grades and are able to demonstrate proof of pre- entry work experience. A variety of diplomas, degrees and postgraduate qualifications are available. Vocational qualifications in Photography are available at levels 1,2 and 3.

What the work involves

• selects subject and conceives composition of picture or discusses composition with colleagues
• arranges subject, lighting, camera equipment and any microphones
• inserts lenses and adjusts aperture and speed settings as necessary
• operates scanning equipment to transfer image to computer and manipulates image to achieve the desired effect
• photographs subject or follows action by moving camera
• takes, records and manipulates digital images and digital video footage
• controls transmission, broadcasting and satellite systems for television and radio programmes, identifies and solves related technical problems
• checks operation and positioning of projectors, vision and sound recording equipment, and mixing and dubbing equipment
• operates equipment to record, edit and play back films and television programmes
• manages health and safety issues
• operates sound mixing and dubbing equipment to obtain desired mix, level and balance of sound
• maintains, repairs, programs and operates unmanned aircraft to provide aerial photographs and video

Also called

Audio visual technician · Cameraman · Commercial drone pilot · Digital imaging technician · Lighting designer · Photographer · Projectionist · Sound engineer · Theatre technician (entertainment)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 6 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Actors, entertainers and presenters · Artists · Arts officers, producers and directors · Authors, writers and translators · Dancers and choreographers · Musicians