Professional photographers and photojournalists are finding it harder and harder to secure full-time employment and reliable income making pictures.

Yet the vast majority remain positive about their career and optimistic about the future given there are more opportunities than ever to tell stories visually.

This is according to The State of News Photography 2016, a research report authored by myself, Paul Lambert and Camilla Barnett, and published this week by the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam.

The report is based on a survey of 1,991 photojournalists from more than 100 countries and territories. The respondents were overwhelmingly male (85 percent).

This is the second year we have conducted this study tracking income, work patterns, educational levels, risk and ethical practices. All entrants to the 2016 World Press Photo Contest were invited to undertake the survey and 34 percent of them participated, which is an impressive response rate for research of this kind. Here are some of the highlights of the 27-page report.

We found there had been a significant change in the employment arrangement of photographers from 2015 to 2016.

Fewer respondents were working full-time as photographers, down markedly from 74 percent in 2015 to 61 percent in 2016. Instead, there had been a rise in part-time work with respondents undertaking other photography-related work such as exhibitions, weddings, and books, but also work unrelated to photography.

With less than half of the photographers who participated in the study saying they earned all their income from photography, most were forced to supplement their photography income with earnings from other activities, such as teaching and even working in the hospitality industry.

If we think how important the visual image is in our day-to-day lives, online and offline, it should be a matter of general concern that the people who dedicate their lives to capturing quality, meaningful pictures are under pressure and, in some cases, being squeezed out of business.

According to one of the photographers who participated in the study:

Serious long-form documentary photography/photojournalism or visual storytelling is in desperate trouble, with decreasing outlets, publications, support, and appreciation by the public. This is a loss to the world of the informed and engaged public citizen.

The threat of amateur photographers providing free images — often of a poorer quality — was felt keenly by many of the participants in the study.

Among sports photographers — a special focus of this year’s report — the threat of amateurs was the third-most worrying risk after access to sporting venues and the cost of equipment. Said one sports photographer:

Organizations in North America…have encouraged the use of ‘hobbyist’ photographers who accept minimal payment or commission-only payment. The use of these people has driven professional sports photographers out of work, and in some cases lowered the standards of both the photography produced and the level of professionalism, which harms the industry as a whole.

With billions of camera-equipped smartphones in circulation around the world, some participants bemoaned what has been called the “massification” of image creation. “Everyone is a photographer nowadays,” said one plaintive contributor.

To survive and thrive in the digital era, photographers were diversifying their skills and services, our study revealed.

We found that photographers were increasingly being asked to produce video content for clients. This year, 37 percent of the study’s respondents said they were required to work with video compared to 32 percent last year.

Almost all of the study participants said they would prefer to shoot only still photographs, but had little choice than to provide what their clients and the market wanted.

The proportion of respondents working at least occasionally in “multimedia” teams also rose slightly between 2015 and 2016, with more than 1,000 of the photojournalists participating in the study agreeing they were required at least sometimes to work in this format.

The study also noted a shift in the use of social media by participating photographers. Facebook is still the most used platform, but was rated by only 55 percent of participants as their most important platform this year compared to 62 percent in 2015. Instagram was the fastest rising social media platform, with 19 percent of respondents in 2016 rating it their most popular compared to only 9 percent in 2015.

The risk of injury or death is one of the greatest pressures photographers face. Like last year, more than 90 percent indicated they “sometimes” felt physical risk at work.

Looking ahead five years, half of the 2016 respondents believed the level of risk would get worse.

Risk of physical injury or death was ranked the most worrisome factor by 41 percent of the photojournalists surveyed.

The next most worrisome risk was erratic or unpredictable income (12 percent) followed by “not providing for my family” (9 percent), failure of my company or agency (9 percent), decreasing long-term demand for my work (7 percent) and damage to my professional reputation (5 percent).

However, in spite of the difficult working conditions, the risks and the low pay, photographers continued to be optimistic about their work and prospects.

Photojournalists in this survey were generally a positive group who felt photography was an enjoyable activity. They also felt there were more opportunities than ever to tell stories visually.

Well over 60 percent of respondents in this year’s survey said they were either happy or very happy with their current mix of assignments.