How can I improve to become a professional photographer?

It's my dream! It's the only thing I can do that actually impacts my clinical depression positively.

First off, I use an iPhone 5s. I don't feel comfortable/do too well with cameras. I take much better pictures with my iPhone.

I mean, should I at least buy an upgrade iPhone? + tips.

Take a three year degree course in Photography.

The short answer is: Practice, practice, practice.

And note that to be taken seriously as a "working photographer" you do need to use, and know how to use, a "proper camera" - most likely a DSLR.

If you want to become a professional photographer, you need to learn how to manually control exposer. For that, you need a real camera, not a phone.

Buy a real, fully adjustable camera. It is hard to be a photographer with out the ability to use the tools of photography. How could you use depth of field on a phone camera? To be a photographer you will have to learn how to do it and what it is. A tiny little image sensor will be plagued with noise and a tiny little stamped out lens, plagued with distortion. You will need ways to set your aperture and exposure time, phone cameras do not yet have those adjustments. Enjoy your iPhone camera because it is always with you. For photography you will need a way to set aperture and exposure time which is something phones can't yet do.

Buy a real camera. Learn how to use it.
This will take years.
If you have clinical depression, you may want to look into another career.
Pro photography has a lot of stress.

This would be funny if you were not actually serious. A phone is NOT a professional photography tool. It is a joke to be frank about it.

If you can't, or will not, learn to use a REAL camera, you sure better think of something other than being a photographer. Truth be told, it is not a good career choice anyway. Most people, even those who take very good photos with REAL cameras, have an extremely hard time earning money with photography.

Your "clinical depression" is not going to be helped one bit when you are constantly struggling to make a buck and get clients.

Get into another career and keep photography as a fun hobby. That way you can keep using your phone as an excuse for a camera and not have to bother to learn anything.

By refusing to use a real camera and with your condition, your photography would at best be practiced at the therapeutic level only.

A newer iPhone? Again, especially if you're just a kid, it will be purely therapeutic. Here's the problem though. When will it stop? What happens when you can't afford new phones anymore? Will you just give up and die? You don't battle depression with a new phone. You already mentioned it's clinical therefore the solution is a regular dose of psychiaratric therapy and if needed, prescription meds.

This is a a typical anonymous question that doesn't merit an answer
Tip-the 2.30pm at York

Photography and painting (drawing included) are very, very beneficial therapeutic vehicles in and of themselves. It is why people in very stressful careers turn to photography on their "off" time, or weekends. Right now, you're limiting all the fun and therapeutic benefits you can derive by using your an iPhone 5s. Wait until you decide to Really upgrade to a DSLR… And you start learning and exploring the cornucopia of experiences you'll have at your disposal! You simply can't imagine all the fun you're missing out on right now

Do yourself a favor, go to B&H (on the Internet) and check out their used camera department, look for a used Nikon D5200 with the kit lens AND the Nikon D5300 with the kit lens; also check out KEH.com and try to locate this nifty camera with the kit lens. Look up the camera on the Internet. Look up whatever words or terms you don't understand (so you'll learn the jargon used by photography enthusiasts). You MIGHT be tempted to get either of these fine cameras and kit zoom lens… And a totally new world will open up for you.

You want to take it a step further? Get the camera, READ the Instructions Manual and then sign up for a formal organized Beginners' Photography class. What you learn in a total of about 12-14 hours will normally take someone 5-7 months of (frustrating) trial and (discouraging) error on their own. Here's the good news: there's nothing to memorize It's all common sense where you'll learn the basic fundamentals of photography (use of light, light and shadows, how to use the aperture + shutter speed + ISO and built-in light meter for a great exposure… How to compose imagines, etc). And you LEARN from your errors!

IF you think you're having fun now, WAIT until you get your hands on a DSLR and take a Beginners Photography class… I'll give you a hint, I obsessed over photography for over a year, going to libraries (NO Internet back then) and reading all the books and magazines I could find… And when I got my first camera… I was hooked! That was over 54 years ago and I"m still playing with my cameras and lenses.

Being a "professional" photographer is not the highest point of photography. Enjoy photography for what it is, a tremendous hobby that gives us all personal pleasures and personal growth. Photography is a dying profession; EVERYONE walks around with a cell 'phone camera and thinks they're "photographers" (they are NOT; they are snap-shooters).

Check this YouTube video.

Photography as any other kind of art aren't something that you should worry about qualifications or what people think, photography is something you need to express that is deep inside you, you can't put a price on art, remember that.

However being a professional doesn't mean that you need to improve your work in terms of being a professional photographer is someone that creates revenue from their art as soon as you sell photographs you become a professional.

Be honest about your feelings for your work and your passion, most artist are never happy with there work they are always looking for something better to do everything needs a better angle or a better perspective. As a writer used to said if I will read my own book I will want to re-write the whole sh*t.