Experiment: is it possible to distinguish a professional photo portrait from an amateur one

Are the clients of photo studios able to distinguish a professional photographer from an amateur? Seattle photographer Ben Lucas recently decided to conduct an experiment.

Lucas was helped by an actress named Mary, who has no experience with the camera. She was supposed to play the role of a professional photographer. The shooting environment was the same for both photographers. "Each of the participants in the experiment was told that they would participate in a battle of portraits between two professional photographers. Then the participants were shown their photos by Lucas and Mary, without saying where they were, so that they would try to distinguish the work of a professional from the work of a beginner. Next — pictures of Mary (left) and Lucas (right) for comparison.

Source: PetaPixel