How much does a product photo shoot cost in 2024?
How much does it cost to hire a product photographer?
In order to get the photos that you need for your product to stand out in the e-commerce world, you realize that you need to hire a product photographer. A product photographer will create product photos that are relevant to your company and will help you stand out. But how much does a product photography session typically cost? Good product photography is an investment. Cost varies, but here are some general guidelines to help you budget in advance so that you can book a product photo session.
How much does a product photoshoot cost in 2024? Here are some guidelines:
Type of product images. There are different types of product images that we like to categorize into three sets: white background, styled, and lifestyle. Typically, white background product photography is priced per image with a setup fee, while styled and lifestyle product photography is usually priced by how long the photo session is estimated to take. For the latter, there are typically day rates and half day rates that product photographers use as guidelines to determine whether or not a product photoshoot will fall into these categories.
Use. The topic of licensing and copyright can get really confusing, but in general, product photographers grant a commercial usage license to their clients. This means that the client can use the images under certain guidelines, and if the client wants to expand those guidelines, an additional fee will be charged. For example, a typical commercial usage license may already include small marketing efforts such as usage on the web, social media and maybe print. If the client were to use the images on large-scale marketing platforms like billboards, magazines with a large following, TV commercials, etc., then the product photographer may charge them a licensing fee that includes these. Licensing fees can vary depending on the amount of people the images will reach (national, global, etc.), how long the images will be used, and where the images will be used. Remember that product photographers will always retain the full copyright ownership of their images (under US copyright law), and the cost to obtain all rights can be a HEFTY sum. In most cases, most people do not need access to full copyright ownership, and your product photographer can explain this to you.
Props, styling, etc. In addition to the time spent taking photos during your session, you might want your product photographer to gather props and create a customized background for your company images. The cost of props and materials used to build these customized backdrops vary, and a good product photographer will work with you to come up with a budget and set expectations of what you can achieve within that budget.
Experience & skillset. As with any profession, those with more experience and skills are likely to charge more than a beginner. This applies to the product photography world. If you have a good budget, we suggest working with a product photographer who is experienced and knows how to use artificial lighting to get a specific look. Even if you have a lower budget, it is worth noting that a price that seems “too good to be true” probably is. Always make sure to ask your product photographer their experience level to ensure that you will be making a good choice. Many photographers who do generalized work with people can say that they do product photography, but product photography really requires a specific skillset that is very different from photographing people. Do your research and make sure that the photographer specializes in products.
These three guidelines will help you determine how much product photography costs. Let’s do a quick example:
Say you need white background product images for your Shopify website, plus additional styled images to supplement when a web browser hovers over a product. In total, you need 10 white background images and 10 styled images. You want the styled images to all be on the same backdrop and have similar styling, but different props need to be incorporated into the images.
White background photography: 10 images X ($25-50)/image + ($300-$500) setup fee = $550 - $1,000 price range.
Styled photography: The photographer estimates that these styled images specifically will take half a day, and their half-day rate is $2,000. Plus, props will cost around $200.
Total cost: $2,750 - $3,200
*Please keep in mind that this is just an estimate, and this blog provides guidelines. All product photographers have different rates depending on their experience and location.
Now that you have a better understanding of how much product photography costs, it will be much easier to budget in the future if you are considering hiring a product photographer for your e-commerce business. We hope you found this helpful!
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