Are you a professional photographer and thinking about product photography pricing? Sometimes it can be a fairly hard task to estimate the original cost. Well, we have done a lot of research for your intuition, and hopefully, this blog will help you to make the proper estimate for product photography.
Everything You Need to Know | Product Photography
A. Different Types of Product Photography Providers
Let’s go for a detailed discussion and learn the essential information.
01. Private Photography Providers
Some entrepreneurs love dealing with private photography providers, which has both good and bad effects on the users. It might be quick, but it is not the proper procedure to deal with photographers. Let me tell you some of their merits and demerits.
a. Merits of Private Photography
- In a new city, you can get a private studio quickly.
- They do not charge you a lot. As a result, you will have it within an affordable budget.
- You will enjoy the little shipping experience as it is within the town.
- You will have a variety of options to choose from.
b. Demerits of Private Photography
- There is a chance of getting an unskilled photographer.
- Maybe there is a shortage of equipment.
02. Professional Photography Providers
The most popular method for hiring a photographer is to look for a professional photography studio. We are suggesting you use professional photography instead of using private photography providers. Please have a look at their merits and demerits!
a. Merits of Professional Photography Providers
- There is a guarantee of professional execution.
- You will have access to a professional studio.
- There is a good chance we can photograph a considerable number of products at a time.
- At the same time, you can shoot a variety of products.
b. Demerits of Professional Photography Providers
- As a beginner, you will need to bear high costs.
- If the photography studio is not at hand, you also have to calculate the shipping costs.
B. How Much Does Product Photography Cost?
There are no hard and fast rules for the price range of product photography. From our experience, an hour would cost around $150-$170. In real life, you will have some photographers who work for you at a lower budget than this. However, they are not the standard for a good quality product photograph. In the year 2020, the budget was low, at under $100 to start, and later on, the prices increased surprisingly.
C. Pricing Methods | Popular Product Photography
Now let me discuss with you some field of photography and their pricing methods.
01. Hourly Based Work
Most of the photography studios will work on an hourly basis. The rate depends on their reputation. A beginner Photographer might work for you from $50-$250. It depends on their working experience and expertise. For a semi-professional photographer, the hourly rate is about $150.
If you cannot afford an expert photographer, choose a newbie. However, you need to have a close look at their portfolio. We suggest you check their previous work before starting to work with them. Hobbyists or beginners will start working at $10 to $25 per product image. However, they will charge $50 per hour.
There are some amateur photographers, and they will work for you at any rate. As they have no lighting and photography experience, it is becoming a risky task to work with them.
02. Pricing Per Day
We can say it is the most popular method of paying photographers. It will also save you money and time if you hire an expert photographer for the day. That could be around $300-$3000, depending on their skills and your product type. If you could arrange the photographer within this range, that would be a brilliant idea.
03. Pricing Per Image
Another popular way to hire a professional photographer is to deal with them per image. The price range will be from $10 to more than $200. It could be even more if you are dealing with some unique product or object. In the United States, it could be $35-$170.
04. Pricing Per Product
The final procedure for hiring a professional photographer is for a product. For instance, you have thousands of products for a photo shoot for your eCommerce company, and you can contact them for a wide range of products. They will complete the photoshoot within a given timeframe.
D. Other Fields of Photography & Their Pricing Methods
Now let me discuss with you some other field of photography and their pricing methods
a. Ecommerce Photography Pricing
Naturally, eCommerce owners want different types of product image editing services with a plain white background. This is the most demanding job for the photographers. From our experience, we can say it could be near around $50 per image. It could be more than that depending on the experience. Now the rule is the more images that you are editing, the price range will be low.
b. Lifestyle Photography Pricing
Lifestyle photography is one of the most exciting things to do as a professional photographer. It requires charm, glamor, and passion. Most of the time, lifestyle photography is done for magazines and personal blogs.
It requires a highly skilled photographer who understands the trends and feels the vibe of your audience. If you do lifestyle photography with a plain white background, that would be more than a product photographer. You might be shocked to know that per day a lifestyle photographer will charge you around $2000-$5000.
c. Amazon Product Photography Pricing
When you choose a photographer for your Amazon business, the price range will be almost the same as the local product photography. When you upload an image to the Amazon platform, you need to ensure some qualities.
- The right image format
- You have to use the proper CMYK and RGB color mode
- It must need to ensure a properly whiter background
Amazon product photography will also cost around $150 for an hour. The skilled photographer will charge around $250 or above.
E. The Things Keep in Mind When You Hire a Photographer?
There are some basic criteria that you need to consider while hiring a professional photographer for your agency. Let me describe you to the details of it.
01. Experience
Experience is the most important thing for any job. Photographers are not out of this strategy. While hiring a photographer for your eCommerce site, you must ensure that he has at least 1 year of experience in this niche, including photography product, environmental photography, bird photography, lifestyle photography, etc.
02. Lighting
Lighting is one of the most sensitive issues in the era of photography. Photography lighting has to be different for various niches, like product photography, where we need a different atmosphere and a full lighting setup with a front and rear lighting setup. The reason is that the user needs to see every detail of it.
03. Necessary Photography Equipment
We must check if mandatory photography items are available or not. It is the very basic item to perform to ensure the best quality product. The mandatory photography items are
- Camera strap
- Rubber lens cap
- Sensor cleaner
- SD memory card
- Memory card case
- Memory card reader
- External hard drive
- Tethering table
- Tripod
- TTL flash
- Flash Transmitter
- Reflectors
- Shutter remote
- Creative lens filter
- Camera stabilizer
- Camera Gimbal
- Camera filming rig
- External monitor
- External flash
- AA batteries + battery charger
- Camera cleaning kit
- Prime lens
04. Passion | Product Photography
Is this guy passionate about his work or not? This is the vital question that you need to ask yourself. His attitude and personality will express his passion. Besides that, it will affect the sincerity of the work.
05. Post-production of the Photo
Besides taking photos, post-production is also very necessary. Suppose your photography providers do not provide you with this service. You need to hire a professional photo editing agency. It will be another panic for the entrepreneurs. Let’s discuss some of the significant post-production work.
a. Background Removal Service
For the eCommerce field, background removal is the mandatory task you must do. You need to change the background according to the theme and background design. For instance, it could be a white, blue, or transparent background. Ask your photography service providers if they can provide background removal services or not.
b. Photo Color Correction
Another important service that an eCommerce service provider will ask for is the color correction service. Not all the product images will be perfect and look good after completing the photo shoot. In this case, choosing the perfect color for the audience is essential. Photo color adjustment is a mandatory part of every other eCommerce platform.
c. Ghost Mannequin Service
When we are working with the garments, there is a front part and back part of the products, and when the clients upload them to the main site, they need a perfect image to showcase to the audience. Ghost mannequin service is also known as “neck joint service” too. After editing, the dummy ghost part will be removed, and it will look like a complete garment.
d. Old Photo Restoration Service
This is a bonus task that your photography providers can do for your institution. When we have done family photography, wedding photography, or anniversary photography, the old photo might get damaged and here, you must need the old photo restoration service.
Wrapping Up | Product photography pricing
I firmly believe these tips and tricks will help you to choose the perfect photography solution for your company. Besides that, you will know about product photography pricing. Again, if you face any other problems, do not hesitate to leave your comments below.
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FAQ | Product Photography Pricing
How Do I Ask for Product Photography Rates?
There are several ways to know the photography rates for your business platform. Let me tell you the most popular methods:
- Research on photography pricing
- Directly call the photographer
- Please give him an e-mail or message.
- Read different types of photography blogs
- Ask him for a discount
Why Do Photographers Charge So Much?
Photography types of equipment cost a lot, which is why a photography studio will require a lot of hard work and effort. Again, photography is a challenging task that needs a lot of hard work, passion, and dedication. For this reason, photographers will charge high.
Who is the Best Photographer in This World?
Steve McCurry, an American photographer, is known as the best photographer in the world. He is best known for his photograph of an Afghan girl. He was born in 1950, a photojournalist, and a freelance photographer.
What Do You Mean By “Independent Photographers”?
It means they are not involved in a particular organization but are working independently. We call them freelance photographers too. These photographers will sell their artwork on an independent platform. In their working life, they took several photography projects for their niche platform and later uploaded all the great photos there.
What is the Additional Charge for Photography?
If you like to photograph something special that is not available in real life, then there is a chance that the photographer will charge something extra for you. For instance, it could be a flying bird, a wild animal, etc.
