Product photography pricing may get rather confusing, especially for marketers or eCommerce store owners who are on a quest to create visuals for a variety of commodities for the first time.
Once you understand the importance of product photography & the fact that pricing structure is a crucial component of your overall product photography strategy, you can decide how much of your money to devote to it and devise a strategy for getting your material.
Continue reading to learn how product imaging pricing is calculated and what aspects to consider when creating a preliminary budget for product photography for your eCommerce business.
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How Is Product Photography Pricing Charged?
It is necessary to understand the different ways studios charge for their services. Depending on the details of your project, you may favour one model over another:
- By hour/day
- By the product
- By the image
By the hour or day
This method involves charging on an hourly or daily basis. For instance, a photographer can charge $100/hour or $1000/day. It is difficult to estimate daily production if your project has specialized image requirements that change from product to product.
There’s also a hassle to forecasting and keeping accounting for the budget. However thorough you’re with your inventory and items, things often end up getting late and not as per the plan. Therefore, this model should be left for exceptional occasions if you want your product photography project to be on a budget.
Product Photography Pricing by Product
This method includes charges according to the number of products to be photographed. For instance, at $30/product for 20 products, the project cost would be $600.
There are additional conditions as well for product photography by this pricing method: different categories of products get charged at distinct price points. Products that are bigger and require extra manning have higher charges than regular products.
There is a specific product photography rate per image if the number of images exceeds the maximum amount. The photographer grants a fixed number of images per product and charges extra only on exceeding the max image count per product. Also, as the number of products increases, the wholesale discount rate applies to product photography pricing.
By the Image
This product photography pricing method is charged based on the number of images produced. For 1-5 images the price could be $50, and for 6-15 images it could be $42, and so on. This method creates transparency and fairness to the client and the provider, making it the most preferred pricing method by many professional photographers. Also, the pricing reduces accordingly as the number of images increases.
Factors That Determine Product Photography Pricing
Photographer Skill Level
Product photography is a skill game that works on supply and demand. A professional and experienced photographer will have higher technical skills, editing skills, creativity, and the ability to produce higher-quality images. These photographers also have lots of word-of-mouth generated businesses and plenty of reviews which keeps their demand high and makes them qualified to charge higher. A beginner-level photographer generally has a smaller portfolio and fewer skills comparatively. They tend to shoot for free and gradually increase their portfolio, ultimately their demand.
Product Category Effect on Pricing
The final price gets highly influenced by product category. For instance, products belonging to categories like electronics and bulky vehicles like bicycles may have a surcharge due to the extra studio resources they consume on photography. Similarly, other complex products like jewellery, handbags, clothes, and cosmetics require care, time, effort, and experience to best portray them, thereby having different prices.
Similarly, the size and weight of the products are other key determining factors of product photography pricing. Large-size products require more space, special tools, and large tables and props, and also more teams may need to be there – to unpack, handle, position, remove, etc.
Likewise, heavier products require more effort, time, and cost in relocation, considerably affecting product photography pricing.
You might like to stay ahead of the game with these top 5 ecommerce product photography trends.
Background and photo set arrangements
Although every product is introduced effectively on a white background, some products require conditional or unconditional background settings for a proper display. Depending upon the product and its usage, an appropriate backdrop is prepared that requires constructing a setup that takes extra time, effort, studio space, and resources. For instance, kitchenware, furniture, and other lifestyle products look better in their respective environments that require specific setups and resources to produce effective photographs.
Images That Depict Lifestyle
Lifestyle photography showcases the products in use either by a human being, specifically a model, or on an elemental backdrop. This aspect of product photography usually has higher prices because it requires models, makeup artists, stylists, and lighting assistants as well as lots of planning, rental fees, props, transportation arrangements, and much more to make everything right. The product photography pricing can range depending on the models, sets, and scenes required.
Post Processing & Retouching
Product photography may not be purely organic. At a particular stage, some photos require editing and retouching to remove unwanted elements and make the products look bright, clear, and astonishing. Post-processing requires a dedicated team of editors responsible for retouching the product images. They are responsible for removing mannequins, supporting objects, and giving the final finishing. This process is a price-forming factor in product photography pricing.
Other costs that add up to product photography pricing include
- Shipping is an inevitable part of pricing. The farther away from the photography studio, the more expenditure you’ll need to bear.
- Count on logistics. All the products for a shooting session, pulling from inventory, packing, shipping back and forth, and unpacking all add up to manning power which requires planning, and ultimately increases product photography pricing.
Also, read about the impact of product photography on digital marketing & make an informed decision.
Conclusion
You now understand the pricing structure for product photography and the fees charged by various professional photographers. The components are the determining signs that might affect the final billing, although the appropriate pricing model can provide the groundwork for you to save on the services.
Brandshark is a creative digital marketing & web development company in India that provides specialized services in product photography in Bangalore. Our professionals do high-resolution product photography that captures and highlights the product’s most unique details and creates a strong visual impact on the market.
Reference Link: https://www.squareshot.com/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-product-photography-pricing