Product Photography pricing

Ygrazi · Jan 6, 2011

I recently got my first job in product photography where I will be taking pictures of children's shoes for a brochure. I will be photographing about 10 pairs of shoes. Future jobs will gradually be adding more pairs. How does pricing work?

Wilsan · Jan 6, 2011

It is depend.
Usually the more the volume less price per product obviously it have a limit.
I do not know your area but here in NY I charge for 30 products or less
25 dollars per product I took 3 photos and the customer select one.

And then go on and go on.

Ygrazi · Jan 6, 2011

One more factor Im not sure if it makes a difference, they will be bringing the shoes to my home, I am not going on site.

AscentMarketingPhoto · Jan 10, 2011

Wilsan is right, volume does bring the price down to a point.

Figuring out how to do the pricing is a very complicated question. I recommend starting at what it costs you to do the work, and going from there. Try to itemize everything you can, and break it down into a cost-per-pair basis. The number you come up with is definitely NOT what you should charge, but at least you know the lower limit. (Remember to figure in the cost of your time. Most starters forget that part. If you could be making $10/hour doing something else, you should be charging at least that for this job)

Also, look around at what other people are charging (via websites, call people on the phone, etc.) These two numbers will give you a very good estimate of where to set your price.

Price your shoes by the pair (i.e. $30/product - this is just a random number), and offer a volume discount that you're comfortable with (i.e. 10% off for more than 25 items). This helps them see the discount clearly, and gets them thinking about giving you more stuff.

Good luck with that first job! You'll learn a lot more than any of us could tell you just by getting out there and doing it. This is a great step.

bcproductphotography · Nov 3, 2011

The answer to your question depends on how decide to charge. You need to either go with charging by time (half a day, full day, etc) or by the image.

As a product photographer myself with a <Link Deleted> in the mid-west I use the per image method when it comes to my <Link Deleted>. Since I shoot in high volume and in studio it works best to charge this way. As said above, the option of the volume product photography pricing it true. Defiantly charge less as the product count increases. We charge as follows.

<Link Deleted>
1-4 images $39.00 per image
5 or more $29.00 per image
group images $49.00 per image
$99+ for complex backgrounds and large sets.
We do have numerous clients that have had product counts over 100 and continue to use our services so we charge them $10 per image. That's a big jump and the client appreciates it and comes back time after time.

<Link Deleted> is the the single most important aspect for a business if they sell products online of in print media. Don't sell your self short on pricing.

Happy Shooting!

KmH · Nov 4, 2011

Add some contrast to the text on your web site, dude.

BlairWright · Nov 5, 2011

bcproductphotography said:
The answer to your question depends on how decide to charge. You need to either go with charging by time (half a day, full day, etc) or by the image.

As a product photographer myself with a <Link Deleted> in the mid-west I use the per image method when it comes to my <Link Deleted>. Since I shoot in high volume and in studio it works best to charge this way. As said above, the option of the volume product photography pricing it true. Defiantly charge less as the product count increases. We charge as follows.

<Link Deleted>
1-4 images $39.00 per image
5 or more $29.00 per image
group images $49.00 per image
$99+ for complex backgrounds and large sets.
We do have numerous clients that have had product counts over 100 and continue to use our services so we charge them $10 per image. That's a big jump and the client appreciates it and comes back time after time.

<Link Deleted> is the the single most important aspect for a business if they sell products online of in print media. Don't sell your self short on pricing.

Happy Shooting!

Wow, I am shocked at how low your prices are. How do you make a living at those prices? You would need 2600 jobs (7 a day, 365 days a year) just to make 100 grand.

I think your selling yourself short bud, even in Nebraska you should be able to charge at least 500 for a product image.

If you guys want to know who your real competition is go check the prices on Getty Images.

Helen B · Nov 5, 2011

I'm glad that someone else commented on these low prices. Product photography can be so much more than simply taking a picture of a product. I do between 10 images a day and one in three days, working with a set designer, an art director and at least two assistants.

Best,
Helen

bcproductphotography · Nov 6, 2011

I agree with your comments on pricing and not pricing to low for product photography. I want clarify my recent post, the tiered <Link Deleted> that we provided is for images shot on solid black or white backgrounds only. We would never be able to charge those prices for jobs that require large sets, complex backgrounds or products that would require special attention in order to be photographed, I guess I should have mentioned that. The way we are able to keep the pricing low on the simple solid background sets is because we have designed a few sets to where all we have to do is drop the product in and shoot it. This type of product photography is mostly used for ecommerce and internet stores. There is no way a company would be able to pay $500 per image for use as an online image source.

We also have photo shoots with items that require us to have a stylist, assistants and an art director and those are priced on a per shoot basis. These shoots require us to base the pricing on time, staff, image usage and equipment needed. We have numerous product shoots that range into the $1000's of dollars. Just depends on all the factors.

Since Ygrazi was asking for what I assumed to be simple catalog work in a brochure, these are the prices I would suggest using. Our website <Link Deleted> is dedicated solely to our simple, high volume photography and pricing and is designed for clients nationwide to send us their products. <Link Deleted>
Thanks everyone for the comments.

c.cloudwalker · Nov 6, 2011

I have to agree with BlairWright and Helen on this although I understand there are different levels of product photography. I have one studio dedicated to catalog shots and we sometimes do a whole catalog in just a week's time but those are fairly small catalogs and the background is the same for all shots. This still requires a studio, lights, insurance, etc, etc. Not to mention one photog and at least one assistant and there is no way I could do it for the rates you charge.

I do understand that being in Nebraska you probably have some overhead costs that are lower than mine about an hour out of Paris or Helen in NYC but I don't see that difference allowing you to stay in business long with those rates. You just started and I wish you the best but I'd like to run into you again in a couple years to see if you are not too frazzled to keep on going at the pace you must be keeping.

Anna_Gray · Jun 6, 2013

I charge $80 an hour + return shipping costs, and an average picture needs about 2 hours to be completed (product photographed - product photo edited). I specialize in jewelry and small products (such as cell phones) photography. People send products to my studio, I photograph them and return to a customer. I don't know what is best to charge like - per photo or per hour. I think per hour because there are some photos that can take you all day

. Say customer wants you to photograph a chain - that's 18" of links, about 100 links, try removing background from all of them - and you'll see what I mean

. The one piece of advice I can give though is to always get paid before you give them images. There are some lousy companies out there that will take your images and then say they didn't work for them and refuse to pay. My buddy photo designer got scammed that way.