If you are are looking to hire a product photographer and wondering how much does product photography cost, you may have spent some time looking around and found out that pricing for product photography varies from as low as $5 per image to as high as $50 per photo for ecommerce images on white background. (We have a separate article exploring Top 10 product photographers in the US with pricing, comparisons, and comments, that you may want to look at). Now you are asking yourself the burning question:
What's the difference?
In simple terms, the difference in product photography rates per image comes from 2 factors:
- the production expertise factor which includes the quality of three main elements: lighting, styling, and post-production.
- the place for business factor, which includes rents, salaries, and taxes that the product photo studio pays.
Production expertise comes with experience and dedication to the craft of photography. Typically, lower quality images will not be able to make the product look high-end, shiny, and crispy clear. The lighting won't be top notch, the angles will look odd, styling may look forces, and imperfections will be untouched in retouch.
With high end photos the product will be lit properly, photographed with suitable lenses, flattering angles, natural-looking styling, and post-production clearing up dust, scratches, and imperfections.
The production factor is strictly technical and knowledge based.
The second factor that determine product shoot rates is location. Photo studios are big spaces, you can't really fit a lot of equipment and set-ups in a small room, so rents play a huge factor. If the photo studio rent is very high, part of the cost per picture you pay will go towards paying the rent, in fact a huge chunk of it. The fancier the location, the bigger the studio, the bigger the space that is used for things other than taking photos, the bigger chunk goes towards rent.
In an ideal world you will have knowledgeable photographers who work in a low-rent locations, so that the majority of the cost per photo clients pay goes towards the production of a high quality image. This is exactly the type of product photographers in China we work with! With speedy and affordable shipping, there is no need to hire a photographer in a big city, who will spend his days worrying about paying the rent, instead take the stress out, and let the photographers do their magic producing high end images.
Does It Really Matter If Product Photos are High-End or Basic?
The answer depends on the sales goals for the product to be photographed. Do you have 50, 500, 5000, 50 000 units in stock that you plan to sell for the SKU you need product photos? There is a big difference between these quantities. If you purchase small quantities of low priced products, investing in quality images does not make sense. However, if you sell larger quantities, then choosing a high quality photographer does matter, a lot.
Especially if you intend to spend money marketing and advertising for that product to bring traffic to your product listing or social media page, you absolutely need the best images you can afford. While it may seem like quality images do the same job as poorly lit photos of a badly styled item, since both show the product, the reality is that the better image also does something more, a high quality photos, videos, and infographics build trust and credibility with customers, because they show that your company takes business seriously, and this in turn makes them more likely to buy from you vs a competitor with poor quality photos of similar products. Think of this as a sales rep coming to a business meeting with you to offer a product or service wearing dirty sweatpants, and another one wearing a nice suit, all other things being equal, which one would you prefer doing business with?
Which price is right for photography?
The answer depends. You shouldn't choose any product or service strictly based on price. Instead, evaluate what is right for your business. Set a budget, quality requirements, measurable goals, and schedules, and find a photography partner who will check all boxes.
Let's say you have a product that needs 5 images, you have to choose between spending $25 and spending $250. The answer may seem obvious, but it really isn't.
The actual cost of product photos is measured by the impact they have on the overall conversion rate for a product, not the cost of producing the images alone. So if the $25 set of images makes your product have a conversion rate of 1%, while the $250 raises the rate to 10%, how much is that difference in sales achieved worth over the course of 1 month, how about over the course of 12 months? Saving $225 may sound great up front, but if the decision to settle for the low quality product photos results in lost sales not spending the extra $225 is a regrettable decision and sooner or later you will still have to either reshoot the product or entirely discontinue it.
There is no one answer that is true for every business. Consider your own goals and test your market to see what type of images work best with your target audience. Don't forget turn-around times when selecting a photo partner.
How much does 360Refinery charge for product photography?
Our top priority at 360Refinery is producing top quality product photos and video at affordable rates. We create clean and crispy well lit photos for ecommerce and focus on developing production quality to the maximum and keep studios as far away from expensive rent locations as possible.
The price per photo depends on the complexity of each project. Our product photography rates start at $9 per photo.
We have package options and also are open for Custom requirements.
See our product photography pricing here.
