How we work
Nobody publishes this, so here it is.
Ask ten photographers or production companies what a shoot costs and nine will say it depends and ask you to get on a call. It genuinely does depend, but that is not a reason to make you work for a range. Here is what drives the number, for stills and for video, and what the numbers usually look like.
The four things that actually move the price
Almost every quote you will ever be given is these four things multiplied together. Once you can see them, the numbers stop being mysterious and you can push on the right one.
Time on site. Half day or full day. The single biggest line, and the one where a planned shot list saves you the most money, because an unstructured day produces perhaps a quarter of what a planned one does.
How hard it is to light. Twenty products on a white background is a fast day. Twenty reflective or glass items is not, because each is lit individually, often focus stacked and retouched by hand. Reflective and transparent things cost more, always.
Retouching volume. Priced per selected image, not per frame shot. Choosing thirty images costs less than choosing a hundred, and most businesses genuinely use about thirty.
Usage. Where the photographs will run and for how long. A local restaurant's own website and social is the cheap end. A regional billboard campaign or paid media at national scale is not, and this is standard across the entire industry rather than anything unusual.
Anyone who quotes you a flat number before asking about usage is either guessing or about to renegotiate later.
Typical ranges
What this market usually looks like
These are honest South Florida commercial photography ranges to calibrate a budget against, not a quote, and not necessarily Allen's rates. Your actual number comes after a conversation about the four things above.
| Type of work | Typical range | What sits behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Half day, single focus | $800 to $1,500 | One product range, a team portrait session, or a small menu set |
| Full day content shoot | $1,800 to $3,500 | Multiple sets, stills and clips, the whole content day |
| Product on white, per item | $35 to $90 | Falls sharply with volume, since the setup is the cost |
| Glass or highly reflective, per item | $90 to $250 | Individually lit, focus stacked, retouched by hand |
| Team portraits, per person | $75 to $200 | Cheaper per head the more people are booked in one session |
| Interiors and space | $600 to $1,800 | Depends on room count and whether twilight exteriors are included |
| Interview session | $900 to $1,800 | Two hours on site, cut into a film plus ten to fifteen clips |
| Video added to a stills day | $400 to $1,200 | Additional time and editing, not a second booking |
| Standalone brand film | $2,500 to $6,000 | Scripting, a shoot day, and a proper edit |
| Extended or regional usage | Added on top | Out of home, broadcast and national paid media are licensed separately |
If the bottom of that table made you wince, the useful comparison is not against nothing. It is against what you are already spending on the channels those photos will run through. A business putting a thousand a month into Meta ads and running weak creative is losing more than the shoot costs, quietly, every month, and never sees it on an invoice.
Read the quote properly
The costs that hide
- Retouching billed separately per selected image, which is normal, but ask how many are included
- Usage limited to a term, so the licence quietly expires and the photos have to be relicensed
- Travel and parking, particularly for anything on the water or downtown
- Stylist, props, ingredients and models, which are real costs and should be listed, not buried
- Rush delivery surcharges
- Raw files, which are usually not included anywhere in the industry and are rarely of any use to you
How we price it
Allen quotes the photography. He is an independent business and we do not mark him up, which is also why we will happily hand you straight to him if the shoot is all you want.
Our side is the deployment: the crops, the formats, the compression, the alt text, and getting everything onto your site, your Google profile, your listings and your ad account. For clients on an ongoing engagement that is simply part of the work rather than a separate invoice. For a one-off it is quoted as its own piece. How we work in general is on the engagement page.
Common questions
Pricing, answered
Why is photography priced by usage and not just by time?
Because a photograph used on one restaurant's own website and the same photograph used on a regional billboard campaign are worth wildly different amounts to the buyer, while taking the photographer the same afternoon. Every commercial photographer in the world prices this way. It only feels strange the first time.
Is it cheaper if we supply the styling and props?
Sometimes, and we will tell you when. If you have a chef who plates beautifully and the props already, that genuinely saves money. If you do not, supplying them badly costs more than it saves, because the day slows down.
Do you offer payment plans?
For clients on an ongoing engagement the photography is generally folded into the monthly work rather than landing as a lump, which is usually easier for everyone. For one-off shoots it is a deposit and a balance.
How much should a small business budget annually?
For most local businesses, two half days or one full day a year covers the essentials. A restaurant or a retailer with changing stock is better served quarterly. Budget it as a marketing line alongside your ad spend, not as a one-time capital purchase, because that is how it actually behaves.
Keep going
Where to next
Next step
Let us look at what you have got.
Send over your website, your Google profile, whatever photography you already own. We will tell you straight what is worth keeping, what is costing you, and whether you need a shoot at all. No charge and no pitch attached to it.