Product photography is a seriously growing area of professional photography. In the last few years there has been explosive growth in online retail/ecommerce coupled with an increasing awareness that high-quality photography is a necessity to make sure products sell online. We’ve seen a sharp rise in photographers specialising in this niche, and many digital agencies have also jumped on the opportunity to add product photography services to their offering.

If you are interested in learning how to make money with product photography, by expanding into this area yourself, there are some traps you will want to avoid. I share those with you along with tips for what to do to ensure this is both a positive and profitable move for you.

You can be exceptional at your craft, but when dealing with people and businesses, it’s often only through experience, sometimes negative, that costly lessons are learned. Below, I share the most common issues we know product photographers come up against and what can be done about it.

How to make money with product photography

Photographers and other creatives often get shortchanged on projects unnecessarily. What is in your control is getting clear about what you need, and what they need, by exploring and documenting:

• Client expectations;

• How you will take delivery of any products/props for the shoot; and

• Product photography pricing and terms and conditions of payment.

Let’s start with managing client expectations…

Managing photography and shoot expectations

Product photography is vastly different to portrait photography. This is because there are often multiple items to be photographed in one shoot. In this case, you must ask questions to ensure your client is 100% clear on what they need and expect from you, so you can scope the work and determine your fee accordingly. 

While this is not an exhaustive list, here are some of the questions that need to be covered in a product photography contract:

• How many photographs of each product should be included?

• How many shoots will there be?

• What style of photography is required?

• What type of lighting is required?

• How many photographs will be retouched per item?

• Do you want to pay for all raw photograph images or only final edited images?

• Will I retain copyright and provide a licence to use, or will there be a transfer of ownership?

• Will someone from the client’s company be at the shoot?

• Will they be involved in directing the shoot, or just on hand to assist?

• Am I just taking photographs or styling the background as well?

• How many locations are photographs to be taken at?

• If you are photographing clothes, will the clothes be worn by a model? If so, how many models will there be?

When you have the answers to questions like these, you are helping your client get clear on exactly what they need before you get started on scoping. It’s harder to explain later on that ‘x wasn’t included’ and manage their frustration, or see your budget blow out. 

It’s also wise to know what happens if the client doesn’t like the outcome. Is there an initial test shoot that they pay for where you send through samples before you do the whole shoot? Do you require them to sign off on the concept and look before you do the whole project? Or perhaps they need to pay you up front?

You need to ensure you charge correctly for your skills and the time required to prepare, shoot all the post-shoot work you will do. Getting clear on what your client expects is the first step to ensure you can make good money.

Delivery & receipt of products

Another common issue for product photographers is when products do not appear in time for the scheduled shoot, leaving people out of pocket. Often you have already booked the shoot location or if you have your own, that is a day blocked out that now needs to be rescheduled.

That’s why it’s essential to have some key elements in your product photography contract that answer these questions:

• How will you receive the goods to photograph?

• What happens to the products after the shoot? Do you dispose of them or send them back? If not, do you keep them or can you sell them? 

• What happens if the products don’t arrive in time for the shoot date?

• How many days before the shoot do you require them to arrive?

• What happens if the product is damaged or unusable?

• Are you required to iron clothing in preparation for a shoot? What happens if it is damaged? Who is responsible?

The last thing any product photographer wants to be responsible for is a delivery that will arrive on or after the day of the shoot. If products need to be treated in some way before the shoot, that needs to be clear as well.

When everyone is on the same page about these issues, it saves the need for challenging conversations, because you have already dealt with the hard questions.

Product photography pricing and payment terms

How is your product photography pricing detailed? When are you going to be paid?

It’s a good idea to be paid in instalments or in advance. When you have allocated time and perhaps a location for a shoot, there needs to be a financial commitment for your client to keep the date. You don’t want to miss out on a days payment because the client hasn’t organised what they need to, in time.

Your product photography contract should cover these questions:

• How are you going to be paid? In full or in instalments?

• When will you be paid? Upon booking, before, during or after the shoot, or once you deliver the photos? ?

• Are there additional props/people required to assist? Who will pay for those extras?

• What happens to a deposit if they cancel the shoot?

• How much notice do they need to give if they cancel a shoot? Is there a partial refund issued?

• Are there add-on items that people can purchase if they want additional photographs, additional retouching later on?

Final Proofs 

Your product photography contract should cover what is to happen if the client is not happy with the final outcome. For example, what will happen if they are not happy with the colour of a product in the photograph? You may require a disclaimer that says you cannot guarantee colour outcomes, especially when they differ depending on lighting, social media filters and the device the photos are viewed upon.

There are a number of issues that we’ve helped clients cover in their agreements to avoid them having to re-do a whole shoot or return funds. Avoiding these issues is possible, when you have the support of someone who is familiar with the various issues product photographers have come up against.

We work with photographers and agencies to help identify the many elements that need to be considered to manage expectations, avoid scope creep and get paid well.

We have seen too many photographers end up doing more work than anticipated because the specifics of the product photography shoot were not sufficient, or adequately documented, to start with. A comprehensive product photography contract will ensure that all of these elements, and more, are clearly outlined. It will also assist with your scoping and ensure that all terms and conditions are detailed for your client to be aware of and agree to. 

If you have a digital agency where you do ongoing content management for people, have product photography in a separate agreement.

We don’t like seeing creatives having to do more than agreed to, because they are concerned they’ll miss out on future work. Getting a product photography contract that covers all of these elements, will help you avoid unnecessary complications that can so easily arise.

If you are looking for a product photography contract template, to cover yourself, you can find our template here. Alternatively, you may wish to have a custom client agreement drafted by us. If you wish to discuss which option might be best for your specific needs, book a time to speak with us here.