Product photography costs: the short answer
Product photography costs in the Dutch market typically run between €5.95 and €29 per packshot in 2026, depending on volume and editing. Photographers charge €40 to €120 per hour, and a full shoot day at a specialised studio commonly costs €1,400 to €1,800. Product count, styling, retouching and 360-degree views drive the final price.
€29
typical market price per packshot, depending on volume and editing
€120
common hourly rate for a product photographer (excl. VAT)
€1,800
market range for a full studio shoot day
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Anyone comparing product photography prices runs into a familiar problem: one studio charges per photo, another per hour, a third per shoot day. One includes clipping and retouching in the price, another adds it per image. This guide puts the going market rates side by side, shows which levers move the price, and gives you a realistic budget per type of webshop. That way you know what a quote is worth before you sign it.
What does product photography cost in 2026?
For individual packshots, the going rate in the Dutch market is €5.95 to €29 per photo. Hourly rates run from €40 for a junior product photographer to €120 for a senior shooting campaign imagery. These are the common market rates per pricing model:
| Pricing model | Typical rates (excl. VAT) | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Per photo (packshot) | €5.95 – €29 per photo | Webshops with many similar products |
| Volume tiers | around €9 – €14.50 per photo | Series of 50+ products |
| Hourly rate | €40 – €120 per hour | Styling, lifestyle imagery, small series |
| Shoot day | €1,400 – €1,800 | Campaigns, lifestyle sets, full collections |
| 360-degree | surcharge per product | Furniture, tech, detail-heavy products |
Those hourly rates follow a clear ladder. A junior photographer charges €40 to €60 per hour in the market and handles basic imagery well. For extended product lines and styled shoots, a mid-level photographer sits at €60 to €90. Senior photographers delivering campaign and high-end promotional work ask €90 to €120 per hour.
Check what each quote actually includes. Clipping, colour correction and the number of revision rounds differ per supplier, and some studios add setup or project fees ranging from a few tenners to around €150.
Price per product photo: how packshot photography works
Packshot photography means shooting a product free-standing, usually against a white or neutral background, ready for your webshop or marketplace. Because the work standardises well, studios almost always charge per photo here rather than per hour.
The volume tier does the real work. At some studios the first photo of a product costs €29, for example, and every extra angle of that same product another €9. Other studios work with volume pricing: from ten photos around €14.50 each, from fifty photos around €12.50, and at hundreds of products the price drops further. Specialised packshot factories advertise all-in prices from €5.95 per photo; you ship your products in and get standardised imagery back.
That low price per photo does not tell the whole story. Count the extras: shipping your products there and back, any setup fees, and whether retouching and clipping are included. An €8 photo with €4 of editing on top costs more than an all-in photo at €11.
Product photography rates: the factors that set the price
Two quotes for the same collection can sit a factor of three apart and both be correct. Product photography rates come down to six cost drivers:
Volume pushes the price per photo down but the total budget up. From around fifty products, most studios work with tiered pricing; ask for it explicitly.
A packshot on white is routine. Lifestyle imagery with props, models or a set requires preparation and a stylist, and shifts pricing from per photo to per hour or per day.
Clipping, removing dust and scratches, calibrating colours: editing quickly takes as long as the shoot itself. This is the biggest gap between cheap and expensive quotes.
Rotating product views and short product videos need extra equipment and editing time. Expect a surcharge per product on top of the regular photo price.
Glass, jewellery and shiny surfaces reflect and demand tricky lighting setups. Large products such as furniture need studio space and build-up time.
Imagery for your own webshop usually falls under the standard rate. Marketplaces set their own format requirements, and campaigns or print sometimes need a broader licence.
Always ask what the price per photo includes
A packshot price only becomes comparable once you know what is in it: clipping, revision rounds, colour calibration, turnaround time and the shipping costs for your products. Also ask what a reshoot costs if an image does not meet your expectations. Two extra lines in the quote prevent most disputes later.
Having product photos made: factory, photographer or agency?
If you want product photos made, you have roughly three routes, and they are not mutually exclusive. Many webshops combine them: packshots through a volume specialist, lifestyle imagery through a photographer or agency.
The packshot factory works per product: ship it in, get it shot, ship it back. At €5.95 to roughly €15 per photo, this is by far the cheapest route for large volumes of standardised imagery. The trade-off: little room for your own style, and your products are in transit for a while.
The independent product photographer charges per hour or per photo and thinks along on lighting, composition and styling. For small series, difficult materials and imagery that has to match your brand, this is the logical middle road. Expect €40 to €120 per hour, depending on experience.
The studio or agency with a shoot day exists for collections and campaigns: a day with a stylist, models or a set, commonly €1,400 to €1,800 per shoot day in the market. Per photo that looks expensive, but one good shoot day often delivers imagery for your entire site, your socials and your ads at once.
The rule of thumb: the more your product sells itself, the better the factory works. The more your brand makes the difference, the more a photographer or agency pays off. Our guide on outsourcing product photography covers how to run such a project in practice.
Realistic budgets per type of webshop
Bare rates say little without context. These are realistic budgets based on going market prices; not quotes, but a sound starting point:
| Scenario | Scope | Realistic budget (excl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting webshop | 25 products, packshots only | €250 – €500 |
| Growing webshop | 100 products plus a few lifestyle images | €1,000 – €2,200 |
| Brand with campaign imagery | Shoot day with styling plus packshots | €2,000 – €3,500 |
| Fashion or lifestyle collection | Multiple shoot days, models, broad licence | €3,500 and up |
Two things stand out. First, it pays to buy packshots and lifestyle imagery separately: standardised work per photo, brand work per day. Second, the most expensive photo is not the one that costs a lot, but the one that does not convert. Product imagery shapes whether someone checks out on every single product page, whether you sell on Shopify or WooCommerce.
Why loose product photos end up expensive (and an image plan does not)
The real price difference appears on no rate card. Product photos bought separately from your webshop often turn out to be the wrong format, too heavy for fast load times, or a poor match with the rest of your brand. Then you pay twice.
At Viralistic we therefore never plan product photography in isolation, but together with the people who build your webshop, branding and findability. In practice that means: a shot list derived from your product pages, image formats that fit every slot on your site, and photos that sit technically right on the web, with file size, alt text and load time taken care of. That helps your visibility in Google Images and lowers your cost per conversion, because better imagery sells better.
Coming from the visual world helps here. Our team photographed couture for Mart Visser and worked for the Meesteropleiding Coupeur in Amsterdam. We bring that bar, set in the Amsterdam fashion world, to a series of packshots too. We work from the Herengracht in Amsterdam and shoot in the studio or on location. We approach business photography the same way.
How to keep the costs under control
Four things that directly lower your invoice:
- Deliver your products in one batch. One delivery, one setup, one volume tier. Ten separate orders of ten products cost far more than one order of a hundred.
- Pick the right model per product type. Packshots per photo, lifestyle and campaign imagery per hour or per shoot day. Paying hourly for routine work means overpaying.
- Put inclusions in writing. Clipping, retouching, revision rounds and shipping costs determine the real price per photo. Get them into the quote.
- Plan your photography together with your webshop. Agree formats, file sizes and file names up front. Imagery that lands right on your site the first time never needs a reshoot.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rates for product photography?
Product photography rates in the Dutch market run from €5.95 to €29 per packshot, depending on volume and editing. Hourly rates commonly sit between €40 and €120, and a full studio shoot day costs around €1,400 to €1,800. Always check whether retouching and clipping are included.
What is the hourly rate for product photography?
The hourly rate for product photography sits between €40 and €120 per hour in the Dutch market, excluding VAT. Junior photographers charge €40 to €60, mid-level photographers €60 to €90, and senior photographers for campaign work €90 to €120. For standardised packshots, a per-photo price usually beats an hourly rate.
Why is product photography so expensive?
Because most of the work happens outside the click. Unpacking and positioning products, building lighting per material, then clipping, retouching and calibrating colours per photo. Editing quickly takes as long as the shoot itself. Reflective materials such as glass and jewellery make the work even more labour-intensive.
How do product photographers calculate their rates?
Most product photographers charge per photo for standardised work and per hour or per shoot day for styling and campaign work. The per-photo price covers shooting time, editing and studio costs; at larger volumes, prices drop through tiers. Some studios add a one-off setup or project fee on top.
What does a packshot on a white background cost?
A packshot on a white background typically costs €5.95 to €29 per photo in the market. For larger series, tiered pricing brings that down to roughly €9 to €14.50 per photo. Extra angles of the same product usually cost less than the first photo, because the setup is already in place.
What does 360-degree product photography cost?
For 360-degree product photography you pay a surcharge on top of the regular photo price, because each product needs dozens of frames plus assembly into a rotating view. The price depends heavily on your product’s size and material. Ask for a per-product price and test it first on your best-selling items.
Is cheap product photography a smart choice for my webshop?
For standardised packshots, yes: at volume, a low price per photo combines fine with good quality. It gets risky with imagery that has to carry your brand, such as lifestyle and campaign work. So look past the price per photo and judge the price per photo that actually sells on your product pages.
Conclusion: expect €10 to €15 per photo for most webshops
Product photography costs become easy to plan once you pick the right pricing model per product type. For most webshops, standardised packshot work lands at €10 to €15 per photo at reasonable volumes; brand and campaign imagery is bought per shoot day, commonly €1,400 to €1,800. The best saving is not a lower price per photo but an image plan: photography designed together with your webshop and brand, so every image actually sells.
Product photography that makes your webshop sell
Viralistic plans and shoots product photography together with your webshop, branding and SEO, from the Herengracht in Amsterdam. One team, one image plan, and photos that work on every product page. Request a no-obligation quote.
