Estimating Food Photography: A Helpful Guide For Food Photographers

What do you charge for food photography? These is a common (and extremely vague) question that photographers are faced with all the time. And, at the same time, it’s a very important question before hiring a food photographer. Estimating food photography involves knowing a lot more about a project before just sharing a “number.” In order for a food photographer to provide a fair estimate to an inquiring client, I recommend asking these photography questions first.

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Estimating Food Photography

All food photography projects are different. This means that there isn’t a one-price-fits-all number to share when estimating food photography. Asking questions about a project is so important before talking numbers with potential photography clients. Use my photography questionnaire as a guide to help you estimate your next food shoot.

Photography Questions For Clients

1. Tell me more about you and your business. What is the creative vision for your images?

This is my favorite part of the conversation, because it gives the client a chance to talk about themselves and their vision for their images. It will help you get to know the client a little better and hear more about their project. Not to mention, it’s a great way to discover if it’s a project you want to work on.

2. How did you find me?

This is a great question to ask, because it can help you learn what marketing efforts are working for you. If a potential client found you in a Google search, then your SEO is doing it’s job. If they found you through Instagram, then your efforts on social media are paying off. If they found you through a referral, you may want to thank the referral since it’s the most valuable form of advertising.

3. Have you worked with a food photographer before?

This is a great question because if a client has worked with a photographer before, I like to know what worked well or what didn’t work so well for them during their photo session. If they haven’t worked with a food photographer before, it gives me a chance to talk about my process and allows them to ask me more questions about it.

4. When do you want to shoot?

This is a good question to ask early on in the conversation. If you’re unavailable when the client wants to shoot, there’s no need to keep chatting unless there’s flexibility on the scheduling.

Be cautious if a client says “ASAP.” I know that it’s a common thing to say, but photo shoots take time to plan and execute, so you need to be sure you have the time you’ll need.

5. Where are we shooting?

Where you will be shooting will factor into your expenses when estimating the food photography project. Are you shooting on location with a restaurant? Or, are you hosting the shoot at your home studio? Do you need to rent a studio space for the photo shoot? Studio fees and travel fees will need to be considered when preparing a food photography estimate.

6. What is the shot list?

Learning more about the shot list is very important, because it helps you determine how much time you’ll need, whether or not you’ll need a team to help you and the equipment you might need to get the shots.

Some potential photography clients may not know the answer to this question right away or they may just say, “I want to shoot our menu.” When the answer is kind of vague, you’ll want to get them thinking about this a little more and talk through it with them. Ask about what type of food they want to shoot. Ask if there are any special action shots needed. Are people going to be in the shots? Are you shooting just food or drinks too?

As the shot list gets more defined, it will help you come up with a fair estimate for the deliverables requested.

7. How do you want to use the images and for how long?

Food images are incredibly valuable when it comes to commercial use. But, image licensing is tricky to navigate because many clients are not familiar with how it works. And, a lot of photographers know about image licensing, but also aren’t as familiar with how it works either. There isn’t a one-price-fits-all answer here and with varying budgets and usage, it is a complicated topic in the food photography industry. But, let’s talk about it a little more and why it’s important to ask this question.

Clients tend to assume they’re paying a photographer for the photography session and then they own those pictures. They think they can use the images however they want, forever. But, this isn’t how it works and it’s important to talk it through.

As an example, songs require a license to use them for commercial use. Food images also require a license to use them for commercial use. Musicians own their music. Photographers own their images.

A photo shoot does not equal an image license.

If another business wants to use an image to promote their business, the copyright owner (the photographer) should get paid for that, because their images are helping someone’s business make money.

When a client hires a food photographer, they are paying them to do the photo shoot and are also paying for the intended usage of the images for a certain period of time. In a nutshell, clients are renting the images from the photographer.

Image usage ranges from digital usage and print usage. The more usage you need, the more it could potentially cost.

Digital usage can include things like social media, websites, emails and paid ads.

Print usage can include things like in-house menus, flyers, editorial, cookbooks, store front, trade shows, catalogs and billboards.

Licensing terms range from 1-year, 2-years and up and sometimes in perpetuity. The longer you want to use the images, the more it could potentially cost.

Photographers always own the copyrights to their images, so it’s really important to outline the intended usage and licensing term for your clients so everyone is on the same page. Sometimes image usage is bundled into a photographer’s creative fee and other times, it is a separate cost as a line-item in the estimate.

GETTY CALCULATOR

Check out the Getty Calculator and start experimenting with different types of usage and the costs associated with that intended usage of a specific image. These numbers aren’t set in stone, but it can be a helpful guide. If you’re a photographer not charging for an image license, you are leaving quite a bit of money on the table.

8. How soon do you need the images?

Not all clients realize there are more hours needed after the photo shoot. You’ll need time to organize, edit and finalize all of the best images for them. Be sure you’re both on the same page for when they want the images delivered.

9. Who is preparing the food or drinks?

Knowing who is preparing the food and/or drinks is really important. Do you need include a food stylist in your estimate or is there a chef preparing the food for you? Remember, if you do need a team, the team fees will need to be added to the estimate. If you’re expected to do both the food styling and the photography, you’ll need to adjust your creative fee and time, because you’ll be doing two people’s jobs, which will take more time and cost more money.

10. Will we need special props, surfaces or backdrops to help bring the creative vision to life?

As you continue discussing the project, it will become clear what kinds of surfaces, backdrops and props you’ll probably need to help execute the creative vision. If the client doesn’t have these things (they usually don’t), you can help them get what they need by using what you have in your own studio, searching online or renting from a prop stylist. It’s fun to discuss ways to elevate their images through different props, surfaces and backdrops and most clients will appreciate your creative leadership and ideas on this topic.

11. How are the images being approved?

Knowing how the images are being approved is going to help you determine how the photo shoot process will go on set. Some clients will want to be involved every step of the way and others will prefer to be more hands off.

There are typically two scenarios with food photography:

SCENARIO 1:

Sometimes, the client will want to review and approve the images as you shoot. The best approach for this is to shoot tethered, which means your camera will be hooked up to a computer monitor so you and the client can see the images as you go. Usually, this approach results in less images, because it takes more time to review, adjust and approve each image as you go. This scenario is more common when working with food brands or when doing photo shoots remotely.

READ MORE ABOUT: HOW TO SHOOT TETHERED FOR FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

SCENARIO 2:

Other times, the client will be more hands off and won’t need to see and approve images as you go. This means you would not need to shoot tethered. In fact, it allows the photographer to have more creative freedom to shoot different perspectives. This approach results in the client getting more images and is a typical scenario when doing restaurant photography.

12. How do you want the images delivered?

Finalizing and organizing the images for your clients is an important part of the service you provide. What format do they prefer their images to be in (TIF’s, JPG’s, etc)? Do they have specific naming conventions for their images? Do they want the images delivered on an external hard drive (I typically use these) or sent through an online gallery? Make sure you know what the client prefers so you can make the image delivery as convenient and easy for them as possible.

13. Do you have a photography contract or should I provide mine?

Most of my clients want me to provide my own photography contract. And, I’ll make adjustments to it as needed per project so everything is clear before signing.

If a client prefers to provide their own contract, be sure to read it very carefully or get a lawyer to help you before signing so yo understand their terms.

PRO TIP: BE CAREFUL OF WORK FOR HIRE CONTRACTS

Be very cautious of Work For Hire contracts proposed by clients. Work For Hire basically means that whatever you are shooting will belong to the client and you will have no rights to the images.

This can be a red flag if you want to retain the copyrights to the images you capture for the project. Photographers make money on their images, not just the photo shoots. And, a photographer’s images can live well beyond the photo shoot for a particular project.

When you own the copyright to your images, you can sell them on stock websites, sell prints, and you can even re-license them for others to use. There are many different ways a photographer’s images can make money as long as the photographer owns the copyrights to those images. So, just be sure you know what you’re getting into before agreeing to any Work For Hire agreement.

14. Do you have a budget for your photography project?

This can be tricky for clients to answer, especially if they’re not familiar with working with food photographers. But, ask about their budget anyway. 😉 If they seem hesitant to answer this question, or don’t know how to answer this question, try giving them a range to work within.

Between 2k and 3k?

4k and 6k?

7k and 10k?

Over 10k?

If the client still won’t budge on this information, you should have enough information from the previous questions to work up an estimate. Be sure to tell them that the estimate is a starting point for discussion. Estimates are not set in stone and are negotiable.

If the client does give a number, but it’s lower than what a project like this would cost, talk with them about it. Express that their budget may be a little low for what the project will entail and ask if they would still like you to provide an estimate to help them understand the costs involved. If they say yes, you can provide an estimate and also try and negotiate the deliverables to be more inline with what they can afford.

Sometimes, a client’s budget is well within a good range for the deliverables, so be sure to get them an estimate as soon as possible so you can get the project booked.

And, sometimes their budget is simply too low and there’s no wiggle room to negotiate. In this case, it’s ok to politely walk away from the project if it’s not in line with your business goals.

READ MORE ABOUT: UNREALISTIC PROJECT REQUESTS AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM

After you’ve discussed the questions above, you can start creating a fair estimate for the client’s project. The structure of your estimate should be divided into four sections:

• CREATIVE FEE
• IMAGE USAGE FEES
• TEAM FEES
• EXPENSES

Check out my post that dive deeper into The Structure Of A Food Photography Estimate. This post is a great guide to learning what goes into each of these four sections and how to apply this to your own food photography estimates.

I hope this post helped you think more carefully about questions you should ask about a project before estimating food photography or talking numbers. Reach out with questions anytime and be sure to follow me on Instagram!

Happy Creating!

Summary Of Questions

1. Tell me about your business. What is the creative vision for your images?
2. How did you find me?
3. Have you worked with a food photographer before?
4. When do you want to shoot?
5. Where are we shooting?
6. What is the shot list?
7. How do you want to use the images and for how long?
8. How soon do you need the images? 
9. Who is preparing the food or drinks? 
10. Will we need special props, surfaces or backdrops?
11. How are the images being approved? 
12. How do you want the images delivered?
13. Do you have a contract or should I provide mine? 
14. Do you have a budget for your photography project?

READ MORE ABOUT: THE STRUCTURE OF A FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY ESTIMATE

This post may contain affiliate links which means if you click or make a purchase, I might make a small commission (at no extra cost to you). I only promote products and equipment that I actually use for my photography business. Your support helps me continue to produce educational content about photography. Thank you! 

All images ©Regan Baroni 2020.