Our product photography runs Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per image. Packaged food on its own sits at the lower end, since a sealed pack behaves like any other box. The cost climbs once the food itself comes out of the pack, because real food changes on set and every change costs time.
Pack shots and food shots are two different jobs
A pack shot is the packet, jar or box, clean and readable. Marketplace main images are mostly this. Fast to light, easy to batch, cheap per image.
A food shot shows what's inside: chips spilling out, a spoon of chutney, a bar snapped in half. It needs styling, props and more time per frame. Most brands need both, and most quotes price them differently.
Food runs out of time
A serum bottle looks the same at 4 pm as at 10 am. Food doesn't.
Frozen desserts melt in minutes under lights. Fried snacks lose their shine. Cut fruit browns. Cream collapses. So a food set is built and lit before the food arrives, and then the shot has to happen fast. Every reset means fresh product, which is why food shoots use more units than you'd expect.
Budget product units as well as images. For anything frozen or fresh, send more than you think the day needs.
Action shots cost more, and they're worth it
A pour, a drip or a snapped bar stops the scroll. It also takes several attempts to get one clean frame, and each attempt uses product and cleanup time.
If you want motion in your food images, put it in the brief up front so the day is planned around it.
What else moves the number
Food styling. A food stylist preps, arranges and refreshes the food on set. Simple spreads can go without one. Plated dishes and hero shots usually can't.
Props and surfaces. Boards, plates, fabric, garnish. Each one is small. Together they add up, and somebody has to source them.
Number of flavours. A range of six flavours shot as a matching set is efficient, since one setup covers the lot. Six different looks is six setups.
Retouching. Crumbs, smudges and colour matching across a range. Ask what level is included.
What to check before you book
Ask how many images per product the quote covers, and how many of those are pack shots versus styled food shots. Ask whether a food stylist is included. Ask how many product units the studio needs from you. And ask to see food work they've actually shot, especially anything frozen, poured or broken, because those are the hard ones.
For how per-image pricing adds up across a batch, see what decides the bill on a product shoot. Drinks have their own problems with glass and liquid, covered in beverage photography pricing. To plan a food shoot with us, start at our food product photography page.