Most brands hire a product photographer by looking at a portfolio and comparing two quotes. That is how you end up paying twice. The portfolio tells you what a studio can do on its best day with its favourite product. It does not tell you what happens to your catalogue.
Here is what we would ask if we were hiring, including the questions that are awkward.
1. Ask to see your category, not their best work
Every portfolio leads with the most photogenic thing the studio has shot. If you sell glass bottles, ask specifically to see glass. If you sell a white pack, ask to see a white pack on white, which is the hardest routine shot in listing photography and the one that separates competent from not.
A studio that cannot show your category has not necessarily failed, but you are paying for their learning curve.
2. Ask what the price includes, per image or per product
These are different and quotes get compared as though they are the same. Rs 500 per image on a product needing six images is Rs 3,000 for that product. A per product price of Rs 2,000 covering four images is a different deal and may be better or worse depending on how many angles you need.
Our own range is Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per image, and per image pricing means you decide slot by slot whether a frame earns its place.
3. Ask what retouching is included
This is where quotes go quiet. Shooting and retouching are separate jobs and a quote that covers the first and bills the second is not cheaper, it is less clear.
Ask specifically: is the background taken to pure white, is dust and fingerprint removal included, how many revisions do I get, and what happens if the colour comes back wrong. A studio that answers those precisely has done this before.
4. Ask whether you get the raw files
Some studios deliver only the final selects and treat the rest as theirs. You paid for the session. If you later need a different crop for a new marketplace, having the originals is the difference between a recrop and a reshoot.
We include raws as standard. Not everyone does, and it is much easier to agree before the shoot than after.
5. Ask about turnaround, in writing
Five to seven working days is a normal, achievable turnaround for a standard catalogue. If someone promises 24 hours for a hundred SKUs, something is being skipped and it is usually the retouching.
6. Ask how they handle a range
If you sell six flavours or twenty shades, the hard part is not any single image. It is that all of them have to match. One lighting setup held constant, the product at the same size in frame, colour checked against the physical item.
Ask to see a range they have shot, all images together. Inconsistency is invisible in a portfolio showing one image at a time and glaring in a marketplace grid.
7. Ask who pays for a reshoot
The awkward one, and worth asking. If a marketplace rejects an image for a spec reason, or the colour is wrong, who covers it. Get the answer before you book.
8. Ask about logistics if they are not local
Plenty of good studios work on a courier-in basis and there is no reason to limit yourself to your own city. What matters is who pays shipping both ways, whether products are insured while there, whether they are returned, and what happens to units destroyed in swatch or texture shots.
We work this way from Thane with brands across India, and it is usually cheaper than a local studio charging a premium for proximity.
9. Ask what they need from you
A studio that asks you good questions is a studio that has done this before. Which marketplaces are you listing on. Do you have a brand guide. Are there competitor listings you want to beat. Which SKUs matter most.
One that just asks how many products and quotes a number is treating your catalogue as volume.
On choosing by distance
Searching for a photographer near you is a reasonable instinct and a poor filter. Product photography is one of the few creative services where physical proximity adds almost nothing, because the product travels and you are not on set.
Proximity matters if you have fragile or very large items, if you want to attend the shoot, or if you need same week turnaround. Otherwise judge on the nine questions above and ignore the map.
The cheapest quote
A very low quote usually means one angle on white, minimal retouching, no raws and no colour management. Sometimes that is exactly what you need, and if so, take it.
It stops being cheap when the images come back inconsistent across a range, or a marketplace flags a grey background, or you need the originals for a new channel and cannot get them. At that point you pay a second studio to redo work you already bought.
If you want to see the standard before committing, we shoot one product free. Send one SKU and judge the output rather than the pitch.