HOW MUCH DOES A RESTAURANT PHOTOSHOOT COST?
One of the first questions potential restaurant clients ask us is How much does a restaurant photoshoot cost? Although this is a very difficult question to answer, I will try to do my best here to explain some general pricing guidelines.
But before we get too far into it, I do need to provide some insight into photographers’ fees. Many photographers do not include prices on their websites simply because they do not wish to lead anyone astray. Instead, they prefer to have a discovery call with the client to discuss the scope of their project. Once the job is fully understood then they provide an estimate for their particular job. Photographers all have their own fee structures and so any numbers that I’m going to quote are my own, please do not hold another photographer to the same price. Costs vary across the country; they vary due to experience and they vary due to the scope of the work itself. The other thing that I need to point out is that asking myself or any other photographer how much a shoot costs without first providing your requirements is much like asking your mechanic how much it will cost to repair your car without the fault being diagnosed. Your mechanic will be operating blind, much like me without understanding your job first.
Now let’s look at a few of the things that drive the price.
Food styling
You may need food styling assistance, but then again, you may not. If you want your images to look as professional as possible, and budget isn’t an option for you then perhaps food styling could be a good option for you. But the reality is few restaurant clients have unlimited budgets and like most everything in life, compromises must be made. But we can also offer food styling suggestions as well. We are not food stylists per se but we do have a lot of knowledge and experience in that area. We don’t charge any extra for that so that provides a little additional value to our service and can be an ideal compromise, but it could eat up a little extra time.
The Surface
This is what the plate sits on, although some people call it a background. Changing surfaces during the photoshoot also uses up time. To change the surface, all the props have to be removed one by one and then rearranged again on the new surface. This takes up valuable shooting time, so the fewer changes that are made, the less each shot will end up costing. Personally, I believe restaurant images should capture the spirit of the restaurant. Photographing meals in various parts of the restaurant is something that I recommend, whereas shooting food on a surface supplied by us may contribute to the image looking a little false. My post What Happens When We Arrive At A Restaurant Photoshoot throws a little more light on shooting in different areas of your restaurant.
Behind-the-scenes activities
We also have to account for all of the other time that we invest in the production of your images This can include tasks such as:
All communications between us and planning the photoshoot.
Travel to and from your restaurant.
Setup and tear down of our equipment.
Culling and organizing the final images.
Editing and retouching. This takes up a significant amount of time, easily adding thirty minutes to an hour per dish.
Uploading and delivering your images.
Believe it or not, a 3.5-hour photoshoot can very quickly become a 12-15 hour project for us, which we have to account for.
A Basic per meal cost
The most basic cost is where your chef will be preparing all of the food, and will be serving it on your own dishes. Your chef is knowledgeable about food styling, so we do not need to provide any elaborate styling or set creation by constantly switching out different surfaces. This is the most straightforward scenario, and here we can capture approximately 2 - 3 dishes per hour. For each dish, we will capture a lot of individual frames and will deliver three finished images, a three-quarter angle shot, an overhead shot, and a freehand shot.
Now you may be asking, what if you need more than 2-3 meals shot? Simple, it’s just a case of calculating the additional time that will be needed. As an example, capturing 8 dishes will likely take approximately 3.5 hours.
A general approximation, based on the above scenario is $85 per meal, with 3 images being delivered per meal. But of course, in producing this price I’m making a number of assumptions that may or may not be accurate for your location or project, so please, if you are interested in using us to provide your restaurant with a photoshoot, request a free no-obligation consultation call so that we may provide you with a more accurate estimate. To make each photoshoot viable will generally require shooting a minimum of two dishes. But that also depends on how far we need to travel. So many variables!
I hope this helps you estimate the cost and value of your photoshoot.
True Images Photography provides professional beverage and food commercial photography that gets your business noticed. Feel free to book a free 30-minute consultation here.
Do look around the rest of the blog here for more helpful posts, and if you have any questions please reach out. I’m happy to advise. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn where I always answer messages with a detailed reply.