Jewelry is one of the most intricate product photography that needs careful attention to detail and in-depth knowledge in camera, lighting, composition, and post-production.
In the era of digital marketing, everyone is selling their jewelry products online. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar shop, the success of a jewelry business largely depends on the brand visibility on the digital channels.
If you want to stand out from the crowd and win the online race, presenting the jewelry pieces with high-quality images is mandatory. Although you may take the photos yourself, hiring a jewelry photographer is the best way to do it.
In this blog post, I’ll discuss how much a jewelry photographer charges and the factors affecting the cost of jewelry photography.
Factors determining the cost of jewelry photography
Type of the jewelry
Jewelry pieces with intricate details required extra attention to be captured. The use of the special lens, tripod, and equipment adds to the overall photography cost.
Therefore, different types of products may require different time and effort to get the job done and the cost of photography varies.
Materials used
Fine jewelry products are made of precious materials and stones. To capture the real value and aesthetics of these products, photographers need to pay additional attention to the lighting and apply their expertise. Thus, capturing expensive and precious jewelry pieces is costlier compared to ordinary ones.
Quantity to be photographed
The number of jewelry products to be photographed is a common factor that directly affects the cost of photography. Each product photography involves a fixed cost.
Therefore, the higher the quantity the lower the cost. The additional number of products covers the fixed cost and the per unit cost reduces.
Photography style
Different type of jewelry photography involves different costs. For example, lifestyle photography may require hiring a model that incurs additional costs. Apart from this, equipment, studio setup, and shooting location may require extra attention and cost more.
Required equipment and props
Jewelry photography may require different types of props and equipment. For example, colorful fabric, flowers, decorative elements, mannequin, and colorful background are very common that the photography may use in this type of photography. Buying or hiring props and special equipment adds to the overall cost.
Expertise and brand image of the photographer
The expertise of the photographer is a determinant of jewelry photography cost. Usually, jewelry photography requires experience because of the intricate details of the product.
Hence, hiring an expert photographer costs more. Additionally, if you hire a reputed studio with a good brand image, it will cost more than hiring a freelance photographer.
Post-processing requirements
If you have your image post-product team, you can do jewelry image retouching by yourself. You may also hire a jewelry editing retouching company for this job. However, the photographer will charge you additional money if you want him to deliver the edited photos.
Why is jewelry photography different from regular product photography?
Jewelry is a special photography genre that requires special attention. Only qualified and highly experienced photographers can perform this job perfectly. Below are some key distinctions:
- Jewelry products are small and intricate. Capturing and focusing on the details of the product is challenging.
- Precious metals and stones have reflective surfaces. Managing these reflections and featuring the true details of the product require special techniques.
- Presenting originality is crucial in jewelry photography. The photographers need to strictly maintain the color accuracy of the product.
- Different jewelry pieces have different textures and designs. Capturing the craftsmanship of the product and conveying the quality of the product is another challenge.
- To focus the small jewelry pieces, it needs to maintain a suitable depth of field and perfectly adjust the aperture setting of the camera.
- Sometimes, it may require special equipment such as lenses and lighting accessories to capture jewelry products.
Also Read: 10 Common Jewelry Product Photography Mistakes You Should Avoid
Jewelry photography cost ( DIY method)
If you do not want to hire a professional jewelry photographer, doing it yourself ( DIY) is a good idea. However, it will cost you money for photography kits such as a Camera, tripod, lens, reflector, etc.
Additionally, you need to invest your time to gather some basic photography knowledge. Below is the list of items you need for your photography project.
| Equipment | Estimate Cost ($) |
| Camera and lens | 1000 |
| Tripod | 50 |
| Lighting equipment | 200 |
| Backdrop | 50 |
| Reflector | 30 |
| Props | 100 |
| Total | $1,430 |
Apart from these cash requirements for DIY photography, you need to invest a lot of time in buying these pieces of equipment, studying photography, doing experiments, and preparing the photography set. After all these efforts, it will not result in a mediocre output which can be just ok. For stunning and professional output, you must hire a studio or freelance photographer.
Jewelry Photography cost for a professional photographer
Photography charges for the photographers to take jewelry products can be counted on an hourly or cost-per-image basis. Some photographers may give you the flexibility to hire them on any of these pay options while others will offer any one of these pricing models. Below is an estimated cost of hiring a jewelry photographer for both of these pricing options.
Hiring a jewelry photographer ( Hourly basis)
The average salary of a jewelry photographer who is working full-time is around $20/ hour in the United States. However, the pay rate may increase depending on the experience of the photographer. It may go up to as much as $50/ hour for a very few extraordinary experts.
The hourly rate may also depend on the location. For example, Berkeley and New York City are among the locations where the cost of hiring a freelance photographer is the most.
However, this hourly rate does not reflect the actual cost of hiring a jewelry photographer for a small project. If you want to hire someone for a few hours, it may cost around $300 – $500 / hour based on the expertise of the photographer. The cost may decrease with the increased work hours.
Cost per image basis pricing
The cost per image for jewelry photography is around 20 – 25% more than regular product photography due to some reasons which I have already discussed. The photographer may charge you as low as 15 dollars for an image if the quantity is high.
However, for a lower number of photos, such as 2-5 photos, the cost can be as high as 50 dollars per image due to the fixed costs involved in every photography project. Below is a table that explains the relationship between quantity and price per photo:
| Quantity | Fixed cost ($) | Variable cost ($) ($8/ image) | Total cost ($) | Cost/ photo ($) |
| Up to 5 | 300 | 40 | 340 | 68 |
| Up to 20 | 300 | 160 | 460 | 23 |
| Up to 50 | 300 | 400 | 700 | 14 |
| Up to 100 | 300 | 800 | 1100 | 11 |
| Up to 300 | 300 | 2400 | 2700 | 9 |
| Up to 500 | 300 | 4000 | 4300 | 8.6 |
| Up to 1000 | 300 | 8000 | 8300 | 8.3 |
The table above shows how the unit cost for jewelry photography reduces when the number of products is increased. Every photography project has a fixed cost for purchasing or hiring equipment, models, and props. This fixed cost is the same for any number of photos to be taken. Therefore, photographers charge higher for the first few photos and give discounts for a higher number.
Conclusion
Proper management and balancing between the budget and the quality of work may reduce the jewelry photography cost. Although many retailers adopt a DIY approach, it is not the best practice.
It may initially cost you some money to hire someone for professional photography but in the long run, this investment will make a lasting impact on the business.
As a business owner, you need to plan rightly, shoot in bulk, hire someone who specializes in jewelry photography, and retouch the final images with a professional photo editing company.
