Clients open a search, see offers from a few thousand to several tens of thousands of roubles per hour — and close the tab, because comparing them is impossible. The same phrase, “an hour of shooting”, hides different things: for one photographer it’s an hour with a camera and a link to a drive of raw files; for another it’s an hour with a camera, lighting, a concept, retouching and crops for every channel.
Let me break down what the quote is made of, what it costs with me, and how to budget for a specific task.
What the Price Includes
When you pay a business photographer, you’re not just paying for time with a camera. The price covers:
- preparation — the brief, the shot list, the concept, choosing the location;
- shooting time — lighting setup, working with people, blocks of frames;
- editing — colour correction and retouching;
- formats — crops for the website, social media and advertising;
- delivery and archive — storage, so the frames can be requested a year later;
- rights — permission to use the photos in publications and advertising.
The difference between quotes almost always comes down to which of these items is included in the price and which you pay for separately or do yourself.
What It Costs with Me
| Package | Time | Retouched photos | Source files | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Hourly" | 1 hour | 5 | 30 | 20,000 ₽ |
| "Flagship" | up to 2 hours | 20 | all | 35,000 ₽ |
| "First Class" | up to 5 hours | 50 | all | 65,000 ₽ |
The price includes a consultation before the shoot, help with looks and posing, editing and the archive. It doesn’t include studio hire or a make-up artist — I can arrange those separately if needed.
Event photography is priced separately — there’s a full breakdown in the article “How Much Does a Reportage Photographer in Moscow Cost”.
The Price per Frame — the Figure Worth Calculating
The packages differ threefold in price, but the difference in the cost of a retouched frame is much larger:
| Package | Price | Retouched frames | Price per frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Hourly" | 20,000 ₽ | 5 | 4,000 ₽ |
| "Flagship" | 35,000 ₽ | 20 | 1,750 ₽ |
| "First Class" | 65,000 ₽ | 50 | 1,300 ₽ |
The reason is simple: travel, lighting setup and preparation take roughly the same time regardless of how many frames you end up with. So a short shoot is almost always more expensive per frame — not because the photographer is greedy, but because you’re paying for the same preparation several times over.
What Pushes the Quote Up
The number of participants. Five people can be shot in an hour; twenty-five can’t — you need time for costume changes, moving the lights, and for people to stop feeling self-conscious.
The number of locations. Every new spot means travel, a fresh lighting setup and a loss of momentum. Three locations in a day almost always produce fewer frames than one.
The concept. Developing the idea, the moodboard, choosing looks and props is separate work before the shoot.
The volume of retouching. In content with people, retouching takes longer than the shooting. The more frames with people in them, the higher the labour cost.
Rights. Being able to use the photographs in advertising and pass them on to partners broadens the licence and affects the price.
Deadlines. Rush editing is almost always charged separately.
Three Scenarios and How They’re Calculated
An executive portrait for the website and press. The “Hourly” package is enough — 20,000 ₽. Five retouched frames are usually sufficient: one vertical for the website, one horizontal for press, the rest in reserve for social media and speaking engagements.
A team shoot, 15 people. Let’s work out the volume: 15 portraits plus a group shot plus scenes of people working and details of the office — around 30 edited frames. That fits “First Class” (50 retouched frames, up to 5 hours) at 65,000 ₽. If there are more than 25 people, or several locations are needed, the scope is quoted separately.
Office and production. An office takes half a day. Production is a different matter: health and safety, clearance to enter the shop floor, people in workwear, often poor light. That’s either a separate shooting day or an extended package, and it’s worth discussing before signing, not on the day of the shoot.
What Cheap Quotes Leave Out
Usually one of four things:
Too few frames. An attractive hourly rate, but three photographs come back retouched. The rest are raw files that you either edit yourself or publish as they are.
No crops. Files at native size. You crop the vertical for stories and the square for a product card yourself — and almost always lose the composition.
No concept. Shooting “however it turns out”: lighting by circumstance, whatever background was available. Sometimes that works, but there’s no predictability.
No archive. Six months later it turns out the photographs are lost along with an old hard drive.
Why a High Price Isn’t a Guarantee Either
The reverse is also true. An expensive quote doesn’t always mean everything on that list is in it. So the question isn’t “how much does it cost” but “what’s included”. Ask for the quote as an itemised list rather than a single number, and check it against the points at the top of this article.
A Checklist Before Discussing Price
- How many edited frames will I get?
- Are crops for vertical and square included?
- What exactly does editing include?
- Are studio hire, make-up artist and props included?
- Who owns the rights, and can the photos be used in advertising?
- What’s the delivery time and what does it depend on?
- How many participants and locations are included in the price?
- What happens to the archive in a year?
If you’d like a quote for your own task, tell me how many people need shooting, where, and for which channels. I’ll name the right package and say what isn’t included in it.
Need photos for your business?
I’ll help you put together a list of the shots you need, choose the right shooting format, and organise a shoot of your staff, office, production or product. If you have a website or a prototype, send me the link — we’ll go through the pages and work out which photos are missing right now.
