Why is professional branding photography so expensive?

Maybe you’re not asking it out loud to a professional photographer, but you may be thinking “Why is professional branding photography so expensive?”

Professional branding photography seems expensive if you do not understand its value for your business.

Branding photography is a specialized niche that is becoming extremely popular. If you own a business, you need branding photography for many reasons. So why does branding photography require an investment? Read on to learn more about why branding photography seems so expensive.

Good work costs good money. And I’m very good at what I do.

1) As a consumer, I’m sure you’ve learned that in general, services that are priced higher offer better quality than services that are priced lower. This is not necessarily true all the time! But in general, a larger investment yields higher value. You get what you pay for.

Have you heard of Davy Greenburg’s tweet? “If I do a job in 30 minutes, it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.”

You can hire any photographer to do your branding photography, but will they provide you with the same value that a branding photographer will? I don’t think so. There is a reason why professions have niches! Look at is this way: would you hire a gynecologist to check out your sore throat ? Probably not! Although a completely different scenario, this applies to choosing a photographer. You would most likely research and Google wedding photographers in your area to find one to photograph your wedding. The same thing applies for branding photography. A branding photographer has experience working with personal brands and businesses. They’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. They’ve established a system that focuses on creating imagery that highlights what makes your business special and how to beautifully capture it. They know what questions to ask and how to efficiently use your and their time to get results. With all of that experience and knowledge comes value, and with value comes an investment.

2) I’m not just a branding photographer: I’m a creative stylist, a content creator, and a planner.

Book a family photo session with a photographer, and the prep work is very minimal. Hire a branding photographer, and you’re booking an entire experience. A professional branding photographer does much more than take your photograph. We are creative stylists, directors, planners, and content creators. From coordinating locations that fit your specific needs, learning more about you and your brand, meeting you for coffee and / or phone calls to plan out your photo session, researching example images that inspire you and pertain to your service/product, creating a shot list, coordinating props and models, and many more! On average, a branding photographer can spend approximately 6-8 hours in addition to your 2-hour session in just prep work alone! One branding photography session encompasses much more than the photo session in itself and can be very time consuming.

3) Branding photography incorporates the cost of a commercial photography license.

This topic is something that many people are not aware of because it can be confusing. A commercial photography license is basically an agreement between the photographer and client that outlines the image usage rights. You can read more about it here.

The major difference between branding and say, wedding, photography is that the images created from a branding shoot are used by a business to publicly market themselves, unlike the personal usage of wedding photography. A branding photographer creates images that are used in a plethora of public platforms such as: email campaigns, social media, ads, print material, blog posts, websites, business cards, and many more. Public exposure of these images creates a higher risk of copyright infringement and stealing. When a photographer snaps a photo, and delivers it to a client, technically the client is “renting” the images from the photographer. If the client wants to actually purchase the images, they are required to purchase a commercial photography license. However, some branding photographers, including myself, create contracts that grants their clients ownership of images to prevent confusion and uncertainty as to how their clients can use the images. When this is the case, the cost of a commercial photography license is incorporated into the branding photography fee, which increases the price.

4) Camera gear and business expenses are costly.

Being a photographer comes with many business expenses that people don’t normally talk about. Camera equipment in itself is extremely expensive: a professional full-frame camera body starts at $3,000, with professional lenses averaging anywhere from $300-$5,000. There is also lighting equipment, editing software, website expenses, insurance, license dues, management software, camera bags - straps - stands - props - the list goes on and on.

5) Time spent editing post branding photo shoot can be extensive.

You may book a 2-hour branding photography session and think: “Wow! My photographer is making $200/hour. She/he must be rich!” Think again. Factor in the time your photographer spends editing your images after the session is over, and this can add up to another 4-8 hours depending on their editing style. This basically turns a 2-hour branding photo session into an 8-hour work day. Divide the total cost of the branding photo shoot by 8-10 hours, MINUS all of the other costs that are required to run a photography business, and you’ve got a much smaller hourly wage.

I hope this was helpful and has helped you understand why branding photography can seem expensive. If you take into consideration how beneficial branding photography is for your business, it will yield a return in investment for your business and help attract your ideal client.