How Much Do Jewelry Photographers Charge? Know in Details

A good first impression can work wonders- J.K. Rawling. This quote not only goes for Harry Potter but also for jewelry photography. Your jewelry picture’s first impression can turn a scrolling person into your regular customer. At the same time, boring jewelry photos can make you lose customers at a rapid rate. Hence, your jewelry images play a key role in increasing or decreasing customers on your website.

And for taking gorgeous, original, and unique images for websites, professional jewelry photographers come in handy. They stand you out from your competitors with their time, creativity, and patience. So, without further ado, let’s see how much do jewelry photographers charge for their professional photography.

Why Hire a Jewelry Photographer

You may be wondering why would you hire a jewelry photographer when you can take the photos yourself. It is simple. You may be good at taking photos but it takes more than that to captivate a customer's mind in E-commerce.

In E-commerce, everything needs to be perfect. From planning, lighting setup, camera, props, and equipment to photo editing. So, if you hire a professional jewelry photographer, they will do everything for you from scratch. They know what sells the best and can turn your jewelry photos from good to flawless. Note: If you can find a good photographer who can portray your brand properly, try to work with them for consistency.

The Equipment Professionals Use to Take Jewelry Photos

Shooting jewelry is different from any other product. Gems are reflective and there are many small details in the jewelry that the photographer needs to capture. Hence, the jewelry photography tools are different as well.

Note: The Prices of the equipment that are mentioned here are Tentative and are given to give you an idea of the product prices. The price changes depending on discounts and special days, hence always check for the current price. You may get a discount if it’s your lucky day.

Camera

Every photographer has their own preference and comfort for choosing a camera. However, it is one of the popular cameras that jewelry photographers use the Nikon Z6.

Nikon Z6’s price is $1049. It is a 35mm mirrorless camera with 1/8000 shutter speed. It can take images with great versatility, high speed, and high resolution, and it gives a low-light performance. It is very easy to handle and photographers can grip it easily & stably. It has 4k mode with no crop and it can capture 120 frames per image.

There are more cameras that are good for taking pictures of jewelry. However, this camera can capture jewelry’s every detail with focus and perfection.

Macro Lens

For taking small and beautiful jewelry designs precisely, using a 1:1 ratio macro lens is a must.

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300MM’s price is $644. It has a 300mm focal point which helps take versatile jewelry images. It can take images at wide angles and can capture every little design precisely.

Tripod

In order to take perfectly still photos with stable settings, professional jewelry photographers use a tripod. And it is not very costly. A good tripod comes in just $20-$25.

Softbox Lighting Kit

For jewelry product photography, light sources play the most important role. That is why many professionals use studio lighting. So, they have their own studio and softboxes. A Soft box lighting kit price is $80-$160.

Reflector/White Foam Board

In professional photographers’ tutorials, you may have noticed a white reflector beside the jewelry or behind the jewelry. Those reflectors can be made at home with a whiteboard or paper. And even if they buy it, it is very cheap as reflectors are used to reduce harsh shadows.

LightBox

They also play as a reflector. In the lightbox, photographers put the jewelry piece and because of the surrounding wall, the jewelry automatically gives a normal shadow. A good lightbox comes around $237.

As you can see, it takes quite a lot of cash to make a nice and steady studio for taking jewelry photos. That is why when a professional photographer charges, they keep the equipment usage time in mind.

Note: If the jewelry photographers take their equipment to some other place to shoot, the price for the photo shoot fees will increase.

Editing Software

Jewelry photos never come perfect. Because of a macro lens, camera settings, and lighting, the pictures always have some flaws. For example, the lighting turns yellowish, so photographers edit the jewelry photo to correct the color.

How Much Do Jewelry Photographers Charge

Jewelry photographers may add some fees for equipment utilization time. However, while charging a customer, they mainly focus on jewelry type, the timing of shooting, the number of images, rush delivery or not, new vs. experienced, and most importantly the usage of the images. Besides, for experienced professionals, the charge is higher than for a newbie.

New vs Experienced

Jewelry photography pricing: $10-$25,000. Surprised? Don’t be. The price ranges vary because of many factors such as using models or doing only jewelry photos.

Photography price list: (These prices are not fixed and are negotiable with the photographers).

1. With models- Up to $25,000. They have to pay the model and hire more people to set a scenario and do other work. Hence, the cost gets higher.

2. New photographers- From $10-$50 per photo. As a new jewelry product photographer, they take less fee to promote their service and attract more customers.

3. High-end photographers- Up to $600. As experienced photographers, they know about the market, social media, and what would grab people’s attention. Hence, hiring them would be costly but successful for your jewelry website.

4. Independent Photographers/Freelancers- starts from $10 per photo. If you do not have a budget to hire a professional, you can also hire an independent photographer. You can easily find them on Fiverr or other freelancing sites.

Jewelry Difficulty Level

Did you know photographers also charge based on the difficulty level of jewelry? Well, there are easy-to-hard jewelry photoshoots. For example, the Ring is the hardest to shoot among all the jewelry because of its unique designs. Capturing its design properly is hard. As for other jewelry, they see it first and then decide on the fees.

Time & Number of Images

Time and number of photos play a key role in jewelry photographers charging. Professional photographers charge their clients on an hourly basis. If the image number is more, the photography session will go on longer. Hence, the cost will increase.

Rush Delivery

Often the clients need the photos in a hurry. It is a hassle for photographers. So, in order to do their overtime, they charge extra.

Usage - Where to Use the Photo

Every social media format and photo style is different. So depending on where you will upload your photos, the photographer will take them. For example, if you are taking jewelry photos for E-commerce, the photographer will take jewelry photos on a white background.

Post-production

There is one problem with jewelry product photography. What is it? No matter how much photographers clean the jewelry or use any updated camera, they will still have to do high-end jewelry retouching before sending it to the clients. In order to make a flawless photo, they remove any blemishes or flaws the picture has. They fix the white balance, lighting, reflections, and harsh shadows. Also, photographers will change the image size as well based on the social media format.

Some Tips for Minimizing Your Jewelry Photography Cost

After reading the upper section, you may think you will have to arrange a huge fortune to hire a jewelry photographer. However, you can reduce the jewelry photography cost, if you just keep these things in mind.

1. Always stay well prepared. You need to make a schedule of when you will upload your images. Then you will be able to contact the photographers beforehand.

2. Do not call for rush delivery. Always make the order with time in hand that way they will charge you their regular price.

3. Keep the time in mind. As they charge extra for extra time, clean the jewelry properly before handing it to them. This way they do not have to prepare it during the shoot and take the images fast.

4. Recoloring. If you have the same design of jewelry in two colors, do not waste time by taking two separate images. Rather recolor them in Photoshop. For example, you have one piece in Rosegold color and another piece in Gold color. Take the image of the gold color jewelry and recolor it into a rose gold color.

5. Availability. Often it happens that the photographer's schedule is packed and you need to pay extra to get their appointment. So, make the appointment beforehand at least 15 days prior.

6. Send your pieces to their studio. If the photographer has to come with their equipment, they will charge more. So, box them properly with protection so that they do not get damaged in the moving process. Tell the photographers to do the same upon returning them.

Final Verdict

I know it is a bit costly to hire a jewelry photographer. However, everything will be worth it when you will be able to make a profit out of those images. Give proper instructions to the jewelry photographer on how you want your images so that both your and the photographer’s time will be saved.

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