Photography Prices in India

Average Photography Prices in India

The average cost to hire a photographer is Rs. 5000 to Rs. 12500 per hour depending on their skill level. Event photographers charge Rs. 7500 to Rs.12500 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, while a wedding photographer costs Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,50,000 for 6-hours. A portrait photography photoshoot and print package runs Rs. 7500 to Rs. 15000+.

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Determining the total cost is not a clear-cut process because of all the factors involved. The best photographers take many shots to capture the right moments, yet that's only a small part of what they do. Beforehand, they need to understand what the client wants, choose the ideal location, and shoot at the right time of day with the right equipment.

To edit the photos properly, they need to know Photoshop to create the effect that the client wants. They have to understand how to export the images correctly with the right color correction for creating prints. All of these steps require adequate time and expertise. Expect to pay more for higher-quality photos because you can definitely see the difference in the final result.

Table of Contents

1. Average Photographer Cost
2. How Much Do Photographers Charge?
   • Professional Prices
   • Freelance Rates
   • Beginners Prices
3. Photography Rates
   • Hourly Rates
   • Day Rates
   • Per Photo
   • Packages
   • Mini Session
4. How Much Do Photographers Make?
   • Average Salary
   • Monthly Salary
5. Photography Pricing
   • Pricing Guide
   • Wedding
   • Engagement
   • Event
   • Family
   • Senior
   • Portrait
   • Maternity & Newborn
   • Pets
   • Real Estate
   • Product
   • Commercial
   • Drone & Aerial
   • More...
6. Photoshoot Prices
   • Photography Fees
   • Session Prices
   • Pricing Prints
   • Pricing Digital Files
   • Licensing Fees
   • More...
7. Grow Your Photography Business
8. Hire A Professional Photographer
9. Photographers Near Me

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How Much Do Photographers Charge?

Photographers charge between Rs. 1250 and Rs. 25000 per hour with most spending Rs. 4700 to Rs. 13000 per hour on average. Prices largely depend on their skill level and what type of event they are shooting. Extra costs include travel time, prints, digital image files, and photo editing fees.

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• Hobbyists: less than Rs. 2500 per hour / Rs. 500 to Rs. 1250 per image. These folks are avid photographers who do it for fun on the side without having studied professional techniques and best practices.
• Amateur: Rs. 1250 to Rs. 5000 per hour / Rs. 1250 to Rs. 2500 per image. Amateur photographers have built up an online portfolio and have sold their images to other clients. Still, they haven't had any professional photography education, but offer much lower prices.
• Student: Rs. 2500 to Rs. 5000 per hour / Rs. 1250 to Rs. 5000 per image. They may have an apprenticeship where they work directly with a professional photographer, or they may also take photography and related media classes in college.
• Semi-Pro: Rs. 3750 to Rs. 7500 per hour / Rs. 2500 to Rs. 7500 per image. These are mostly part-time photographers with a strong education in the field and more than one year of experience.
• Professional: Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15000 per hour / Rs. 3750 to Rs. 17500 per image. These full-time photographers have an extensive portfolio, strong skills, years of education, and several years of experience.
• Top Professional: Rs. 10000 to Rs. 25000+ per hour / Rs. 20000 to Rs. 50000+ per image. Exclusive full-time photographers like these are in high demand for top magazine publications, advertising companies, and the film industry.

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Professional Photographer Prices

A typical professional photographer costs between Rs. 3750 and Rs. 15000 hourly, or from Rs. 3750 to Rs. 18750 per photo because they put significant pre-production and post-production editing work into creating the final print.

Professional pictures prices increase up to Rs. 10000 to Rs. 25000 hourly or about Rs. 15000 to Rs. 1,00,000 per image for top photographers with higher demand. This group of photographers is less than 10 percent of the majority in the industry.

Freelance Photography Rates

Freelance photography rates may be as low as Rs. 1250 per image, or as high as Rs. 7500 per photo depending on their level of expertise. For more images than initially planned in your photo shoot, photographers may offer a 25 percent discount.

Freelance photographers charge according to their expenses to maintain all of the equipment they have, as well as the amount of time they invest in editing professional photos. They are independent contractors who often rely on seasonal work, whereas company photographers sometimes charge less since they don't pay for their own equipment and insurance.

Photography Prices For Beginners

Beginner, hobbyist, and amateur photographers typically charge Rs. 1250 to Rs. 5000 per hour depending on where they are located. Photographers who are still developing their online reputation and Photoshop skills make around Rs. 1250 hourly in the tier-2 and tier-3 cities, but they can make Rs. 4000 hourly in Metros and tier-1 cities in India.

A photography price list for beginners is harder to create because they don't have enough experience yet, especially when working as a freelancer. Most use a cost-plus-profit model as a starting point, then start to charge premium prices as they become established.

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Photography Rates

Photography services are set with either hourly rates, daily, in packages, or per photo. Hourly rates are typically between Rs. 2500 to Rs. 10000, while day rates range from Rs. 15000 to Rs. 1,00,000 per photographer. Photoshoot sessions and packages start at Rs. 5000 and quickly go up to Rs. 25000 or more.

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Photographer Hourly Rate

Although a photographer may charge Rs. 5000 to Rs. 12500 hourly, once they factor in their travel fees, equipment, supplies, insurance, and editing time, they may only make Rs. 2500 per hour.

Freelance photographers can charge up to 20% more if they have Adobe After Effects or Photoshop skills and graphic design experience. Remember that the photographer charge per hour changes a lot based on their location, also due to the cost of living.

Photographer Day Rate

A photographers day rate fluctuates between Rs. 15000 and Rs. 150,000 depending on how many hours worked, the amount of setup work, and how many key shots the client requests. A small birthday party is Rs. 7500 an hour for the first two hours and Rs. 5000 hourly after that, while a wedding averages Rs. 100,000.

If it's a large gathering with more than about 50 guests, then you'll likely need more than one photographer which can double your costs. They may have to bring in additional photography lighting if the party is at night, which will cost more as well.

An experienced photographer knows it takes a lot of time to select, edit, and process a set amount of photos from one day of shooting. You need to set your target goal for the number of shots you want or the fixed amount of hours for taking those photos.

Typically they will also include in their contract an option for you to see all the photos that they've taken, or their best selection of all the pictures from that day, if you want to order additional prints.

How Much Do Photographers Charge Per Photo?

Photographers typically charge Rs. 1250 to Rs. 12500 per photo or about Rs. 3750 per edited shot on average depending on their experience. A per photo pricing model includes meeting with the client, setting up, doing the photo shoot, traveling, editing, and delivering the final product in the client's preferred medium.

Learn more about how photographers charge for a photo and understand how much time went into creating that photo. Using image-based costs creates the best pricing model when clients are expecting high-quality work reflected in just a few images.

Photography Packages Prices

Photography packages cost Rs. 7500 to Rs. 25000 for a portrait session or Rs. 15000 to Rs. 30000 for a small event or birthday party, which covers 2 to 4 hours of shooting depending on the photographer's expertise. Most photographers deal with packages based on time spent, the number of photos, or à la carte.

Some examples of photography packages that are popular are:

• For family shots or general portraits, one large print to hang on the wall plus a few smaller wallet-size and desk-frame size images for sharing with others
• For a wedding shoot, one large photo printed on canvas plus digital images, engagement photos, and an album
• For headshots, several 8 by 10-inch prints plus wallet-size prints

Photography Mini Session Pricing

Photography sessions cost Rs. 5000 to Rs. 8750 for a 40-minute mini-session with 20 edited images. If you only need a headshot or group portrait, sessions can be as short as 20 minutes at a cheaper rate. Pricing can double or triple for each additional hour of photography, additional prints, and photo editing.

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How Much Do Photographers Make?

Most professional photographers make an annual salary of Rs. 17,00,000 to Rs. 21,50,000. The highest-paid in-house photographers make Rs. 40,00,000 in the aerospace industry, or Rs. 32,50,000 in real estate, government, schools, hospitals or the motion picture industry.

Other in-house photographers who work exclusively at companies involved in corporate marketing or field research average around Rs. 25,50,000 to Rs. 36,20,000 annually, though a smaller percentage of some high-profile positions could pay up to Rs. 45,00,000 annually or more.

Figuring out how much photographers make requires you to consider how much training and experience they have, how good their equipment is, where they live, and their knowledge of photo editing and design.

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Average Photographer Salary

The median average photographer salary is Rs. 21,00,000 for general freelancers, while commercial photographers make Rs. 23,00,000 to Rs. 39,00,000. Self-employed freelancers who are part-time may earn as little as Rs. 8,50,000, or up to Rs. 40,00,000 depending on their skill set, experience, location, and if they keep their schedule full.

Photographers who receive the highest professional photo shoot prices in the world are generally fashion photographers and those who work for industry-leading magazines. Photographers find more jobs available in larger metropolitan areas in Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Lucknow, and Kolkata.

How Much Does A Photographer Make Per Month?

The average freelance photographer with minimal experience makes Rs. 1,80,000 per month or about Rs. 43,000 per week. The top 10 percent of professional photographers earn Rs. 3,20,000 per month or more, especially wedding photographers.

However, keep in mind that most photographers work from contract to contract and do not have steady 40-hour work weeks throughout the year since some seasons are busier than others.

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Photography Pricing

For freelance photographers to set reasonable prices, they research what others with their level of experience in their local market are charging and how much they offer. Be aware that there is no fixed photography pricing formula anywhere in the industry. Averages vary according to the amount of work involved and the place.

Photography Pricing Guide

Each type of photography tends to have different pricing models. Review the following photography price list examples to get an idea of typical price ranges:

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Average Wedding Photographer Cost

Average wedding photography prices range from Rs. 75000 to 1,75,000, with most spending Rs. 1,10,000. Wedding packages from beginners building up their photography portfolio could cost between Rs. 15000 to Rs. 25000. On the other hand, a professional destination-wedding photographer could start their pricing at Rs. 5,00,000.

Engagement Photography Prices

For engagement photo shoots, the average professional charges around Rs. 10000 to Rs. 20000, whereas students charge around Rs. 4500 to Rs. 7500 and generally only offer digital copies. At Rs. 25000 and up, you'll typically get extras like full rights to the images, prints and digital copies. To get more discounts on engagement photos, you can often book them as part of a bigger wedding photo package with your photographer.

Event Photography Rates

Event photographer rates range from Rs. 7500 to Rs. 12500 per hour with a 2-hour minimum, then around Rs. 5000 per hour for every hour after that. Small events like birthday parties cost Rs. 15000 to Rs. 25000, while a 4-hour event in Delhi runs Rs. 25000 to Rs. 50,000, including photo editing and setup costs. For corporate event photography, pricing could be about Rs. 10000-Rs. 30000 hourly.

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Family Photo Shoot Prices

Family photo shoot prices start at Rs. 7000 for a 30-minute session at one location, and from Rs. 20000 to Rs. 50000 in metropolitan areas. If you spend around Rs. 22000, then you can get photos in up to three locations with wardrobe changes, as well as credit toward albums and prints.

Cheaper packages offer a 30-minute session with around 15 edited digital images, while more expensive sessions may include a photo shoot of up to 2 hours in 2 locations, unlimited digital images and a large canvas print.

Senior Pictures Prices

The average price for senior pictures is between Rs. 6000 to Rs. 15000. The cost of senior pictures varies according to how many locations you choose, how many photos you order, and how many wardrobe changes you have.

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Portrait Photography Pricing

Portrait photography prices range from Rs. 7500 to Rs. 18000+ per session, which usually lasts for about an hour. Average rates are Rs. 12000 for a package deal or Rs. 6000 per hour inside their studio. For longer 2-hour sessions with around 12 professionally edited photos in high resolution, packages are Rs. 17500+.

Keep in mind that portrait photographers rates fluctuate according to the area you live in and the skill level and experience of the photographer.

Birth, Baby & Newborn Photography Prices

Due to the extra time generally involved in newborn photoshoots, baby photography packages cost around Rs. 15000 to Rs. 30000.

Maternity Photography Prices

A 60-minute maternity photography session indoors or outdoors with wardrobe options and 15 high-resolution digital downloads is Rs. 25000 total. Hourly rates maternity photographers range from Rs. 7500 for a smaller package to Rs. 35000+ for a two-hour session.

Pet Photography Pricing

A pet photography session costs Rs. 7000 per hour with up to two pets and two people, though you can add more subjects for just Rs. 1250 each. Photo prints and retouched digital images are available as a separate purchase. Packages start at Rs. 15000 plus prints with professionally retouched photos for Rs. 8000 and up.

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Real Estate Photography Pricing

Professional real estate photographers typically charge Rs. 7500 to Rs. 17500 per shoot (without video), depending on where you are located. A high-end architectural photographer will charge a day rate of about Rs. 75000, with the price including lighting, assistants, and the post-production photo editing.

Real estate photography rates will increase depending upon additional equipment that the photographer may have to rent, travel expenses, setup time, etc. To cover the base expense of performing the photo shoot, an architectural photographer may set a fixed minimum number of photos that the client agrees to purchase before they start the shoot.

Interior Photographer Rates

Interior photography rates to get magazine-quality photos for interior designers, home sellers and architects are around Rs. 15000 for a property less than 2,000 square feet. The price increases according to the size of the area photographed.

Product Photography Pricing

Average product photography rates range between Rs. 1750 to Rs. 8000 per image. Like most promotional photography prices, this number fluctuates based on how much time they need to set up each product and rent special lighting. If the images require significant time to retouch, then it will also cost extra.

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Commercial Photography Rates

Commercial photography rates range from Rs. 7500 to Rs. 12500 per image, or Rs. 10000 to Rs. 15000 per hour, plus more for licensing rights if they're headshots for a law firm, for example. Prices change according to how much setup time is involved and what additional services the photographer offers.

Drone & Aerial Photography Prices

You can get up to eight high-quality and professionally edited drone photos for Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15000 from aerial photographers. It's usually a standard add-on to a complete real estate photography package. If you want an edited video from a drone as well as the photos, then prices increase up to Rs. 20000 to Rs. 25000+. The final result is generally up to 25 pictures and 2 minutes of video footage.

Business Photography Pricing

To get stunning images promoting your business, professional photographers charge Rs. 20000 for up to 4 hours of shooting time and coverage of the interior, exterior, staff, and products. For the same kind of coverage for 8 hours at a larger business, corporate photography rates increase to Rs. 30000 or more.

Graduation Photoshoot Prices

Graduation photoshoots cost between Rs. 5000 and Rs. 7500 for 2 hours of shooting from a freelance photographer to produce digital images only without retouching. For Rs. 15000, you can get a professional service at two locations, wardrobe changes, and assistance from makeup artists and stylists. Plus, discounts on edited images.

Average Price of Headshots

The average price of headshots is around Rs. 3750 to Rs. 16,000, and the top professional photographers charge Rs. 50,000+ for their headshot sessions. Cheaper sessions are shorter the photos receive little to no photo retouching, while expensive headshots include special lighting and professionally edited, high-resolution images.

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Food Photography Pricing

Food photographers charge from Rs. 7500 for a small job done in an hour with little to no editing on digital files only, up to Rs. 25000 or more for several hours on a professional set with assistants. To get an accurate food photography price quote, you'll need to know how many shots you need, what kind of format your photos need to be in, what type of backdrop and set you want, how much photo retouching you want, and how long it takes to prepare the food.

Lifestyle Photography Prices

Lifestyle photographers typically charge Rs. 7500 to Rs. 17,500 per hour on average, while semi-professional or full-time pros cost Rs. 30,000 for a 60-minute session and 25 well-edited photos. Packages cost up to Rs. 40,000 for a 2-hour session with up to seven people and 40 professionally edited digital images.

Band Photography Rates

Band photography rates start at Rs. 15000 for a simple portrait and headshots-only session. Packages cost Rs. 25,000 or Rs. 50,000 for booking an exclusive location like a high-rise rooftop in the city for the photoshoot with professional lighting, sets, and extensive retouching and resizing afterward for album covers. Exclusive photo licensing rights can also cost extra.

Model Photoshoot Prices

A professional model photoshoot costs Rs. 7500 to Rs. 15,000 per hour plus the price of printing the photos. However, prices vary significantly for those aiming to be professional models. A new model who just joined a modeling agency often pays for their own test shoot, which could be Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000.

Exceptions to this standard are when an agency decides to deduct the cost of the photoshoot from the model's future earnings, or if an aspiring fashion photographer offers it for free because they need the photos for their portfolio.

Nature Photography Prices

Nature photography prices range from Rs. 10,000 hourly to Rs. 25,000 per day, plus payments from future resale rights if you sell the image to a famous publication. For the average photographer though, the rates often cost the same as most portrait photography at Rs. 7500 per hour.

Freelance Sports Photography Rates

Freelance sports photography pricing ranges from Rs. 7500 to Rs. 15,000 per session. After years of experience building an extensive portfolio, a few photographers may gain the privilege of shooting for the NBA, but even then, they often have to give up rights to all the images.

Construction Photography Rates

Construction photography rates cost an average of Rs. 8500 hourly with Rs. 2500 for the digital images to document construction progress. However, photographers could charge an extra Rs. 5000 if aerial drone photos are part of the package.

Fashion Photography Rates

Freelancer fashion photographers will charge Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15,000 per hour or more to cover the expenses of their equipment, seasonal work, location setups, and other rentals as needed. For in-house wage-based photographers under contract, they earn at least Rs. 1500 hourly. High-profile magazines pay much higher rates according to their number of subscriptions.

Website Photography

It's common for local website photography to cost around Rs. 1750 to Rs. 7500 for each image. However, large-scale commercial photographs that require additional setup time and special lighting often cost more.

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Photoshoot Prices

In photoshoot pricing, standard portrait photography rates are Rs. 7500 to Rs. 10,000 hourly if taken by a semi-professional photographer. These prices are for the average client who only wants to share the images with their friends and family.

Photography Fees

The following photography fee structure is a basic guideline of what you could expect to pay, although actual prices will vary:

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Photography Session Prices

The cost of booking a photoshoot session is Rs. 5000 per hour if you're working with a beginner photographer, though most photographers with good experience and skills charge Rs. 7500 to Rs. 10000 hourly. The best photographers charge upwards of Rs. 25000 depending on what extras and exclusive shooting locations they offer.

Pricing Photography Prints

Professional photographers charge Rs. 1200 to Rs. 3500 to deliver top-quality 8-inch by 10-inch prints. To calculate how to price photography prints, you need to add up:

• Cost of the photo lab to print it
• Value of your time spent editing it
• Framing fee
• Packing and shipping charges
• Credit card processing fee

Pricing Digital Image Files

When selling web-licensing rights, prices can ranges from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 30,000 per image for a one-time print as well as Internet use depending on the amount of traffic that the website currently receives. Pricing digital image files gets more expensive when a small business requests unlimited usage with full copyright ownership.

Photo Licensing Fee

To calculate photo licensing fees, the standard charge is 10 to 20 percent of how much money the photographer spent to create that image, process, and edit it. The photography license cost allows multiple companies or advertisers to use your same photograph for limited amounts of time, as you decide.

If they want to purchase exclusive rights to use this photo, essentially buying the copyright, prices range from 50 to 100 percent of the original photography production and editing fee.

Should The Buyer Own The Copyright?

The photographer owns the original copyrights to all of their photos as soon as they take them, especially for commercial purposes. Most buyers would only buy the copyrights to images when they want to resell the photo exclusively, if the image includes their proprietary personal brand symbols or trademarks, or if they have personal reasons why they don't want the images licensed to anyone else.

If you do not specify that you want to buy the copyrights to your images, then a photographer is free to license them to other companies for marketing purposes and feature them in their portfolio.

A copyright purchase always comes at an additional charge to the price of hiring the photographer for the original photo shoot. Keep in mind that a photographer must grant copyright privileges in writing because copyrights don't automatically transfer to the buyer with their purchase.

Photo Travel Fee

You'll need to pay an additional photographer travel fee of around 50 to 100 percent of their regular hourly rate if they're coming from outside of their local metropolitan area.

Photo Editing Rates

In general, photo editing rates are around 50 percent of the hourly photography rate. To determine how much to edit photos, you need to consider how much work the client is willing to pay for and what kind of final effect they want to see in the final photographs.

A professional photographer never gives all of their unprocessed, unedited images to a client unless that's specifically what they requested. While most people want wedding photos to look like magazine-quality images, they don't realize no magazine photo like that has been printed unedited.

Often more hours go into retouching, color-correcting and editing a series of photos than it took to take the original photographs. To educate the clients beforehand, you can show them an unedited sample photograph and then show them how it looks after you've worked on it so that they can appreciate the difference and the time involved.

Grow Your Photography Business

There are dozens of freelance photography jobs posted every day near you. Create a profile on VenueLook to help people discover you so that you can expand your business.

The critical difference in becoming a successful freelance photographer is to set yourself apart from other photographers. Be sure to create an award-winning profile once you sign up.

Hire A Professional Photographer

On VenueLook, you can find qualified photographers in your area, compare pricing, reviews, recent work, chat, and easily hire. The first step is to check out the list of professional photographers near you.

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