Last Updated on August 18, 2026
Day rates, headshots, product, food and video. Every figure is a pounds price a UK supplier actually publishes.
Ask five photographers what they charge for a day and you will get five numbers between £160 and £1,500. All five are real prices. That is why most guides to photography costs are useless: they give you an average that nobody actually charges.
This page does something different. We checked 40 published UK price lists and rate cards in August 2026, from individual photographers, studios and freelance platforms, and recorded what they actually charge. Not converted US benchmarks. Not survey guesses. Published pounds prices from UK suppliers you could book tomorrow.
Executive summary
The short version. A marketplace photographer averages £185 to £200 a day. An established commercial photographer charges £500 to £1,000. Both will turn up with a camera. The difference is consistency, editing, licensing and how many usable images you get. The right way to compare quotes is cost per usable image, not the day rate.
Key takeaways
Photography is one of the cheapest assets in marketing because you pay once and use the images for years. A half-day brand shoot at £430 to £750 typically covers a website, a Google Business Profile and months of social posts. Compare that with what UK businesses pay every single month for social media management.
The spread between the cheapest and most expensive way to buy the same thing is enormous. A professional headshot costs £45 at a walk-in studio and £745 from a premium London specialist. A product photo costs £5 from one studio and £35 from another. Neither end is a scam. They are different products, and this page explains the difference.
Photographer day rates in 2026
Two markets exist side by side and most price guides mix them up.
The marketplace tier. On quote platforms such as Bark, commercial photography averages £185 to £200 a day, with a typical range of £160 to £410. These are often newer photographers building a portfolio.
The established tier. Photographers with published rate cards and a commercial client base sit much higher. The freelance platform YunoJuno puts the average booked photographer day rate at £475. Established commercial specialists publish £500 to £1,000 a day, and premium operators more.
| Type of shoot | Half day | Full day |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial and brand | £300 to £750 | £500 to £1,000 |
| Portraits and headshots | £200 to £400 | £400 to £800 |
| Product | £350 to £425 | £400 to £675 |
| Food and drink | £300 to £850 | £650 to £1,200 |
| Events | £250 to £500 | £430 to £730 |
| Video (solo videographer) | £390 to £650 | £690 to £900 |
Ranges compiled from published UK rate cards and price guides, August 2026. Half day usually means 3 to 4 hours, full day 6 to 8. London sits at or above the top of each range.
What a brand shoot costs
For most small businesses the right purchase is not a day rate at all. It is a fixed-price brand shoot: the photographer comes to your premises and captures you, your team, your space and your work in one session. Published UK packages cluster tightly.
| Session | Typical price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Mini session, 15 to 45 minutes | £125 to £225 | 5 or so edited images, one location |
| Standard, 1 to 1.5 hours | £350 to £695 | 15 to 50 edited images |
| Half day, 3 to 4 hours | £430 to £985 | Multiple locations or setups, 40 plus images |
| Full day, 6 to 8 hours | £730 to £1,450 | Everything above, plus team and premises coverage |
Some photographers now sell photography as a subscription: from £99 a month for quarterly sessions. For a business that posts regularly, that is worth a look before signing any content retainer.
Headshot prices
Headshots are the most common first photography purchase, and the widest price spread in this study.
| Option | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walk-in studio session | £45 to £110 | 15 to 20 minutes, 1 or more edited images |
| Standard professional session | £110 to £350 | 30 to 90 minutes, 2 to 10 retouched images |
| Premium London specialist | £375 to £745 | Longer sessions, more images, higher-end retouching |
| Team headshots, 10 plus people | £40 to £75 a head | Booked as a half or full day on site |
Bark’s quote data puts headshot photography at £125 an hour on average across the UK, ranging from about £100 an hour in the North East to £165 in London. One photographer working in both cities publishes the same session at £180 in Manchester and £250 in London, which is as clean a measure of the London premium as you will find.
Extra retouched images beyond the included count typically cost £10 to £25 each. If you have a team of five or more, a per-head package beats individual sessions every time.
Product photography prices
Product photography is priced per image, per product or per day, and the per-image market is the most transparent corner of UK photography.
| Type | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| White-background packshots | £5 to £35 per image | Falls to £10 to £24 at volume. Minimum spends of £125 to £150 are common |
| Styled or lifestyle shots | £350 to £425 half day | £600 to £845 full day, or per image plus a set fee |
| Food photography on site | £300 to £850 per session | From about £300 for 2 hours and 12 dishes photographed. London full days run to £1,500 |
| Amazon listing packages | £100 to £397 per product | Fixed-price bundles of 7 to 9 images including infographics |
| 360 spin photography | £15 to £199 per product | Price depends on hosting and interactivity |
For cafes, restaurants and takeaways: UK food photographers price by session, not by dish. A two-hour session covering five or six dishes starts at about £300, and several photographers include a full commercial licence at that price.
Videographer rates
Video prices follow the same two-tier pattern as photography. A solo videographer who shoots and edits charges £390 to £650 for a half day and £690 to £900 for a full day, with London experience pushing past £900. YunoJuno’s booked average is £427 a day. Standalone editing days run £150 to £280 for juniors and £300 to £550 for mid-level editors.
Monthly social video packages split sharply: £295 to £650 a month buys a solo operator filming monthly and cutting clips, while studio packages with strategy calls run £1,250 to £1,950 a month. Drone coverage from a CAA-licensed operator adds £250 to £650 for a half day, £600 to £1,100 for a full day.
For full production costs, agencies and what a finished video is worth, see our separate study: UK video marketing costs.
What moves the price
Usage rights. The single biggest hidden variable. Professional convention, set out in the Association of Photographers’ guidance, is that a shoot fee includes an initial licence for limited use, with broader use charged on top. Big-brand advertising use can multiply a fee several times over. The good news for small businesses: nearly every small business package we checked publishes an all-in price, and several include lifetime commercial use. Always ask one question: what am I allowed to do with these images, for how long?
Editing. Basic colour and exposure correction is almost always included. Heavier retouching is not, typically £25 per image or £40 an hour on top.
Travel. Most photographers include a free radius, then charge around 50p a mile.
VAT. Published prices are inconsistent. Some quote including VAT, some excluding, and the difference is 20 per cent of your budget. Always check.
Timing. Weekend surcharges from £20, rush edits from £20 to £150, and premium weekend rates at the top end. Booking a weekday with normal turnaround is the cheapest version of every shoot.
The number that actually matters
Stop comparing day rates. Start comparing cost per usable image.
One photographer in this study charges £360 an hour and delivers around 100 photos from that hour: £3.60 an image. Another charges £225 for a 45-minute session with 5 images: £45 an image. The first is built for volume, the second for a single perfect headshot. Neither is overpriced. They are different tools, and the day rate tells you nothing about which one you need.
The comparison worth making. A £475 brand shoot delivering 20 images costs £24 an image, and you own a year of content. A single piece of UGC video costs £50 to £250 and you typically get one asset. Both have their place, but if your website still has phone-quality photos, the shoot comes first. See what influencers and UGC creators charge for the other side of that comparison.
Where a small budget should go
Under £200. A walk-in or standard headshot for you, or a batch of white-background packshots at volume pricing. This fixes the worst photo problems on a website for less than most businesses spend on ads in a week.
£200 to £500. A 60 to 90 minute brand shoot. This is the sweet spot: 15 to 50 edited images covering you, your premises and your work, at the lowest cost per image most businesses will ever pay.
£500 to £1,500. A half or full day covering team headshots, premises, products and detail shots in one booking. Cheaper than buying each separately, and one styling effort covers everything.
Above £1,500. Only when you need broad usage rights for advertising, a team of 20 plus, or agency-grade production. If you are spending this before your website and Google profile carry good basic photography, you are buying in the wrong order.
Methodology and sources
Compiled August 2026 from 40 published UK price lists, rate cards and pricing guides, including individual photographers’ and studios’ own published prices across London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Kent, Sussex, Devon and Fife, plus quote data from Bark, booked-rate data from YunoJuno’s 2026 freelancer rates report, and the Association of Photographers’ licensing guidance. Every figure on this page is a pounds price published by a UK supplier, checked directly on the source page. Where sources conflicted, we show the range rather than a fake average. Prices change: treat ranges as a sense check for quotes, not a fixed menu. This is general information, not advice for your specific situation.
What to do next
Before booking anything, look at your own website and Google Business Profile the way a customer does. If the photos are dark, stretched or missing, that is costing you enquiries today, and it is a cheaper fix than almost anything else in marketing.
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Common questions
How much does a photographer cost per day in the UK?
Between £160 and £1,000 or more. Marketplace photographers average £185 to £200 a day, the average booked freelance rate is £475, and established commercial photographers publish £500 to £1,000. London sits about a third higher than the UK average.
How much do professional headshots cost in the UK?
£45 to £110 at a walk-in studio, £110 to £350 for a standard professional session with 2 to 10 retouched images, and up to £745 at premium London specialists. Team headshots for 10 or more people typically cost £40 to £75 a head.
How much does product photography cost per image?
White-background packshots cost £5 to £35 per image from UK studios, falling to £10 to £24 per image at volume. Most studios set a minimum spend of £125 to £150. Styled lifestyle shots cost more, typically priced as a half day from £350.
How much does a videographer cost per day in the UK?
A solo videographer who shoots and edits charges £690 to £900 for a full day, £390 to £650 for a half day. The average booked freelance videographer rate is £427 a day. Drone coverage from a licensed operator adds £600 to £1,100 a day.
Do photography prices include usage rights?
Small business packages usually include commercial use, and some include a lifetime licence. Traditional commercial photography includes a limited initial licence with wider use charged on top. Always confirm in writing what use is included and for how long before you book.
Related research: Influencer and UGC rates UK · UK video marketing costs · Social media management costs · UK Marketing Cost Index
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