When I started out working as an artist, I had a lot of different opportunities to expand my skill set beyond just practicing on my own.

Every experience taught me that each speciality in photography industry, has a different target audience and that food photography, at its highest level, takes many specialty photographic techniques, and even specialty photo equipment, that most photographers do not possess. I believe that Food Photography is a vast field and only complementary offerings such as food styling, recipe development, designing printables (such as menus, brochures etc.), are a logical extension of my boutique approach to photography.

Cooked meals, Baked Goods, Speciality Beverages, Ingredients, Food Typography, Food preparation shots, Packaged Food Products, Packaged Beverages.

I also shoot photos/short-format videos relating to recipe creation and preparation.

(All cuisines- Halal/ Non Halal/ Vegan/Keto/Vegetarian/Non Vegetarian.)

• If I come down to your location, I will charge you on an hourly basis for the time spent on the location. (This is the time spent actually shooting your food or products. I do not bill you for the time spent in setting up equipment which is typically half an hour.) My charges don’t include any hidden fees and includes rates for photography, studio lighting and equipment rental, retouching, basic styling and props.
• Each of such session lasts a maximum of 4 hours. In my experience, most chefs/clients and their staff feel stretched beyond 4 hours; hence this duration is a creative sweet spot. Any overtime is billed in blocks of next 30 minutes.

However, if you have a strong need to do so, I am still open to be engaged for a full day shoot (8 hrs).

• Depending on the complexity of your shoot or the preference of your art director/brand consultant – I may need to hire an assistant at an additional charge.

HOME STUDIO CHARGES

• For clients selling retail/ packaged products or food items that travel well – I charge on a per image basis. It has all the above inclusions and no hidden charges.
• In our pre-shoot discussions, I can give you a very reasonable estimate of hours I will be spending for the shoot to create an output you will be telling all your friends about! But since you are not physically present for the shoot- it doesn’t make sense to bill on an hourly basis.

These charging models are simply a way to provide YOU with more flexibility without compromising on quality.

This depends on a number of things. If you are simply looking for standard images/outline shots of your food or food product on a plain white or single colour background with no styling required expect up to 15 images from a 2-hour session (Minimum Booking Hour). Less if your food or product is reflective.

If you require styled images- the number of images depends on the amount of styling/set building required. If the set remains the same and the products are swapped out, you can expect significantly more images than if a different set is required for each food/product.

Based on my experience and research in this Industry, I’ve come to believe that most photographers have a standard rate card that defines the scope of their job for every client. I personally don’t believe in a one-size-fit-all approach in this service industry and always design customized quotes catering to your specific needs.

For most shoots, I work alone and deal with clients on a one to one basis. Having a huge team on set adds to your production cost- something you can eliminate if you chose to work with me.

More volume of work and retainer agreements definitely translates into economies of scale.

If you have met me in person, you will know how passionate I’m about food and how each and every client have worked with so far has cultivated a personal relationship with me. While I fully understand budgetary constraints of a small business, I would like to reiterate that my rates are probably leaner than most others; as I work solo and don’t normally need to charge you the same cost as someone who brings a team on-site.

(Also see question: Why are your rates cheaper than Y person?)

• Based on our pre-contract discussions, you will receive a formal quotation. 40% of order value is required to reserve your booking.
• Once this amount is paid, I will come down for a face to face discussion with a vision board to discuss the creative direction of the shoot. I will also confirm your session date and block my calendar. When the shoot has been completed you will receive an invoice for the balance.
• Once your payment has been received you will receive a link to your online image gallery.

If you are a restaurant/cafe owner/home baker, I would recommend that we shoot in your premises. Don’t worry – the date, time, lighting arrangements and any other logistical concerns are all covered in a pre-contract discussion.

If you have a successful home business or sell packaged retail products or have serious space constraints in your bricks-and-mortar outlet, I recommend you send me over the products and we shoot in my home studio. We will still have an in-depth pre-shoot discussion beforehand but on the date of shoot, your work is only to arrange the delivery of products and the rest is taken care of. If you feel the need to be physically present at the shoot, I strongly encourage you to book an on location shoot only.

Images are delivered within 10 working days of your shoot date.  You will then receive an email with a link to an online gallery to view and download your images. All of your images will be full quality, high resolution prints ready downloads. I will archive the gallery within 15 days of your last shoot date.

Prior to your session, we will discuss your shoot requirements to ensure we are both on the same page as to how you want your products presented. During this process we will discuss specific requirements you have for your products and any specific props you might want to use in the shoot.

• If you change your mind with respect to the creative direction after the shoot, it will incur a reshoot fee as it involves an additional time commitment from my end.
• If you require additional editing to achieve the look you require rather than reshooting- this can be discussed. Minor edits are free, however, colour changes and extensive photo shopping/retouching will incur a fee.

NO. This would be similar to a customer at a restaurant asking for leftover ingredients used to make his dinner! You can be assured that each of the final images that are carefully edited and delivered reflects my highest standards and professional discretion.

However, on rare occasions, I may provide RAW images along with our post-produced JPG’s for an additional fee (usually quite high) and restrictions.

This is something I get asked about often. Copyright simply means that I’m the creator of the images and that I “own” the copyright. So selling or obtaining “the copyright” is not possible, but you will have the ability to print and share your images as much as you’d like.

You have full permission to use your images for any legitimate marketing purpose. This includes online selling platforms, brochures, website, social media, print advertising, packaging etc. You may not on-sell the images to any third party, or use the images in a paid product without permission. As the photographer, I retain the copyright of the image as well as the right to use the images in my portfolio and marketing materials.