AI vs Traditional Product Photography: A Real Cost Comparison

When brands calculate photography costs, they often focus on the photographer's day rate. But the true cost includes studio rental, lighting equipment, props, styling, sample shipping, post-production editing, and project management time.

• Studio rental: 500-2,000 EUR per day
• Photographer: 800-3,000 EUR per day
• Styling and props: 200-1,000 EUR per shoot
• Post-production: 10-50 EUR per image
• Sample shipping: 100-500 EUR per product line
• Project management: 8-20 hours per campaign

For a typical e-commerce brand shooting 50 products with 5 angles each, the total cost ranges from 10,000 to 40,000 EUR per campaign.

AI product photography flips this cost structure. The primary costs are the platform subscription and the time to upload references and review outputs. There are no studio, travel, or shipping costs.

For the same 50-product catalog with 5 variations each, AI photography typically costs between 500 and 2,000 EUR, representing an 85-95% reduction in total spend.

Both approaches have hidden costs that brands should factor into their calculations. Traditional photography has opportunity costs from slow turnaround. AI photography requires initial time investment in learning the tools and establishing workflows.

• Traditional: delayed launches due to scheduling constraints
• Traditional: reshoot costs when products change slightly
• AI: initial learning curve for the creative team (typically 1-2 days)
• AI: reference image preparation (good input = good output)
• AI: quality review process for generated images

AI photography is not a universal replacement. Some scenarios still benefit from traditional shoots: hero campaign images for billboards, lifestyle content featuring real people in authentic moments, and products where touch and feel are the primary selling point.

The smartest brands use a hybrid approach: AI for catalog-scale production and traditional photography for hero moments that define the brand.

Most brands start by running AI photography in parallel with their existing workflow. They shoot a product traditionally, then generate AI variations of the same product to compare quality and measure the time savings.

Once confidence is established, teams gradually shift more of their catalog to AI generation, reserving traditional shoots for specific high-value assets.