Commercial photography of your real business

Commercial photography is photography made for a business to use in its marketing: websites, ads, brochures, social media and packaging. It covers people, premises, products and work in progress. Unlike personal photography, it's planned around a business goal and comes with an agreement about how the images can be used.

Any photo a business uses to promote itself or sell something counts. That includes staff headshots on a website, a shopfront on Google, products in an online store and event photos in a press release. Photos taken for private family use don't. If it's used in marketing, treat it as commercial and agree the usage rights.

In Australia, the photographer often owns copyright in commissioned commercial photos unless you agree otherwise. That's why the agreement matters. Before the shoot, agree in writing who owns the images, where you can use them and for how long. We sort this out before the shoot day, not after.

Commercial photographers plan and shoot images for business use: headshots, locations, products, events and work in progress. Good ones also handle lighting, direction of people, retouching and file preparation. A professional commercial photographer will ask where the images will be used before quoting, because that shapes the whole shoot.

A commercial photographer is a photographer who works for businesses rather than private clients. Some specialise, such as a commercial portrait photographer for headshots or commercial product photographers for catalogues. Others cover a range. We match the photographer to the job, using photographers we work with.

Commercial photographers usually charge by the hour, half day or day, plus editing. Some add a licence fee based on how the images will be used. Travel, styling and extra locations add to the cost. We quote each shoot to the job, and image editing is $160 + GST an hour, quoted first.

No. We're a marketing agency that plans shoots and books photographers we work with, who shoot at your premises or on location. That lets us match the photographer to the job. Compared with booking a commercial photography company directly, you get the planning, briefing and file preparation handled by one team.

Tell them the date, what to wear and what the photos are for, at least a week ahead. Ask for plain, solid colours and their usual work clothes or uniform. Tidy the workspace the day before. We send briefing notes so everyone knows what to expect, which makes for relaxed, natural photos.