Photography Budgets: How much does it cost to shoot in a tropical paradise?
There are various ways to manage a creative photography budget, but to do so, you need to know all the associated costs before you can set expectations and negotiate expenses and fees. I have been fortunate to shoot on various jobs that have allowed me to travel. Not in the niche you would know my work for, but for my old agency, primarily in music and commercial brands, including NRMA. The lessons I have learned from this are things I can bring forward and allow me to write treatments. It is possible to do these things on a budget. Still, I will show you three different budgets with similar outcomes.
Making a good spreadsheet is a critical skill that will help you map out all your costs, I have prepared one; with three very different budgets, and I have written a summary at the top to give you an idea of the problems and how you will need to navigate these to get your solution, you can access and edit yourself, after reading the summary, and how the costs have been added up, if you want to leave a comment at the bottom of this article, we can chat more about this openly, because I think it’s a bit of a lost art in Australia.
See if you can manage these shoots by clicking here, and then leaving a comment at the botom of this article.
Many swim brands have a total budget of around $4800; for me and the model, it is just going and shooting what we can. It is possible to get something good if the crew is minimal and you’re just left to do your own thing. However, there is a massive difference between what you can deliver when you have $100,000 and $4800, which I want to clarify. It also takes a different skill set to manage $100,000 than it does to $4800, and it's why producers, agencies and specialised photographers exist in this landscape!
There is another trick many photographers have adopted in Europe, travel with the talent; many photographers have fantastic working relationships with models, stylists, and other creatives and will travel together, using their resources to do outreach to existing clients, brands, friends, and other creatives to get paid for work. It is a lot easier to pitch when the expenses are already covered. However, it does mean that the preproduction we are talking about becomes negligible and is based on preexisting ideas, rather than being able to create from scratch, especially if the location, accommodation, and additional styling aren’t something you can then create; these mini-campaigns as I’ve nicknamed them can be great, but are limited in scope and story as they suffer from a lack of flexibility as the wheels are already in motion.
Production Details
Location: Where
Production Date(s): Exact dates inc. of travel times/weather holds
Call Times: Each crew member’s specific start time
Weather Forecast: For the scheduled days, to prepare for conditions
Weather Hold: Is there one? How long, and who is covered?
Weather Contingencies: Is there a backup plan? What is it?
Personnel & Crew Costs
Photographer Fee: Day Rate, how are expenses tracked, whose budget are they coming from, what is inclusive of licensing,
Assistants (each listed individually): Fees and transport costs
Model Fees: Day Rate, weather hold inclusive? How long is usage?
Stylist Fees: Day Rate, package, production fees? Is wardrobe rental and styling expenses part of their fee? Or do they come from the overall budget, do they have an allocated amount?
Local Guide: Day rate or hourly rate
Additional Crew: i.e., for chartered boat, Including captain and any additional crew members, bus hire, etc.
Travel Costs
Flights:
Photographer
Models
Stylist
Producer
Assistants
Additional Creative Team (i.e. creative director, art director, set designer)
Client Personnel
Local Transportation:
Rental Fees: cars, buses, carts, bikes, etc.
Additional charter: Boat, plane, bus, etcl note any per-day or per-hour charges, including fuel costs if separate.
Accommodation
Hotel Rental for Team: Include separate room costs if the team has varied needs or room types
Extended Nights (if required): Any planned additional stay duration
Wardrobe & Styling Costs
Wardrobe Budget: Includes purchasing, rental, or return shipping costs
Styling Supplies: Accessories, emergency kits, or any specific styling items needed
Additional Decor or set design: Do we need any other costs, or do we need background extras and additional wardrobe for any shots.
Equipment Costs
Photography Equipment (on flight): Note here, even though costs may not apply
Additional Rentals (local): Any gear sourced locally, if needed
Permits & Insurance
Permits for Island/Beach Shoots (if required): Fees for required permissions on location
Insurance Costs: Travel, equipment, and liability insurance
Daily Expenses
Meals and Catering: Per person, per day budget for meals, snacks, drinks
Miscellaneous Expenses: Minor costs that arise unexpectedly, such as last-minute supplies
Contingency Funds
Buffer Amount: Typically 10-15% of the total estimated budget for unexpected expenses
Summary:
This should give you an idea of the expenditure and team management required for bigger shoots; the larger the team, the more moving parts, the more deliverables, and the larger the team will need to be. Generally, good campaigns have at least a dozen people working on them, and it’s important to note that you’ll notice I did not include video as part of this, but don’t be surprised if this sort of expenditure comes up. I couldn’t write a TVC budget, but I know that the small budgets I am talking about here would quickly quadruple in size and complexity, and it's worth noting that I would never expect that to be asked of me.
The link is also here for the Google Sheet, and if you found this helped, you can always send me a coffee or buy me a few rolls of film using the link here.
