Pixit
What a photographer costs in the UK
Most UK photographers charge somewhere around £100 an hour, with corporate work typically £125–£250 an hour and full day rates commonly landing between £350 and £1,200. Headshot sessions average roughly £125 an hour and closer to £165 in London. Those are the honest ranges — this page explains what moves you inside them, and what the number does and does not include.
The ranges, by kind of job
General hourly work — around £100/hr. This is the figure most often quoted as the UK average and it is a reasonable anchor for a straightforward shoot: a portrait session, an event, a couple of hours of coverage.
Corporate and commercial — £125 to £250/hr. Higher because the usage is commercial, the turnaround is usually tighter, and the photographer is carrying insurance and often more kit. Corporate day rates commonly fall between £350 and £1,200.
Headshots — around £125/hr on average, closer to £165 in London. Often sold as a session rather than by the hour, with a fixed number of retouched images included.
Product — roughly £50 to £200/hr. The widest spread of any category, because “product photography” covers both a clean shot on white and a fully styled set with props and a retoucher.
These are ranges, not prices. Any individual photographer is entitled to sit outside them, and the good ones often do.
What actually moves the number
Where you are. The single largest factor after the type of job. London and the South East run measurably higher than the North East and much of the rest of the country for the same work.
How many edited images you get. Editing is where the photographer’s time actually goes — often more hours than the shoot itself. A quote for “two hours” that delivers fifteen edited images and one that delivers sixty are not the same quote.
How fast you need them. A 48-hour turnaround costs more than a fortnight, because someone has to clear their evening for it.
Kit and crew. Lighting, a second shooter, a stylist, a studio. Each is a real cost, and each should be itemised rather than folded into a single figure you cannot interrogate.
What the images are for. Personal use and a national ad campaign are different licences even when they are the same photograph. Commercial usage legitimately costs more.
The questions worth asking before you agree anything
How many edited images are included, and what does an extra one cost? When will they arrive? Is travel included, and to where? What happens if the weather makes the shoot impossible? What deposit is required and is it refundable?
The last one is where most disputes start. Deposits of 25% to 50% are standard when you book directly, and a non-refundable deposit paid to someone you found online is a genuine risk you are absorbing without being told you are absorbing it.
What a booking app changes about the price
Not the rate — photographers on Pixit set their own. What changes is the shape of the transaction. Hours on site, the kit, the delivery deadline and the figure are all agreed on one screen before anyone commits, and the whole amount is held in escrow rather than paid over as a deposit. It is released after you confirm the files landed.
So the comparison is not £100 an hour versus something cheaper. It is £100 an hour with a deposit you cannot get back, against £100 an hour where the money stays yours until the work exists. The full mechanics are on how photographers get paid.
If you are the photographer reading this
Rates being public is good for you. Undercharging is the most common error in the first two years of freelancing, and the reason is almost always that nobody will say a number out loud. If you are meaningfully below the ranges above for the same work in the same city, that is worth looking at. More on the working side in getting photography clients through an app.
Figures above are drawn from published UK photography pricing surveys and industry guides current as of 2026, and are ranges rather than quotes.
Questions people ask
What is the average hourly rate for a photographer in the UK?
Around £100 an hour is the common middle. Corporate and commercial work sits higher, typically £125 to £250 an hour, and product photography spans roughly £50 to £200 an hour depending on how much retouching and styling is involved.
How much is a full day of photography?
Day rates commonly run between £350 and £1,200. The spread is wide because a day means different things: a corporate day covering a conference is not the same job as a day on a product set with lighting and a stylist.
Why are London rates higher?
Overheads and demand. Headshot sessions, for instance, average around £125 an hour nationally but closer to £165 in London. Studio hire, travel and the cost of living all feed into it, and photographers outside major cities frequently charge less for identical work.
Does the price include the edited photos?
It should, but always ask. The difference between a quote that includes a set number of edited images and one that charges per edit afterwards is often larger than the difference between two photographers' hourly rates. Get the number of delivered images and the delivery deadline in writing.
How much deposit should I expect to pay?
Booking a photographer directly, deposits of roughly 25% to 50% up front are standard. On a booking app that holds the payment in escrow the deposit becomes unnecessary, because the full fee is already held and not released until you confirm delivery.
Is it cheaper to book through an app?
Not automatically, and we will not pretend otherwise. Photographers set their own prices. What changes is that the price is agreed in writing before the shoot, and that you are not handing a deposit to someone you have never met.
Do these rates apply to weddings?
Weddings are usually priced as packages rather than by the hour, because the job includes a full day on site plus a large amount of editing afterwards. Compare packages on what is delivered — hours of coverage, number of edited images, and how long delivery takes.