What a packshot actually is
A packshot is the plain, accurate photograph a retailer needs on file, not the styled image chosen for an advert. White or transparent background, even light, the item square to the camera. Nothing in the shot creates a mood: no hand, no shadow doing character work. It’s a stricter brief than most first-time clients expect.
Lifestyle shots sell a feeling. A hero shot is the one polished image a product page leads with. A packshot does neither: it exists so a retailer can compare products fairly, tile against tile. Marketplaces need this consistency because thirty images from thirty different suppliers, lit and cropped alike, keep a category page usable. Full context sits in packshot photography explained; styled or hero shots on the same visit are product photography from £300, not this page.
Prices
A half day is £300, covering twenty to thirty-five items on one fixed set-up: one background, one angle, one lighting rig. A full day roughly doubles the item count without doubling the price, since lighting and camera position are already set by lunchtime. Under ten items, a per-item quote usually beats booking the half day; say so when you enquire and I’ll quote it that way.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Half day (20–35 items) | £300 |
| Full day (45–70 items) | £550 |
| Per-item rate, batches under 10 | £18–£25 |
| Cut-out and clipping path | £4–£8 per image |
| Transparent PNG | £3 per image |
| Additional angle, per item | £8–£12 |
| Ghost mannequin | £28–£40 per image |
| Rush turnaround (24 hours) | +£75 |
See full pricing across every service for other formats, or add product video from £400 to move the range as well as shoot it.
Retailer specs
Every major retailer publishes an image specification, and no two are identical. Typical requirements: the product filling 80–90% of the frame, a defined background value rather than the word “white” alone, a set file format, and a minimum longest-side dimension, often 1600–2000px.
- Margin percentage the product must fill
- Exact background value, not the word “white” alone
- File format and colour profile
- Minimum longest-side dimension in pixels
Most guides advise shooting everything on pure white. I’d rather match whatever value the retailer’s spec calls for; some want a warm white, others a pale grey, and treating “white” loosely gets images rejected at upload. Specs change without warning, so I check the current version before every shoot. For Amazon, Amazon’s image requirements covers it. Confirm the live version with your account manager first.
Consistency across a range
This is the real skill in packshot work, and clients underrate it. Forty products shot identically over two days should look like one camera, one light, one person, because they did. A page where item twelve sits half an inch lower than item eleven looks amateurish even when every photo is sharp.
That takes three things: a locked-off camera in my Shoreditch studio, EC2A, a product platform taped to the same spot on the table, and one continuous session rather than adding items weeks later. Light drifts. Cameras get bumped. Settings get forgotten. I’d rather turn away a rushed add-on shoot than hand back an inconsistent set. See product work for London brands for ranges shot this way.
Cut-outs, clipping paths and transparency
A cut-out removes the background entirely, leaving the product on transparency, so a designer can drop it onto any page without a white box round it. Most retailers want this for the main listing image; I quote it separately because clipping is manual work, not a filter click.
- Standard: a clean white background straight out of camera, colour-corrected and cropped to spec
- Extra: the clipping path, a transparent PNG export, and retouching beyond basic dust removal, such as stray threads or packaging reflections
Ask for the layered file, not a flattened PNG, if your team will need to re-cut it later.
When you need a lifestyle shot instead
A packshot sells a specification: the size, the colour, the shape, done well. It does not sell a feeling, and I’d push back on any brief that asks a plain white background to also carry brand personality. That is two jobs fighting for one frame.
If you are building a homepage banner, a social campaign, or anything meant to make someone want the product rather than confirm it, book a lifestyle or hero shot instead. Plenty of ranges need both: packshots for the listing, lifestyle for the story around it. My last big range came by courier from a warehouse in Park Royal, boxes stacked in my hallway for two days while we worked through both.
Now send me your SKU count and the retailer spec, and I’ll confirm a price and a shoot date within one working day. Tell me if you need cut-outs or multiple angles so the quote is right the first time.