Pricing
What commercial photography and video costs in Virginia.
Every service we sell has a published rate. Below is the whole card — what each package includes, what add-ons cost, how travel is handled by zone, and an estimator that returns your exact number in about twenty seconds.
How our pricing works
Priced by the day and by the deliverable.
Not per image, not per head, and not by the hour once you are past the included block. You buy a production day and a defined set of finished files.
The rate is the rate
What you see here is what appears on the invoice. Scope changes get quoted and approved before anyone shoots them — there are no surprise line items after the fact.
Editing is included
Colour, exposure, crop and selection are part of every package. Heavy retouching, animation and additional cut-downs are quoted separately and only when you ask for them.
You own the results
Full commercial usage rights on every delivered file — web, print, social, recruiting, paid media. No per-image licensing, no usage window, no renewal.
The rate card
Every rate, published.
Commercial work rarely stays in a box. Anything outside this card — multi-location shoots, combined photo and video days, long-term campaigns — is scoped and quoted to the individual requirement, because no two of those jobs are the same.
- Studio session, rolling schedule
- Consistent background and lighting
- Retouched finals per person
- Full on-site studio setup
- Rolling schedule, ~5 minutes per person
- Retouched finals per person
- Extended on-site session
- Consistent look across the whole team
- Retouched finals per person
- Two-hour block, extend by the hour
- Full edited gallery, web and print sizes
- Same-week delivery
Travel included · 3 business days
- Two hours on site, extend by the hour
- Built for the website and sales deck
- Commercial usage included
Travel included · 5 business days
- Script assistance and production crew
- Editing, graphics and captions
- Short social versions included
- Full production day, interview-led
- Grant-report and gala cutdowns
- Licensed music and captions
- Full scripted production day
- Licensed music, motion graphics, captions
- Hero cut plus social versions
Add-ons
Travel by corridor
Travel to every zone is included in your quote — there is no mileage line on the invoice.
Scope
What every rate includes — and what it does not.
The second column is not a list of upsells. It is the short list of things that genuinely need scoping before anyone can put a number on them.
Included in every package
- Pre-production call, shot list and call sheet
- Crew, lighting, power, backdrops and grip
- Full professional edit — colour, exposure, crop, selection
- Delivery in web and print sizes
- Unrestricted commercial usage rights, in perpetuity
- Liability insurance and a certificate on request
- Travel anywhere on the three corridors we work
Quoted separately
- Heavy retouching and compositing beyond standard finishing
- Motion graphics, animation and additional video cut-downs
- Talent, models, stylists, hair and makeup
- Venue, permit and location fees
- Multi-day productions and overnight travel
- Rush turnarounds on video
Ongoing partnerships
Retainers and annual programs.
If you need visuals every month rather than once a year, a retainer costs less per shoot day and puts your dates on the calendar in advance.
How to read the ladder. A $495 headshot day is a full on-site studio, a working crew and finished files for a small team — roughly $83 a person. A $12,000 annual program is coordinated coverage across multiple sites, on contract, with procurement paperwork in place. The standard of work is identical at both ends; scope is what changes.
Instant estimate
Build your number in twenty seconds.
Pick the service and your location. The figure updates live and travel is already in it — no email required to see it, and no discovery call to learn the rate.
Adjust headcount and add-ons
$83 per person6 people, on-site studio
Edited files in 3 business days
Fixed quote, not a starting point. Jobs are reserved with payment in full — major cards, Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna, and purchase orders for approved organizations.
Request received
Pricing FAQs
Questions about cost.
If your question is not here, call 804.404.5670 or build an estimate above and send it with a note.
How much does a commercial photographer cost in Richmond, VA?
Virginia Business Visuals publishes fixed rates: studio headshot days from $395, on-site headshots from $495, team headshot sessions from $895, event coverage from $695, business photography from $795, training and recruiting video typically from $1,999, nonprofit impact stories from $3,500, business brand films from $4,500, and annual multi-site programs from $12,000. Work is priced by the production day and the deliverable rather than per image or per head. The estimator above returns your exact number, travel included, in about twenty seconds.
Which headshot package do we need?
Three options. Studio Corporate Headshot Day ($395) — your people come to our Richmond studio; the most economical option when travel is easy for them. On-Site Professional Headshots ($495) — we bring the full studio to your office, so nobody loses time leaving the building. Team Headshot Session ($895) — an extended on-site day built for larger groups and whole departments who all need to match. Tell us the headcount in your brief and we will tell you which one fits.
Why is there no hourly rate?
Because an hourly rate prices the wrong thing. You are not buying our time on site — you are buying finished, usable files, and most of the work happens before and after the shoot in planning, editing and delivery. Event coverage and business photography do extend by the hour once past the included block ($225 and $250 per hour respectively), but the base rate covers the whole production, not just the hours we are standing in your building.
What does travel add?
Nothing. We work three corridors — I-95 from Quantico to Richmond, Route 29 from Gainesville to Charlottesville, and I-64 from Charlottesville to Richmond — and travel anywhere on them is included in the quoted price. There is no mileage line, no regional surcharge and no fuel adjustment on the invoice.
Do you offer nonprofit or small-business rates?
The nonprofit impact story package is already priced at a Virginia 501(c)(3) rate. Beyond that, the published rates apply to everyone — a small business and a Fortune 500 marketing department pay the same figure for the same scope. What changes the number is what you actually need, not who you are.
How and when do we pay?
All jobs are reserved with payment in full. We accept major payment methods plus Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna, and purchase orders are available for approved organizations. Reschedule at no charge with more than 72 hours’ notice and your payment moves to the new date.
Could the final invoice be higher than the estimate?
Only if you ask for something that was not in the brief — more hours on the day, an extra deliverable, heavy retouching — and even then it is quoted and approved before we do it. The estimator figure is a fixed quote, not a starting point.
My project is not on the rate card. How is it priced?
The same way. Podcast and interview production, product and packaging, architectural and interiors, industrial and manufacturing, construction progress, aerial, food and hospitality, editorial portraiture, trade show booths and annual report photography are all priced by the production day and the deliverable list. Describe the requirement and you will have a fixed figure within one business day.