8 Product Photography Business Success Stories [2024]
Product photography involves taking pictures of products for commercial use. Online traders hire professional photographers to take great photos of their products to post online. The images testify quality and value of the products and establish transparency in the eCommerce business.
If you love photography, you can become a product photographer. Take high-end photos and use photo editing software to improve the appearance.
In this list, you'll find real-world product photography business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a product photography business that makes money.
1. PortraitFlip LLC ($540K/year)
Sunny Choudhary, along with his co-founders Lavdeep Chahal and Shubhanshu Maheshwari, came up with the idea for PortraitFlip while searching for a platform that could deliver handmade portraits. They realized there were only a few companies providing such a service and saw it as a great opportunity. With a college side hustle, an initial investment of Rs. 23,000, and hard work, they were able to turn PortraitFlip into a successful startup yielding 3.5crs.
How much money it makes: $540K/year
How much did it cost to start: $60
How many people on the team: 15
PortraitFlip is a successful startup that delivers handmade portraits globally with a clientele base in the USA and yields 3.5crs through their 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, and they started with an initial investment of only Rs.23,000.
2. Product Photography Studio ($540K/year)
Tsour Lee Adato, the founder of Pro Photo Studio, stumbled upon the idea of starting a product photography business when a client asked him to shoot one of their products. He quickly realized the potential of product photography and became obsessed with honing his skills. Today, Pro Photo Studio is a profitable business with a diverse range of clients, including prestigious brands like Starbucks and Versace, and plans to expand to multiple cities.
How much money it makes: $540K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
How many people on the team: 6
Pro Photo Studio founder Tsour Lee Adato shares how she turned a $5k investment into a business that services over 500 clients annually and makes approximately $350k per year with plans to expand and become a 7-figure business while offering advice to fellow entrepreneurs to always be innovating, learning and growing, and not to undervalue themselves.
3. Goodo Studios ($300K/year)
Matthew Gattozzi, founder of Goodo Studios, came up with the idea for his content creation studio after his dance career was cut short by a back injury. With just a cheap camera and a laptop, he started emailing businesses in Austin and eventually landed his first client. Now, he focuses on providing exceptional service to clients and has built a strong reputation through referrals, networking on Twitter, and writing a weekly newsletter. Goodo Studios is now expanding its team and aims to tighten its systems to offer even better service in the future.
How much money it makes: $300K/year
How much did it cost to start: $4K
How many people on the team: 2
Goodo Studios, a content creation studio that creates photos and videos for direct-to-consumer brands, started small with a cheap camera, a laptop, and Adobe Creative Cloud, sending hundreds of emails to businesses before landing their first client, Briggo, and is now doing approximately $25k per month and is scaling up by building a team and tightening their systems.
4. Stephan & Adriana ($168K/year)
Stephan and Adriana, former professional ice skaters, discovered a passion for photography during their time touring the world. When Stephan missed his deadline to apply for college, he decided to give photography a chance, and the couple started shooting houses, landscapes, and weddings. The pandemic unexpectedly revealed a high demand for smaller, outdoorsy weddings, propelling their business to new heights as they focused on elopements and intimate weddings in breathtaking locations like Yosemite National Park. Their business now brings in an average of 12-18k per month, allowing them to spend quality time with their families in both California and Brazil.
How much money it makes: $168K/year
How much did it cost to start: $30K
How many people on the team: 2
How two ice-skating world travelers built a wedding photography business with a focus on intimate, outdoor weddings, working mainly in Yosemite National Park, where they managed to attract clients almost solely through content marketing and SEO, bringing in an average of 12-18k per month.
5. picjumbo ($120K/year)
Viktor wanted to create an online passive income opportunity by selling his photos. However, all the paid sites rejected his images for being low quality. This rejection made him angry but also fueled his desire to start his own business.
How much money it makes: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 0
Picjumbo is a free stock photo site created by solo founder Viktor Hanacek that has amassed 150,000 monthly visitors, 5,000 free photos, over 10,000 premium photos, and brings in over $10,000/month in revenue through advertising and premium membership.
6. Digital Cohort ($120K/year)
Sepideh Maleki, a photographer based in the Seattle Metro Area, came up with the idea for her product photography business after setting up a Shopify store to sell wicker baskets. As she started shooting her own products and improving her photography skills, she realized that product photography itself could be a viable business opportunity. With a low cost of entry and a focus on acquiring local customers through platforms like Craigslist, Sepideh has been able to generate an average of $10k per month in revenue for her business.
How much money it makes: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $15K
How many people on the team: 2
Product photographer Sepideh Maleki shares how she grew her business from scratch, generating an average of $10k per month through a focus on customer acquisition with a clear traffic and revenue plan, organic search optimization, and impeccable customer service.
7. jonathan is media ($101K/year)
Jonathan discovered his passion for photography at a young age and honed his skills while studying photography in school. He stumbled upon an opportunity to help an Amazon FBA seller with product photography, which sparked his idea to start his own business offering product photography services specifically for Amazon sellers. By focusing on this niche market and delivering exceptional service, word-of-mouth referrals have been his primary source of customers.
How much money it makes: $101K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
How many people on the team: 0
This case study follows Jonathan from jonathanismedia.com, who started a product photography service for Amazon FBA sellers during his teenage years and now making close to $10k/month in profit, through word of mouth, offering exceptional quality services, and a focus on SEO, paid media, and word-of-mouth as long-term growth strategies.
8. PEWDOC ($14.4K/year)
Manthan Gajjar, the founder of pewdoc, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the potential to make money online through blogging. He used his passion for photography and his knowledge of SEO to create a photography blog that offers tips, tricks, and gear reviews for beginner photographers. Through consistent publishing, SEO optimization, and targeted ad campaigns, Gajjar has been able to attract and retain customers, earning $1.2k per month.
How much money it makes: $14.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 1
Founder Manthan Gajjar built his photography blogging platform, pewdoc, as a side hustle project and now generates $1.2K per month by publishing trending photography content for newbies. He shares his process of building a blog on a low budget, gaining traffic through consistency and SEO knowledge, and using social media advertising to attract customers and retain readers through newsletters.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
