Photography Tips · Brussels

DIY vs. Professional Product Photography: When the €500 Setup Actually Pays Off

By Dmytro Derkach · Brussels-based commercial photographer

A basic DIY product photography setup, a lightbox, a decent camera or recent phone, and simple editing software, costs roughly 500€ upfront. Whether that is a smart investment or a false economy depends entirely on catalog size and how the store’s needs will change over the next year.

When DIY genuinely makes sense

A small catalog, under 20-30 products, with simple items that photograph well on a plain background, is a reasonable candidate for DIY. The upfront cost gets absorbed quickly once compared against paying per photo for a small number of items, and a motivated seller can produce consistent, acceptable results with some practice.

Where DIY starts costing more than it saves

Complex products, anything reflective, transparent, oddly shaped, or requiring specific angles to show functional details, are harder to shoot well without professional lighting knowledge. A seller spending hours per product trying to get an acceptable shot, then still ending up with inconsistent results across the catalog, is paying in time what they saved in money.

The break-even point

Professional packshot photography in Brussels typically runs 10-20€ per photo. Once a catalog exceeds roughly 40-50 products needing multiple images each, the total professional cost starts to rival or exceed the DIY equipment cost, at which point the professional route usually wins on both time saved and consistency across a larger catalog.

The hidden cost DIY seller often miss

The practical answer

For a small, stable catalog with simple products, DIY pays off. For a growing catalog, complex products, or a seller whose time is better spent on other parts of the business, professional photography becomes the cheaper option once the real cost of time is factored in, not just the equipment price.