[ 01 ]
The short answer
Most professional Melbourne restaurant photographers charge between $25 and $45 per finished image, with full-day shoots ranging from $1,200 to $3,500 ex-GST depending on scope, deliverables and licence.
A typical 25-dish menu shoot for an established restaurant comes in at $1,800–$2,800 all-in. A 60+ dish library shoot drops the per-image rate dramatically — most photographers (including us) tier the price down to around $10 per image at 100+ images.
[ 02 ]
What changes the price
Image count is the biggest lever. The per-image rate at 12 dishes is 2–3x higher than at 100 dishes — purely because the lighting setup, surface prep and grading workflow amortise across more shots.
Add-ons matter too. Venue interior frames, vertical reels content, Google Business Profile coverage, and full-day campaign work are usually scoped separately.
Licence terms can also shift the number. Owned-channel licence (website, social, Uber Eats) is standard. Paid ads, OOH and franchise rollouts are sometimes quoted with a small uplift.
[ 03 ]
Hidden costs to ask about
Travel fees — most Melbourne metro photographers don't charge them; outer-metro and regional usually do. Always ask.
Re-edit and revision policy — what's included vs charged. Industry standard is one free re-edit per dish.
Raw files — almost never included; finished retouched files are the standard deliverable.
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