An on-location product shoot without travel and crew costs

A product shoot at a striking location costs 2,500 to 3,500 euros for a single day in the Netherlands: 1,150 to 1,800 euros for the photography day, 500 to 1,000 euros for location hire and 500 to 1,000 euros for a model. Travel, accommodation and preparation come on top of that. For locations abroad, it goes up further.

For that investment you get 15 to 40 usable images, from one location, in one season, with one type of weather. That's why most brands skip this content altogether and stick with a white background.

Why does on-location imagery work better?

A product in an environment that matches its use sells better than the same product against an empty background. The environment does three things at once:

• It shows who the product is for. Outdoor clothing in the mountains appeals to a different buyer than the same jacket in a studio.
• It gives scale and use. The viewer sees in a single image how the product is used.
• It carries your brand positioning. The location tells people what kind of brand you are without you having to spell it out.

In ads that matters a great deal. A buyer decides within seconds whether they feel addressed, and that decision is largely driven by the context in the image.

What exactly does a location shoot cost?

That last item is the most annoying one. On an outdoor shoot you're dependent on the weather, and a cancelled day means replanning with the same crew, the same model and the same location.

Which brands miss out on this the most?

Three situations where on-location imagery clearly adds value but is rarely produced:

Brands with a wide product range. One location day produces imagery for a handful of products. With fifty products in the collection, that doesn't scale.

Brands with seasonal collections. Every season calls for new imagery in matching conditions. Four shoots a year means paying the full amount four times over.

Brands that want to test. You only find out which setting resonates once you've tried several. At these costs, you don't test, you gamble once.

How do you get this imagery without the costs?

Setless Productions creates product imagery and videos in any location that suits your brand: mountains, coast, desert, an urban setting, or an interior that matches your audience. No travel, no crew and no location hire.

The approach:

1. Hero shot first. A reference image is created from your own product photos, where shape, colour and label are exactly right.
2. Settings after that. Every location variant uses that hero shot as its base, so the product stays the same in every environment.
3. Variants to test. Multiple settings of the same product, so you can measure which environment resonates with your audience.

That turns the choice of location into a creative decision instead of a budget decision. You choose the environment that best fits your brand, not the one you can afford.

What does that deliver in practice?

For a brand with seasonal collections it means having fitting imagery four times a year without paying for four shoots. For a brand with a wide product range it means even your lower-selling products get context, not just your top sellers.

And for ads it means you can test settings against each other, which isn't financially feasible with a physical shoot.

Frequently asked questions

Does it actually look real? Yes, provided it's built from a correct hero image. The foundation is always your own product, so proportions, material and label are right before the environment is built around it.

Can you recreate an existing location? A specific, recognisable spot is difficult and often undesirable for rights reasons. An environment with the same atmosphere and characteristics is achievable, and works just as well in ads.

How many settings make sense per product? Two to three per product. Enough to test which context resonates, without your image library becoming unmanageable.

Does this also work for video? Yes. The same hero shot forms the basis for moving imagery, which consistently outperforms still imagery in ads.

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Want your product in a setting that would otherwise be out of budget? Let me know and I'll send over the rates and options.

Rates in this article are based on published price lists from Dutch product photography studios, as of September 2026.