Each online marketplace (Amazon, Ebay, etc.) publishes their own requirements for photos uploaded to their sites. You'll get the large, highest quality JPEG versions that can easily be cropped, downsized and compressed by your website manager, or for use on Facebook or other purposes.
We invoice on a "per shoot" basis. Volume discounts apply based on the number of finished shots needed per shoot. Also, try to anticipate item group shots that may have to be changed because one item changes or is is removed. Consider a composite using single shots of each item instead.
We've all gone grocery shopping without a list, only to find when we got home that we'd forgotten one or two items. A good list includes shot angles, background details (white background, white with prop, transparent PNGs for lifestyle shots, etc.). Lacking a list, we'll appreciate having the decision-maker nearby to be sure we're getting exactly what's needed. If they're to be part of an existing series, it's a good idea to print a screen shot of what you have now for continuity.
Of course photographers want to develop a repeating revenue stream from their shots of your business. The idea is that once taken, the photograph belongs to the photographer: Not you. He or she then licenses an edited version to you for some specific purpose, such as (for example) use on your website only. If your business grows and you need that image for a print brochure, you may incur a new licensing fee for the larger version needed for print. I don't fault that approach, but it's not ours. We keep original captures and the layered Photoshop files in case modifications are needed, but release all claim to each finished image that you buy, saving you additional licensing fees down the road. We appreciate it when customers let us use one or more of their shots in our own advertising.
Size in digital imaging is measured in pixels wide by pixels high. Most modern cameras shooting in their largest setting create images that range between 4000 and 6000 pixels on the long side. Web pictures seldom exceed 1500 pixels on the long side, and are also highly compressed to appear on computer screens quickly. Images for print can require 300 dots (pixels) per inch and don't need to be compressed for the web, which means that pictures that have been "optimized" for your website are usually useless for print purposes. Be sure to ask for original-sized images with minimum or no compression from your product photographer, and then to preserve them by editing only copies of those images.
At 73 I'm pulling back a little. Mostly I'm staying with shots of smaller objects that I can do at home, but "never say never"
For small items yes.
Generally items that will fit into a shopping cart. Products that need fine detail to be appreciated, such as electronic devices, jewelry or tiny components.
Garments and other soft "stylables", except cases where the customer stylizes the shots while we're there. Fashion items generally, and any product that requires a model-release. We also won't knowingly photograph or edit items that are copyrighted by someone other than the customer.
In Photoshop it's possible to digitally draw a line around the product itself and delete everything else that appears to be behind it. We then put the image of the product in front of a pure white surface, or some other photograph.
Possibly if the product can't be re-shot, but for our white background procedure we need very clear edges. It's probably cheaper to start from scratch, and your results will almost certainly be better.
No, we invoice for every finished image that you purchase. We typically take (capture) several versions for each finished image, bringing the best from each together in Photoshop. Often we'll get items that aren't on the shot list at all. Take a group of three products for example: We might shoot each item as insurance in case we need to correct a mistake in the group shot. In every case, we invoice only for the finished image(s) that you accept.
Yes, we can create short DSLR video clips for your product ads under some circumstances.
Editing can take time. We try to have most jobs completed within a week, but large projects often take longer than that. If you tell us which shots are a rush, we can put them at the top of the editing list.