The Traditional Photoshoot: A Complex Process

For decades, e-commerce product photography has relied on a complex and costly process. A traditional photoshoot involves booking studios, hiring photographers, stylists, and models, followed by extensive post-production work. Costs typically range from $2,500 to over $10,000 per shoot, or $20 to $150 per SKU, with timelines stretching from several days to weeks due to setup, retakes, and editing. This expensive and time-consuming workflow makes it difficult for brands to scale their visual production, especially for large product catalogs.

The AI Photoshoot: A New Workflow

The AI photoshoot offers a modern, streamlined alternative. This process transforms a basic packshot (a flat or mannequin photo) into photorealistic on-model imagery using a generative AI platform. In this new workflow, users simply upload their product images, select or customize digital models, and can instantly generate a wide variety of styled visuals. The entire process bypasses the need for any physical setups, with final results produced within minutes or hours and ready to be integrated directly into e-commerce systems.

Find out how to do it on a specialized platform.

The Head-to-Head Comparison: Cost, Speed, and Scale

When compared directly, the advantages of an AI photoshoot are dramatic.

• Cost: high quality AI-generated images cost as little as $0.75 to $2 per image, compared to $5-$30 for a traditional photo shoot.

• Speed-to-Market: AI reduces the turnaround time from days or weeks to just minutes or hours, allowing for rapid seasonal updates.

• Scalability: AI is perfectly suited for massive product catalogs, while traditional processes are constrained by physical logistics.

• Sustainability: The AI process is also inherently more sustainable, as it eliminates the waste and travel associated with physical shoots.

Discover how to create high converting packhots.

The Best Solution for This Use Case: Veeton

While traditional shoots offer nuanced, in-person art direction, the best AI platforms are closing the gap by offering deep creative control. A complete AI Fashion Studio like Veeton provides brands with the efficiency and scalability of AI, combined with the creative control needed to produce high-quality, on-brand imagery. With features like custom model creation, pairing and styling, and full shot & scene control, brands can achieve their specific artistic vision. This allows them to fully leverage the cost and speed benefits of AI without sacrificing creative integrity or final image quality.

Discover how this can help you to cut costs.