How to book a headshot or portrait shoot in Bengaluru

A friend with a phone costs nothing. You give up the studio light and the editing, and for a dating or Instagram photo that can be what you want: it looks like an ordinary day.

For a matrimony profile, the people who see the photo will meet you, so it should look like you on a good day. A real photo with light editing does that. A photo made by software from your selfies may not.

These are studios' own published prices, so you know roughly what to expect. Through mytribe, we get you a quote from a photographer we've checked, and you pay the same as going to them yourself.

A freelancer on Instagram usually quotes by the shoot in a message, and shoots at your home or outdoors, since there's no studio. That's how it usually goes. We found none in Bengaluru who prints a rate, so ask for the hours, the edited count and the delivery date in one message.

Pick the photos yourself. Ask to see every frame and choose the ones to edit. One studio here shows you all of them and edits the 5 you choose.

If you don't like them, ask what happens before you pay. Usually a studio re-edits a photo you're unhappy with, and shoots again only if the fault was theirs, like a blurred or badly lit set. That's how it usually goes. One studio here promises a re-edit if needed. None of the pages we read promises a reshoot.

What the ₹5,899 page lists that the other doesn't: every frame from the session to keep, "advanced" edits on your five with a re-edit if you're not happy, and a price it calls all-inclusive. The ₹2,795 studio says it only removes temporary blemishes, so the person who meets you meets the person in the photo. Neither page says the extra pays for any of this.

The editing alone doesn't explain it. A third studio's individual session starts at ₹5,000 plus GST, about ₹5,900, for 30 to 40 minutes and 3 to 5 photos, retouched lightly; its page doesn't say how many looks. Its light retouching and the cheaper studio's blemish-only edits are both light, yet one is about ₹2,800 and the other from about ₹5,900.

Further up, that third studio's executive portrait adds a photographer, an assistant and help with posing, from ₹10,000 plus GST.

Judge the photographer from their work. Ask for every edited photo from one real client's shoot, of someone like you in age and skin tone, since a feed only shows the best.

Photographers on mytribe. Both sides are studio sessions. Of ours, Magic Moments Photography shoots portraits in its studio in Hebbal Kempapura. Cygnus Photography has no studio and brings a backdrop and lights to you. Neither has a portrait price we can show you, so ask each for the price of your shoot.

Outdoors

Daylight, a real place behind you

Indoors

Lamp light, the same in any weather

For a headshot, a studio is simpler. The light is the same whatever the weather, and it's quick. Outdoors gives an everyday look, but it depends on the light and the rain.

What the law says. When you pay for a portrait, the Copyright Act makes you the first owner of it, unless you agree otherwise. So read the terms and the booking message.

Ask if it costs more. One studio's page adds 10% to its Christmas mini session for complete privacy, so ask before you book whether keeping your photos offline changes the price.

What to write when you book: please don't post my photos on Instagram or your website, or use them in ads, without asking me first. It matters most for saree, fitness and matrimony photos.

Ask yourself: is this person selling me a shoot at a price written down, with the photos handed over, or promising me work?

• In Bengaluru, a mother answered a child-modelling ad, paid an ₹11,000 processing fee and lost ₹3.74 lakh in all.
• In Delhi, a man posing as a casting director asked one model for ₹20,000 for a portfolio, then ₹75,000 for a lehenga and jewellery shoot with a well-known company. More than 15 models were taken in.
• In Indore, an actress paid ₹50,000 to people posing as a production house's casting team, part of it for what they called registration and costume charges.
• In Bengaluru, a student ran a fake model account and blackmailed more than 20 women with morphed photos, for ₹10,000 to ₹2 lakh each, until one complained to the police.

A beginner needs only a few plain photos. One Bengaluru studio's own page calls any payment or favour asked in return for being picked at an audition a serious red flag.

If you've already paid, report it on the 1930 cyber crime helpline straight away.

Mind the minimum. At the ₹1,000 rate, 30 to 44 people still cost ₹45,000. The other studio's lowest is 25 people at ₹1,500, so ₹37,500 plus GST.

What you give them: a room for the day and people in their own work clothes. One studio keeps no business wear, needs an hour or two to set up, and does a recce at your office first.

The photos come in 48 hours at one studio and 7 to 15 working days at the other.

A studio that adds GST to its price is registered for it, so ask for a GST invoice when you book.