i am a amateur photographer and i have a vision that i want to produce as a passion project. i have my mood board set out, i know what nails makeup clothes lighting etc i want and to be honest i wouldn’t really call it a editorial. but i’m just wondering from lighting to props to hair and makeup, nails, stylist, models, casting, set design, location, permits, food, flights, lodging, etc what is the average cost of production? to give you more context on my vision my ideas are inspired by people like Gregory Crewdson, and William Mortensen. im and also inspired by artist Henry Tanner and sculptur Richmond Barthé.
This is giving me some serious Tommy Wiseau vibes
It will be good practice and learning for you to delve into budgeting this yourself. Reddit can’t do it for you as it’s far too highly variable.
You can shoot it with natural light, your friends in your backyard for around $20 which goes to buying snacks.
Or you can fly to another country, stay in a 5star hotel with 30 professional models, eat in fancy restaurants, have expensive clothes etc and you are paying a couple million for a shoot.
That’s for you to figure out. Find a model and ask how much they charge, look up clothing prices etc… It’s your vision, start working for it
There are way too many variables to give a price range, you will need to price everything out yourself. Each of these could cost anywhere from free to tens of thousands of dollars. If you had much more specific questions like “recommended model agency in city XYZ for $XYZ” then someone may be able to point you in the right direction but you will still need to do the legwork.
What country are you in?
Are you flying domestic or international and how many people need to fly?
Are you hiring people local to you or from the your shoot location?
Are you getting help from friends for hair, makeup, nails, stylist or do you need to hire someone for each? Amateur or pro?
How many days is the shoot?
How many models and outfits for each model?
Are you using amateur models or high dollar professionals?
How many lights and how powerful do you need?
Are you buying or renting lighting, lenses, props, etc.?
Are you renting studio space or is this outdoors?
Anywhere between whatever it costs to charge the camera batteries on up to several million.
Even knowing what sort of final photo you are aiming for is not helpful since any given line item can be either very expensive or free depending on how it’s done.