Commissions
Fees in euros, dates in writing.
Lisbon and within 80 km of Alcântara. Further afield: €0.42/km and overnight at €180. IVA extra where it applies. A date is held when the estimate is signed, not when we like the mood.
Most jobs are interiors for hotels, restaurants, and architects. The camera is a Sinar F2 or a 35mm body. Lights come if a basement dining room has none; they are not the default. An assistant is booked when the property has more than eight rooms or a kitchen that cannot pause.
Usage is a license, not a buyout. Two years of web, booking partners, and print to A2 is €850 on top of the shoot fee, or included in the two-day property rate as noted below. After two years the files can be relicensed. Stock libraries are not permitted.
Rate card, 2026
These are the numbers that go on the estimate. Rush under ten days adds 25%. Cancelled within seven days: 50% of the shoot fee.
- Half-day interior
- €1,400
- Full day, interiors
- €2,200
- Full property, 2 days
- €4,800
- Restaurant, service + details
- €1,900
- Architect’s project
- €3,200
- Usage license, 2 years
- €850
- Assistant day
- €280
- Retouch beyond 40 frames
- €18 / frame
- Travel beyond 80 km
- €0.42 / km
Up to four hours, one location. About 18 delivered frames. Extra hour €180. Typical for a restaurant dining room or a single apartment.
Eight hours on site. About 30 frames. Public spaces plus a handful of rooms. Lunch is not billed if the house feeds us.
Rooms, corridors, dining, details. Typical twelve-room house or small hotel. Two-year usage license included in this line. Extra edit day €650 if the selects run long.
One day. Dining room, pass, a few plates if the chef wants them. Shot after lunch or before dinner — not during the rush unless you pay for the disruption.
Empty and lightly lived-in. One or two days depending on size. Furniture is not sourced here; if you need a stylist, budget €450–€700/day separately.
Web, OTAs, print to A2. Not required when already bundled in the two-day property fee. Year three and four: 60% of this line.
Film loading, notes, holding a bounce. Booked when the house is large or the kitchen cannot stop.
The delivered set is already graded. This line is for additional selects pulled from the contact sheet later.
Overnight if the call time is before 08:00: €180 room, billed at cost with the receipt attached.
What is in the folder
Heroes
Three to five horizontal frames sized for a first screen. Named 01-hero, 02-hero. See the crop note.
Rooms / spaces
One folder per room. Filename includes the room name the hotel uses, not “DSC_0041”.
Details
Hardware, linen, a glass, a lamp. Useful in a footer or a booking engine that wants a square.
Crops
16:9, 4:5, 1:1 where the frame survives it. A 16:9 is not a 4:5 with the sides shaved if the bed falls out.
A text file
Colour profile, usage dates, and a line of alt text per hero. The handoff note is the longer version of this.
Questions that come up
Can we drone the roof?
No. The practice does not fly. If you need an aerial, hire that separately and do not put it on the same invoice.
Do you shoot people?
Staff if they agree and are paid their day. Guests are not directed. A hotel that wants lifestyle with models should call someone else.
Raw files?
Not as a default. Contact sheets are the selects plus a dated reject list. Raws can be archived for five years at €120/year if you ask on the estimate.
When is 2026 open?
From October. July and August are usually on the coast. Write anyway — cancellations happen.
Can the web team crop freely?
Inside the crops folder, yes. Outside it, ask. A first-screen crop that loses the window is how a booking page starts lying.
Payment
50% to hold the date, remainder on delivery. SEPA or transfer to the studio account on the invoice. Cards are not taken.
Insurance
Equipment and public liability are current. A copy goes with the estimate when a hotel’s legal team asks.
Film vs digital
Hospitality delivery is digital files from film scans or a digital back, depending on the job. The Casa Bruma set is scanned Portra. Lumen Stay is a digital back on the Sinar. You do not choose a look from a dropdown.
Styling
Beds are made as the house makes them. Flowers are whatever is already in the room. If you want a stylist, say so; it is not hidden in the fee.
Who owns the pictures?
Mara Lin. You license them. That sentence is on every estimate. If your brand guidelines require a buyout, this is the wrong studio.