What Insurance Do Photographers Need?

Photographer liability insurance is essential for protecting your gear, reputation, and photography business from unexpected legal claims, financial losses, and third-party injuries.

Photographers can be liable for accidents resulting from their work that cause third-party bodily injuries or property damages, errors or mistakes, cyber-related events that may compromise their technology systems and data, and other liability claims.

While not legally required, customized photographer insurance coverage protects your professional services, photography equipment, studio space, and business assets.

Why Do Photographers Need Insurance?

All types of professionals – from freelance photographers and wedding photographers to photojournalists – face financial and legal risks that make photographer insurance for freelancers and independent creators essential.

Whether you’re on the cusp of starting a photography career or small business or an experienced veteran capturing unforgettable moments in time, the threats to your financial welfare can be considerable.

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Photography and videography equipment – cameras, lenses, drones, and lighting – is a major investment that requires proper equipment insurance protection.

If a photographer’s equipment is stolen or destroyed by fire or water damage, or a customer is injured because of your services or on your business premises, the costs of dealing with these incidents can be overwhelmingly high.

Here are a couple of real-life examples our photography clients experienced:

1. A customer entering a photographer’s studio tripped and fell, injuring themselves. They sued the photographer for $200,000. General liability insurance for photographers covered over $80,000 to resolve the lawsuit and $8,000 to pay their legal defence expenses.
2. Another of our photographer clients saw their expensive camera smash to the ground at a wedding after an attendee accidentally knocked it over – their equipment insurance for photographers covered over $2,000 to replace the damaged camera.

Insurance for photographers exists to deal with costly incidents like these and more.

In addition to covering accidents or incidents beyond your control that could cause significant financial hardship, having a customized photographer insurance policy gives your clients confidence that you’re prepared for the unexpected.

Many venue owners require a certificate of insurance for photographers before allowing you to work on their premises – especially for weddings and commercial shoots.

What Types of Insurance Do Photographers Need?

The coverages within a photographer’s insurance policy and your policy’s coverage limits should reflect your needs and be customized to ensure you’ve got the right protection.

However, a typical photographer insurance policy may include the following coverages:

• Professional liability insurance: If one of your clients is unhappy with your work, accuses you of professional negligence, or if you make mistakes, you might need to do a reshoot.
  
  Professional liability insurance for photographers – also known as errors and omissions insurance – covers claims of negligence, missed deadlines, or client dissatisfaction.

• General liability insurance: General liability insurance covers third-party bodily injuries or property damage caused by your services or on your business property. It covers an injured person’s medical and rehabilitation expenses or damage to another party’s property. Additionally, it covers your legal fees if sued for third-party bodily injuries or property damage and allegations of copyright infringement, defamation, or false advertising.

• Photography equipment insurance: You’ll have difficulty offering photography services without your camera, lights, tripods, and laptop.
  
  That’s where photography equipment insurance comes into focus: it covers repair or replacement costs for your gear after insured events like theft, vandalism, water damage, or fire at a photo shoot or while in transit.

• Cyber liability insurance: Cybercrime and data breaches are as much a threat to self-employed, independent photographers as they are to small businesses or large corporations.
  
  As a photographer handling sensitive client files and image archives, cyber insurance for photographers is essential for protecting your business from digital threats. Cyber liability insurance helps you recover from data breaches, ransomware attacks, or lost image files, protecting your business and clients’ privacy.

There may be additional coverages you need to add to your policy to ensure you’re not underinsured. For example:

• If you’re licensed to fly a drone and use one as part of your services, drone liability insurance provides you with financial protection to repair or replace any business-owned drones you use for your work. It protects drone operators from third-party property damage or bodily injury liabilities and provides coverage for the drone if damaged or stolen. 

• If you own or rent studio space to conduct photo shoots and do editing work, you should have commercial property insurance. It protects the building, its contents, and your inventory from damages caused by fire, water, natural disasters, theft, and vandalism.

• Transporting cameras and gear to events? Commercial auto insurance for photographers ensures your vehicle and equipment are protected in case of an accident. A personal car insurance policy is unlikely to cover damage claims for business vehicles or vehicles used for commercial purposes. 

Not sure which photographer insurance coverages are right for your business? Speak with one of our insurance experts to tailor a policy that fits your photography needs.

How to Get Low-Cost Photographer Insurance

The quickest and easiest way to get the customized, low-cost photographer insurance policy you need is through Zensurance.

We’re proud to serve over 350,000 Canadian small business owners and independent professionals across hundreds of industries, including photographers.

Fill out our online application and get a free quote in just a few clicks. 

Let us find the picture-perfect protection you need from one of over 50 insurance providers in our partner network. Our friendly, experienced brokers can answer your questions, tailor a policy to suit your specific requirements and budget, and issue policy documents and a certificate of insurance in 48 hours or less.

– Updated July 16, 2025.