Best Photography Studios in Helsinki (2026)

Introduction

Helsinki has six photography studios on this list, each with its own shooting space in the city in 2026. They range from Fotonokka, a photo production company founded in 1972 with six studios in Sörnäinen, to photographers who run a single well-equipped room and shoot most of their product and portrait work there.

Commercial photography in Helsinki serves a client base heavy on food and drink (Valio, Fazer, Paulig, Kesko), consumer design brands, tech companies and public-sector bodies. Much of the studio space sits in converted industrial buildings: the old gasworks at Suvilahti, the Cable Factory (Kaapelitehdas) in Ruoholahti, and the workshops and warehouses of Sörnäinen, Vallila and Kalasatama. Short winter days make a well-lit studio more useful here than in most European cities, and several studios list natural light from large windows as a feature.

Every studio below showed an active Helsinki shooting space on its own pages in 2026. The list is shorter than others in this series because many Helsinki photographers work on location or rent space by the day, and only studios where shoots are made were included. It runs in no fixed order of merit.

The best photography studios in Helsinki

1. Fotonokka

Independent · Sörnäinen · fotonokka.fi

Fotonokka is a photo production company founded in Helsinki in 1972, and a 2020 Production Paradise profile described it as the oldest photo agency in Finland. It runs about 750 m² of studio space on Vilhonvuorenkatu in Sörnäinen, renovated in 2021: six studios (three with built-in kitchens), two make-up areas, a meeting room and an upstairs prop store with dishes, fabrics and homeware.

A roster of ten photographers, including Paula Kesäläinen, Tomas Olsen and Kimmo Metsäranta, covers product, advertising, fashion, food, packaging, interiors and portrait work, with video and casting alongside. Projects on its site include work for Valio Aura, Elovena, Kesko’s Paistopiste, Wolt and Halo. The kitchen studios make it a common choice for food shoots, and the spaces can also be hired by outside productions.

2. Studio Skaala

Independent · Vallila · studioskaala.fi

Studio Skaala is a photo and video production company founded in 2000, making image and video content for marketing and communications. Its registered address is on Aleksis Kiven katu, and the studio itself, described by one of its photographers as industrial in feel, is at the Vallila railway workshop area (Vallilan konepaja).

The roster lists eight photographers (Ilkka Hietala, Jakke Nikkarinen, Johanna Levomäki, Jonna Monola, Jukka Kaitala, Mika Pollari, Jassu Dammert and Sanna Kaesmae) and a video producer, Joonas Kohonen. Work is grouped into advertising, fashion and sport, food, lifestyle, interiors and design, people and product. The site names no clients, so ask for recent cases from the photographer you would work with.

3. Studio Antti Hahl

Independent, owner-run · Suvilahti, Sörnäinen · studio.anttihahl.fi

Studio Antti Hahl is the studio of photographer Antti Hahl, who holds an MA in photography from the University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH, now part of Aalto University). It occupies more than 190 m² of shooting space in building 9 of the Suvilahti industrial area on Kaasutehtaankatu, with make-up facilities and its own lighting.

Commercial work covers advertising, product, architecture and interiors, and editorial photography, alongside studio and location portraits. Hahl also offers 360° panoramas, post-processing, video editing and web design, which suits smaller clients who want one supplier for a shoot and its online use. The studio and equipment can be rented separately.

4. Levälampi Visuals

Independent, owner-run · Kalasatama · levalampi.fi

Levälampi Visuals Oy is the company of photographer Mika Levälampi, who shoots product, advertising, food and drink, corporate and portrait work in his own studio in Kalasatama. The studio is set up for difficult surfaces: glass, bottles, jewellery and electronics, using backlighting, narrow edge lights and focus stacking, with tethered shooting to a large screen so clients can follow the shoot.

The client logos on the site include Hartwall, Valio, Atria, Red Bull, Sony, Nokian Tyres and KFC, and sample work shows spirits, cider and gin bottles, Lumene skincare and Meira ketchup. Levälampi combines studio work with AI-assisted tools for backgrounds, variations and aspect ratios, so agree in advance how those images will be labelled and licensed. Finished photos are delivered through a protected online gallery.

5. Studio Lera Franka

Independent, owner-run · Ruoholahti · lerafranka.com

Studio Lera Franka is run by photographer Lera Franka from a studio in Kaapelitehdas, the former cable factory in Ruoholahti, with a second studio in Karkkila. She shoots company, product, advertising, team and portrait photography, plus video, and held an exhibition at Karkkila library from August to September 2026.

Recent work on the site includes a campaign for the activewear brand focusedwear, shot in the Kaapelitehdas studio, and a product shoot for Froosh drinks. The studio also takes private portrait and wedding bookings, and its scale suits smaller brands and start-ups.

6. Jassu Dammert

Independent, owner-run · Vallila and Käpylä · jassudammert.com

Jassu Dammert is a Helsinki photographer who works from two studios: Studio Skaala at the Vallila railway workshop area and Studio Roscoe in Käpylä. The services centre on personal-brand and corporate photography (advertising, product, staff and events), with food and restaurant work alongside, with stylists, make-up artists and lighting coordinated for each shoot.

Cases on the site include Kari Traa, Reilu kauppa (Fairtrade Finland) and Costo Accessories, plus product images for Byredo and Taimi Sleep Blend. Dammert is also on Studio Skaala’s roster, so check which studio a booking will use. Both studios have free parking, which helps on product shoots with a lot of kit.

What to look for in a Helsinki photography studio

Start with the space. A food shoot needs a working kitchen and a prop store; packshots of bottles or jewellery need controlled light and room for flags and scrims; a staff portrait day needs a make-up area and somewhere for people to wait. Helsinki’s larger studios publish their floor plans and facilities, and it is worth asking for them before a recce. Natural light matters more here than in southern cities, since winter days are short, so ask what the studio does between November and February.

Decide whether you want a production company or a photographer. Fotonokka and Studio Skaala keep rosters of photographers and can match one to the brief, handle casting and run video on the same day. Owner-run studios give you the same person from quote to retouch, which suits ongoing product and e-commerce work where consistency across hundreds of images counts.

Agree usage before the shoot. Image rights are often priced by use, channel and period, so a campaign image can cost more than the same frame used on a product page. Ask how AI-assisted retouching or background generation is used, and how it is disclosed, since some studios now offer it as a standard option.

Finally, ask how files are delivered and reviewed. A product shoot can produce thousands of RAW frames, and the slow part is often the selection round: who picks the selects, where comments are left, and which version is final. Studios with a clear gallery and approval process, and a single place to find the retouched files later, save a good deal of chasing.

How Fabric helps photography studios

Fabric gives a photography studio one workspace for RAW libraries, retouched files and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. Large shoots sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so a full archive takes no local disk space, and the built-in viewer opens images without a separate download. There is a fuller comparison in the best cloud storage for photographers.

Finding a past frame is usually the hard part of a long archive. Search works by meaning across images, PDFs and documents, and colour search finds images by shade, which helps when a brand wants another shot in last season’s palette. Similar search takes one image and surfaces others with a similar composition, colour and subject.

For selects and retouch rounds, share a folder with the client as a commenter. Shared links work without sign-up, and with annotations the client can draw on an image and attach a comment to the drawing, such as a stray reflection or a crease to remove. The studio marks each comment completed as it is fixed, so feedback works like a checklist. There is a walk-through in how to let clients pick their favourite photos.

For final delivery, a folder can be published as a web page and used as a client gallery. Published links are view-only, with optional download, and can carry password protection. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened the gallery and how long they spent with it.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best photography studio in Helsinki?

It depends on the shoot. Fotonokka has the largest studio complex on this list, at about 750 m² with six studios and three kitchens, and suits food and multi-set productions. For bottles, jewellery and other product work, Levälampi Visuals in Kalasatama has a studio set up for reflective surfaces.

Can I rent a photo studio in Helsinki without hiring a photographer?

Yes. Fotonokka hires out its Sörnäinen studios to outside productions, and Studio Antti Hahl rents its Suvilahti space and equipment. Contact them directly for rates, as neither publishes prices.

Where are most photography studios in Helsinki?

Many sit in former industrial buildings east of the centre, in Sörnäinen, Suvilahti, Kalasatama and Vallila, where large floors and goods lifts suit studio work. Kaapelitehdas in Ruoholahti, the former cable factory, also houses studios on the west side of the city.

How do Helsinki studios deliver final images?

Delivery is usually digital: Levälampi Visuals, for example, sends finished photos through a protected online gallery. Agree file formats, retouching rounds and image rights in the quote, and confirm whether RAW files are included.

Do Helsinki photography studios also shoot video?

Several do. Fotonokka and Studio Skaala both offer video production alongside photography, and Studio Antti Hahl offers video editing. For larger film work, a dedicated production company is the better fit.

Related lists

Photography studios in other cities: Stockholm · Copenhagen · Oslo · London · New York

More in Helsinki: Creative agencies · Content studios · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Advertising agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for photographers · Fabric for creative teams · How to share a photo gallery as a link