The photographic work of Helbig is in the archives of the photographers in the Deutsche Fotothek in Dresden including 160,000 shots, of which 60,000 are color slides, in the picture archive Foto Marburg of the University of Marburg (23,800 shots, of which 11,000 are photographs of Greece and 6,000 of Italy) and in the State Archive Hamburg within the collection of the German Society for Photography archive. The photographs, some of which were taken in the 1950s, are seen in the tradition of Wilhelm von Gloeden and Guglielmo Plüschow. Only after his death in Mainz in 1986 were the nude photographs of young men discovered in his estate.
Helbig is mostly known for intimate images of young Sicilian men.
An essential exception, however, are color slide positives, which were intended for his slide lectures. Helbig mainly photographed in black and white. He also published picture books, such as the volume on Sicily, published in 1956. Helbig worked both as a photographer and author of journal articles, with publications such as travel magazine Merian and Atlantis. After graduation, he traveled countless times to the Mediterranean over the next few decades. He was particularly interested in the Mediterranean cultures. Immediately thereafter, at the age of thirty, he began studying art history and archeology. Helbig was able to return in 1947 from the Soviet captivity. He was taken into captivity as prisoner of war. Helbig was a soldier in Wehrmacht, fighting in the Soviet Union during World War II.
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