Product Photography - The Science Of Art, And The Art Of Science
Professional product photography by experienced product photographers stands out a mile. The problem is, amateurish, in-house photographs of products also tends to stand out. The difference is, of course, what each type of image stands out for. What do you want your business to say to its potential customers? With more and more businesses competing for customers, it’s increasingly important to get your message across quickly and succinctly. Nothing achieves this more than an image, and so it is often the product image or promotional picture which will have the opportunity of speaking to your potential customers before they take the time to consider any other attempts to encourage them to part with their hard earned cash.
So what do your business images or packshots say about you? If you have not used professional product photographers then the chances are high that this will be more than obvious, from the inadequate lighting, tonal dullness, background distractions and other issues from histogram imbalances to problems with focus, shadows or reflections. Taking a photograph is now easier than ever with modern digital cameras and a range of image manipulation software. The trouble is - that’s the trouble. It’s too easy for small businesses to take this route, without even considering using product photography services from a professional studio. Often this is down to cost, although fortunately these days it’s a lot cheaper to use a studio than buying off the shelf equipment that will let you create lacklustre images. When you consider the cost to your business in terms of lost sales, it’s clear that to fail to consider a professional studio is to consign your business to poor sales before you’ve even begun. So what can a studio do for your business that can’t be achieved through other means?
When it comes to effective product photography and professional photographic studios, the first advantage is of course the experienced product photographers themselves. These are professionals with many years of experience specialising in product images and packshot images. Almost certainly they will have discarded more photographs than most of us take in a lifetime. They know what works and what doesn’t, and an essential part of the service lies in listening to these people and understanding that their job is to help your business succeed by standing out for all the right reasons. Fitting in, keeping your head down and being unsurprising aren’t effective tactics. Your images have to communicate - not just display your products.
Experienced product photographic experts will also have long lists of contacts, giving you access to a wealth of props, models, locations, lighting options and methods to help your business stay ahead of the game and reach out further to the right people in the right way. With a well-equipped studio boasting some of the latest technology, and with enough flexibility to be able to adapt to almost any required circumstances, you should be in safe hands. But it’s not all about leaving it to the photographers. Some of the best images are the product of collaboration between the studios and the business owners or marketers. Communicating a message in an effective and striking way is what the photographers can achieve, but what that message is will very much be down to you. For this reason, it’s important to make sure that the studio you choose caters for you as well as for your products and the photographers.
Look around you now - almost certainly, wherever you are, you’ll see a photographic image or montage of a product or business service. What is very likely is that the image never truly existed. With modern digital manipulation techniques, professional image manipulators can combine efforts with the product photographers and create a final image which looks striking and effective in ways that would normally be quite impossible. We rarely stop to consider that even the best camera is limited in its capability, and that sometimes a raw image needs a helping hand. Whether that be to improve the overall tonal qualities, adjust the lighting effects and shadows, the contrast, or even something more noticeable such as the removal or alteration of part of the image, or the introduction of part of another image to combine concepts or styles in novel ways, using a photographic studio that is able to handle both the shoot and the post production image manipulation will create a sense of fluidity and cohesion that can only help to ensure the final image does your business credit, and perhaps most importantly, helps draw in those customers.
Taking a photograph is easy; creating a product image that sells is not. Product photography is both an art and a science, and it will be important to make sure that your business communicates effectively in a way that will allow it to reach out to new customers and say just the right thing in just the right way, and create a memorable impression. Product photographers can help your business make the right first impression, first time.
