PRODUCT
PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY IN CHICAGO
Your products are the fruits of your labor. All of the hard work that went into developing the best possible outcome makes the final product sweeter. It’s something to be proud of. But the cherry on top is seeing the sales, the trust, the credibility, the reliability. Part of those results come from marketing in the best way possible.
E-COMMERCE (ON-WHITE)
Selling on Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, etc, those crisp e-commerce pictures are the first thing consumers see. High-quality product photography is essential for consumers to feel a high-quality first impression. This is achieved through the seamless, solid white background. No distractions, just focus right on the product. The digital “inspection” opportunity for consumers. A great way to add feature call-outs.
STYLIZED STILL LIFE
The creative. The confidence. The consumer…It’s the message, tone, intention. A creative product photo is a portrait of what you’re selling. Both creative still life and lifestyle images visually personify your brand and establish a stronghold on your market. Product photography through your marketing strategy is the visual stimulus of emotional attachment. Thus, more sales.
How Product Photography Can Help Your Online Business
With the rise of online shopping, the choice of brands and products for customers is never-ending. Businesses need new techniques and marketing strategies to tap new audiences and create a loyal customer base. Luckily, product photography can help portray your products in a way that attracts potential customers. Let’s understand how commercial product photography can help scale your business.
What Is Product Photography?
Product photography, also referred to as commercial photography, involves capturing photos of products for commercial use. Its object is to portray the product interestingly to entice the target audience and encourage them to buy it. It also features product details and highlights the product characteristics, supplementary to the written copy. This way, potential customers can get a full impression of the look, style, use and other product features.
Product photography plays a vital role in the e-commerce industry. Anytime you wish to buy a product online, would you purchase from a website that only displays the descriptive content without the product image? Most likely not, since people need to see what the product looks like before making a sales decision. Using product photography, potential customers build trust with the product and its brand, and it helps them understand what the product is and how it functions.
Dave Litterio Photography can help you highlight your products and features through professional product photography. Each product photo highlights its true worth and delivers realistic expectations to potential customers. So, if you’re looking for product photography in Chicago, contact him today.
Types of Product Photography
Understanding the different product photography categories will help you assess which one will be suitable for presenting your product to the niche audience on various online platforms and marketplaces. Here are some of the most popular forms of product photography we think every brand should have:
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It is the most common form of product photography used by most brands. On-white is the easiest and unambiguous way of presenting a product. A white background shot places the object against a plain white background to focus the attention on the product itself. Using white background photography, you can create a knockout of the product and make it look like it's floating. Large marketplaces like AliExpress, Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, and others prefer, even require, white background product pictures.
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This type of photography is created in a studio and presents the product in an attractive yet clear manner. Studio shots focus on product clarity so the audience can see what they’re planning to buy. Product photographers set up the lighting, place the product against a non-distracting background and present its features, texture and style transparently. Choosing backdrops that match the product and brand goes a long way in establishing brand recognition.
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Group product photography displays multiple products in a single frame to show a whole range of products in a lineup to help the customer compare similar products. It’s mostly used for skin care, beauty and footwear brands to compare shades and textures. Sometimes, group photography can also be used for BOGO promotions. Businesses can use group photography to give a wider idea to their potential customers about their brand and other products.
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Detail or close-up shots display a close-up of the product to show small elements that may not be visible in standard product photography. These shots emphasize the unique and outstanding product features that differentiate it from its competitors. Customers can see the print, quality, texture, mechanism and other product details. For instance, the close-up shot of a jewelry piece can display its intricate work and design. This way, potential customers can know about the product details and clear any doubts about the product.
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Scale shots help the audience envision the actual size of the product by giving a frame of reference by placing a universal product in the image. When the target audience sees how big or small the actual product looks compared to the related product, they can better make an informed sales decision. While your website may display the product specifications, potential customers sometimes need an image reference to see the product size.
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Real environment product photography places a product in a real-world or abstract conceptual environment. Sometimes, presenting a product in a real environment creates a sense of place and helps shoppers visualize how the product will look in its setting. It also allows brands to display their values and history and create an emotional connection with their target segment. Selecting an aesthetically pleasing environment is equally essential as the product itself. With the right environment, you can create a specific standard of living and help your audience connect with it.
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Product-in-use photography can sometimes be referred to as an action shot or lifestyle shot. The idea of this technique is to display the product's functionality and convey a specific type of lifestyle and emotion associated with its use. These types of images can include a group of people, an individual, an animal or just a hand to show the product's functionality and interaction.
Sometimes, the product’s functionality can be portrayed without any additional interaction. For instance, if your product is a coffeemaker, the product in use photography can simply show the product brewing some coffee.
How To Choose the Most Suitable Style of Product Photography
While there are many types of product photography, choosing the one most suitable for your business can be intimidating. Once you’re familiar with the different styles of presenting a product and how to do a photo shoot, selecting an appropriate style for your products will become easier.
Some factors to consider while selecting a product photography style are:
Target audience
Type of business
Type of product
Intended use of the product pictures
We understand that no product can be limited to only one type of product photography, especially because businesses may be targeting different audiences on different platforms. We can help you decide which form of product photography or a combination of several product photography styles will suit your product and reflect its values.
Why Do I Need Professional Product Photography?
Product photography is necessary for your business to attract people to your website. You need to appeal to your target consumers’ senses to convince them to purchase your product. With increasing online competition, professional product photography can help place your product in such a manner that it catches your potential customer’s attention.
The power of an image for online shopping is hard to ignore, and if your business is not posting high-quality, professional photos of your products, then you could be lagging behind your competitors. No matter your industry or target customers, professional product photos are a crucial asset for your business and can help your brand grow.
Professional product photography is essential for your business for many reasons. Product photography can appeal to the emotions and senses of your customers. It also allows the perception of high-quality products and high-quality business. Customers want a better grasp on brand guidelines and style. Therefore, with the cohesive lighting, composition, and mood of the photos, your message will be presentable. Lastly, professionally shot products allows a variety of image usage. For example, you could have large format printing, magazine/catalog beauty shots, etc. of your products.
What Is E-commerce Photography?
E-commerce photography has evolved with the rapid increase of online shopping. It refers to a high-quality product image created as a visual stand-in for your products online to encourage potential customers to buy them.
E-commerce photography includes all product photos that accompany the descriptive product descriptions on a website. Using these images, online shoppers can see the product and get information about it. Using e-commerce photography, self-hosted e-commerce sellers and third-party sellers can represent their products on online platforms and drive sales. It also helps online businesses lower return rates, increase CTR, decrease cart abandonment rates, boost time on the page and grow the conversion rate.
Qualities of E-commerce Photography
Some typical characteristics of E-commerce photography include:
The product is the focus and covers most of the space in the picture.
Traditional e-commerce photography contains photos of products against a white background to remove distractions.
E-commerce photography images are high-quality, clear and well-lit product pictures that contain the product details and highlight its features.
These images can help customers view the product from different angles, such as front, side, back and close-ups.
What Is Stylized Still-life Photography?
Still-life photography focuses on capturing inanimate objects and attractively presenting them. Stylized still-life is where creative lighting, color, mood striking compositions, and play on emotions really take over. The most classic example of still life is a picture of a bowl of fruits or flowers in a vase. Still-life photography gives the commercial photographers freedom to arrange the objects in any manner they want and their creativity comes into play.
Product photography is also considered a type of still life photography as it involves capturing still objects. But, it differs from still-life photography as product photography aims to focus on the product and display its features to the audience.
Tabletop photography: A creatively staged environment to showcase the product set into its surroundings
Flatlay photography: Usually shot from above to capture flat laid products in an attractive setting.
What Is Lifestyle Photography?
Also known as in-context photography, lifestyle photography showcases the product in a styled and curated setting. Lifestyle product photography can help develop your brand identity by capturing the product in its most authentic or natural context. It can associate the product with a certain lifestyle or aesthetic that reflects the brand values.
Lifestyle product photos create an inviting and relatable vibe through interaction. Some basic substyles of lifestyle photography include:
Tabletop photography: Includes objects that can fit on a table, like mugs and bathroom accessories.
Flatlay photography: Usually shot from above to capture flat-laid products in an attractive setting.
Model photography: Essentially includes a model wearing or using the product in natural light.
Benefits of Product Photography
As e-commerce competition increases, it becomes increasingly essential to present your product in a way that grabs the shoppers’ attention. Here’s how product photography can benefit your business:
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Professional product photography is a long-term investment to get your brand its identity. With a strong brand identity, customers can separate your business from its competitors and your business can build its reputation. Consistently showcasing professional product imagery captured by product photographers will help potential customers recognize your brand as an industry leader and portray a professional outlook. This way, your loyal customer base can expand, and you’ll develop a recurring demand for your products.
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Product photography can help your business amplify its sales. Since one of the biggest drawbacks of online shopping is the customer cannot try, feel or hold the products, relying on the visuals and product pictures posted on the website is the only way they can connect with the product. Product photography reassures potential customers that the product is exactly what they’re looking for and convinces them to purchase it.
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When the product photos display the product benefits, customers can understand what the product will actually look like in reality. Professional product photography can demonstrate your product's unmatchable quality, texture, and functionality with detailed shots. This way, customers can know how your product is better than others in the market.
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High-quality, eye-catching photos of your brand are more than successful content marketing strategies. They can assist in grabbing the attention of potential customers and boosting brand awareness to bring in new audiences. High-quality product images can increase customer engagement and help your business expand its reach without any additional expense or effort.
Whatever kind of commercial product photography you opt for, a skilled commercial photographer can help bring out the best of your products and highlight their unique features.
Contact Dave Litterio today to get started!