Product Photography: The business case for hiring a professional
If you're running a small business selling products of any kind, you need product photography. But does this mean having to bring in a professional product photographer? This can seem like a significant expense compared to the option of doing it yourself. Let's look at the difference hiring a product photographer can make.
This product image required suspending the toy rocket, coloured lights, and plenty of editing to produce this eye-catching final result
An image like this, showing the material finishes and and surface detail of the product, requires careful lighting and a quality camera and lens
Equipment
You can create product photography with a mobile phone, or a standard digital camera. Lots of small businesses do, and some create very good images to help sell their product. But despite the impressive features of most mobile phone cameras, they still have their limitations.
A professional will have dedicated cameras designed to produce the highest image quality possible, and specialist lenses to suit different types of product.
Perhaps more important than the equipment is the lighting used in your product photos. Natural daylight is great, free, and perfect for many product images. But it's variable, unreliable, and only available while the sun's up. If you're running your business alongside a regular day job, or you’re busy with customers during normal working hours, it's going to restrict your opportunities to get those photos. Plus, changing weather (especially here in the UK) can make it a real challenge to produce a consistent look to your photos if you can't take them all on the same day.
In the studio, conditions can be precisely controlled and the results are fully repeatable. Lights can be positioned and modified to best suit the product. Whether you are looking to create a natural look, or something much more stylised, it can be done in studio.
With a black product on a black background, the right lighting balance is crucial to ensure the product stands out
Although a seemingly simple shot, this product photo required a long, thin “strip box” light modifier to emphasise the shape of the rollers
An example of combining both natural and artificial light - daylight provides most of the illumination, but flashes help pick out the detail of the wood
Experience
A product photographer will have encountered plenty of “problem” products - such as glass, liquids, glossy plastics or polished metal - and have developed a range of techniques to deal with unwanted reflections or bright spots. Even something relatively simple, like how to effectively show a white product on a white background, can be difficult to get right. A pro photographer will either have done it before, or know enough about the problem to develop a solution without a lot of trial and error.
These highly polished metal products needed careful planning of the lighting and reflections to demonstrate the mirror finish of their surfaces.
A small, white plastic product could easily disappear into a white background, so the highlights and shadows are key
Time
Time is precious. If you are running a business, is it really a good use of your time to be setting up backgrounds, researching which lighting modifiers you might need, or watching YouTube tutorials to try to brush up on your editing skills? There’s nothing wrong with developing your own abilities, of course, but you need to consider whether the hours you might spend improving your own photography would be better spent finding new customers, developing your product, or improving the service you offer existing clients. Working with a professional product photographer can help make sure you’re spending your time on the parts of your business that will bring you the most benefit.
Sourcing suitable props and backdrops for product photography can be time-consuming. If you can provide a brief then your photographer should be able to find everything much more quickly.
The sample paperweight shot here was badly damaged in transit and needed significant retouching to bring it back to looking pristine
Quality
Better photos boost the perception of your products and your brand as a whole. It’s one of those unconscious things - people respond better to high-quality photos than low-quality ones, but a lot of business owners overlook it. It’s not enough simply to demonstrate what a product looks like, you need to show it at its best. A product photographer will be able to help maximise the quality at every stage of the process. From selecting the best examples of the product, to determining the most flattering angles or the best way to show off the features, to giving it the final polish in the edit, with each step helping to ensure your product looks as enticing as it possibly can.
A high-quality camera and lens ensures the detail of this wooden carving is showcased beautifully
Photographed outdoors, this box of fruit and vegetables looks mouth-watering with bright but natural colours and plenty of texture
Technique
Sometimes, it’s not possible to get the result you need by simply pointing a camera at a product. Maybe you need something more eye-catching, like a product seeming to float in mid-air, or an action shot like a product splashing into or through liquid, or just a scene that requires a number of different shots combining digitally. These types of photos can be difficult to create without special equipment and/or software, but the main barrier is having the knowledge and understanding of how to go about creating the kind of effect you are looking for. Again, it’s possible to learn it yourself, if you have the time and inclination, but it’s going to be more efficient to get a professional photographer involved.
An image like this involves a combination of several different shots, as well as significant editing to create the final result
A highly polished product, levitating and pouring out liquid presents a number of challenges and requires multiple techniques to get right
So, by having the necessary equipment, experience, and technique, a product photographer can boost the quality of your product images, improve the perception of your brand, and save you time and effort. All of which makes it a valuable business investment.
If you would like to discuss how hiring a professional can help your business, please get in touch.
