How To Get Your Product Photography Wrong

How is it possible to get product photography wrong? After all, the definition's in the phrase - 'product photography'. Surely it's just a case of taking a photograph of your product? Or could it be that there is actually more to it than that?

Many businesses don't seem to think so, with a large number of people simply picking up a cheap digital camera, and taking a photograph of their product before posting it on the web or using it in their promotional literature or catalogues. The standard is often fairly shocking - you often wouldn't want to trust such people to take your family holiday pictures, let alone product photographs for marketing purposes.

Perhaps some of the wiser companies invest in slightly more expensive cameras, perhaps some image editing software and may even place the products against a wall or on a table. The results, whilst marginally better, still fall far short of professional. But does this really matter? Is product photography as important as product photographers and photo studios make out?

Imagine the difference between a lavishly dressed platter of duck foie gras served in a Parisian bistro and, say, Donald Duck. If the two seem pretty much the same then either you need to eat out more, or curb your enthusiasm for turning cartoon creatures into gourmet delicacies. But the point is that in-house product photographs and the kind of marketing images which professional product photographers can create are worlds apart. And yes, that difference does matter. Let's be clear - businesses are having to pull out more stops than ever in today's exceptionally competitive economic climate. Consumers have less to spend, are more picky about where they shop, more cynical about product advertising. Businesses have to have an edge, and portray an image which is professional, reassuring, and eye catching.

Often professional product photography is not about taking a photograph of a product, but creating an image of the product. If you're not sure what the difference is between a photograph and an image, then it's even more important to enlist the help of a professional photographic studio. Briefly, the difference between a product photograph and a marketing or promotional product image is that the latter will express what the product is about, its benefits to the consumer, and its advantages over its rivals. A photograph will do no more and no less than show what the product looks like, and that's just not enough.

It may well be a hackneyed cliché, but the concept of a picture painting a thousand words is extremely apt as far as promotional photography and commercial imagery is concerned. With consumers today being more cynical and filtering out more of the advertising which surrounds them it is more important to make sure that images are used which will cut through the constant barrage of noise. An image or picture needs only a cursory glance to convey a message, a concept or a thought, whereas words, headlines, articles and letters are easily ignored or overlooked.

It is for the very fact that an image says as much as a whole article in a fraction of a second that it is vital to make sure that what it says is precisely what you mean it to say. An in-house product photograph will always been seen to be such. This more often than not conveys concepts such as 'cheap', 'budget', 'home business', cost-cutting' and 'unprofessional'. Hardly concepts that are likely to help your business cut its way through the unending slog of competing marketing.

A professional product photographer will have access to a number of things which no in-house team are ever likely to be able to offer. For a start, there's likely to be a wealth of professional experience in achieving success with product images for marketing. Additionally, they will be able to offer a range of contacts for items such as sets, scenes, locations, props, lighting and models, to name but a few ways that product photographs can be enhanced to achieve greater success.

Of course, a professional product photographer is hardly likely to be using an off-the-shelf digital camera, instead using equipment such as the world renowned Phase One digital camera set-ups, as well as professional lighting and perhaps even an infinity cove. It's unlikely that an in-house product photography team will have access to an infinity cove - an essential resource if your product images are to retain a crisp, clean appearance without distracting backgrounds, or with the potential to have alternative backgrounds introduced.

One of the other major advantages of using a professional digital photography studio to develop your product photographs is their ability to include an element of digital image manipulation, adding in other features, removing or enhancing elements of the existing image, adapting lighting, tone, hue, saturation and lightness, and even creating composite images which say far more about the product than merely what it looks like. Use your thousand words wisely.