Our topic today is how new Product Photography brings products to market. Are you marketing a consumer product? It goes without saying that you need to create a consistent image for that product to make it recognisable to people who are going to see it in shops or on websites.
Although the ultimate audience might be the general public, you will very likely be aiming it at a business clients too – because in the case of most consumer products, you first need to sell it to distributors and retailers.
From a photography point of view, the thing about taking product shots is that you don’t want anyone to notice your photography.
On the face of it, that might sound a bit bizarre. Of course you want images that will catch people’s eye. But you don’t want their attention to be drawn to anything about the photos other than the information they are designed to convey. If they focus on anything else about the photo, it’s not doing its job. These images aren’t being entered into an art exhibition: they are part of a sales process.
Examples of new Product Photography
A recent example of a product we’ve worked on is Point Fix. It’s a DIY item – a self-setting pointing grout for filling in the gaps between block paving or patio tiles.
The client required commercial photography that would fulfil three main requirements:
- First, they needed pictures to help create an identity for the brand and help sell it on the shelf – in other words, the main images that would appear on the packaging.
- Second, they wanted to illustrate the process of how to use the product and demonstrate its benefits. These are the sort of shots that appear on the side or back of packaging. Of course, pictures like this are also part of the sales process, because they help explain to browsing customers how easy it is to use the product.
- Finally, the client requested images of the packaged product, for use in literature or on websites. This included ‘point of sale’ shots, showing how it could be presented in store. Obviously, the latter would be aimed at a B2B audience.
If we do our job right, customers should see the images, recognise the type of product, understand what it is used for and then start to take an interest in what it can do for them. Anything else is a distraction.
When you see product packaging, you don’t usually think about the photography was done. We thought we’d give you a bit of an insight.
For this shoot, the most important element was the tiles and paving blocks. That was nice and easy, because we ordered them from a garden supplier who provided delivery.
What could possibly go wrong?
You guessed it. They weren’t able to deliver in time for the scheduled photoshoot, so we had to collect them. To be fair, they did load the vehicle for us – although we probably tried their patience because Julie was VERY particular about choosing the most photogenic tiles!
This fastidious attention to detail was important, because we needed the tiles to do one thing: help show and explain the product. We didn’t want them to draw attention to themselves by having blemishes.
Over the space of three months, we took four different types of shots for the Point Fix project:
Colour swatches for the label
The product comes in different colour options (buff, nutmeg brown etc), so our first task was to photograph the powder itself. These images would appear as part of the product labelling along with the name of the colour, in order to make identification as visual and easy as possible.
Product in use
To illustrate the product being applied, we constructed a small set in the studio using the slabs and tiles. We needed to lay down enough of each so that we could take photos with a complete spread of tiles in the frame.
We then took photos to illustrate the “how to use” instructions. This included images of the powder being brushed into place that would eventually become the main image on the product packaging.
Pack shots on white background
Some weeks later, after the client had used the first two sets of photographs to produce the product labels, we then took shots of the finished packaging.
The client had requested the images be shot on a white background, so we used the pristine white infinity scoop at our Bromsgrove studio as the backdrop.
New Product Photography: Point of sale images
The final part of this branding exercise was to photograph the product in its packaging on display stands, in order to show how it would look at point of sale. Again, the white background was used. You can also see how images from the earlier shoots have also been incorporated into the design of the eyeline banners at the top of the shelving.
The client now has a suite of images for product labelling, including photographic user instructions, images of the product in its packaging for use in sales literature or websites, and point of sale shots for marketing the product to potential retailers.
Are you looking for product photography such as this, or any other kind of commercial photography? If you are in the Bromsgrove, Worcester or Birmingham area then we are very local to you.
Please give us a call and we can chat about what you would like to achieve with new product photography – dpix 01527 874819 – 07973 401819. You might also like to view our product photography portfolio or read our PR photography school blog.