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5 tips to bring product photography to life

It’s a fact of life that some things are considered more exciting than others. This is just as true when it comes to marketing photoshoots, especially product-focused ones. Sometimes products are amazing and innovative but they just don’t look it.

Take something like a hearing aid, for example. These little devices literally allow someone to experience a new sense in full and discover more about the world – from listening to music, to hearing the voice of a loved one, to the sound of birdsong and nature, a hearing aid can give a user all of these experiences.

However, this life-changing device tends to look like a little nub of plastic, usually skin coloured. It’s designed to blend in, which can make it tough when it comes to showing it off visually.

Studies have shown that people can recall 65% of the visual content that they see almost three days later in comparison to around 10% for written content and that articles with images get 94% more views.

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But how do you make this work if your product doesn’t necessarily look as exciting in photographs as it actually is? It might look like photographers just point, shoot and end up with an interesting photo but there’s definitely more to it than that! Props and preparation are essential to create the best photographs that do your products justice, and ultimately work with the rest of your marketing strategy to grow sales.

It can be tempting – and easy – to shoot on a white background and then add in other backgrounds in post-production, but this isn’t always the best and can lead to a boring, static photo that doesn’t stand out.

Here’s our top five tips to create photos that make your brand more interesting:

Focus on the experience and story behind the product

Photographing products in use can make them look considerably more interesting than if they stand alone, especially if there’s an interesting or important use. Could you create instructional content, or content that showcases the product being used? The photography could even focus on what the product allows the user to do, rather than the product itself – that could be enjoying music, going out running, spending more time with their kids. It’s all about focusing on the experience and product benefits to the user.

It might make sense that you focus on the brands heritage, the manufacturing process, or the story of the people who make the product if that’s more interesting. Focusing on the story of a product can help to bring it to life, and by putting people and history at the forefront of your marketing you can try and capture an audience who might otherwise scroll past.

Lighting

Lighting is really important when it comes to product photography. It means that you can emphasize textures and tones, change the look and feel of an image or highlight the areas that you want people to notice. It might take a little playing around with where and how you light images and the type of light you take your photos in to find what works best for you.

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Placement, perspective and contrast matter

Placement, perspective, and contrast are really important when it comes to product photography. It could be that you’re trying to reach an aspirational market, in which case the product should be photographed in aspirational surroundings. Or maybe one of the key benefits of your product is its size? Photograph it with other things to highlight the real size of it.

Even the most boring product will have textures, shapes, and angles to them. Can you use close up shots and different perspectives to get some interesting shots that highlight these? Can you hang a product to display it? Are there weird and wonderful angles you can take your photos from? Is there an interesting background or stand that you can shoot against?

A tripod can be mega-useful when it comes to close up product photography to make sure that you get a steady, detailed shot. Take photos at different distances and landscape/portrait shots to make sure you can use them for a variety of things. Instagram and Facebook photos are square – completely different from the shooting size of most cameras – so think about this in your composition!

Lay it all out

A flat-lay can be really attractive, simple way to display products on Instagram by – you guessed it – laying them out on a flat surface. You need to put a little bit of thought into planning how the end result will look, and you might need to try some different results but the end results are worth it. Check out #flatlay on Instagram for some inspiration.

You might want to sneak your product into a flat-lay that features some on-trend items, or maybe use contrasting or matching colors. Some people have color-themed Instagram accounts! We’re not saying that you need to be that dedicated, but it makes sense to put some thought into it before you start

User-generated content

Asking your users to create and send content – maybe using a specific hashtag – that you can use in your content can be a great idea. You can engage with those interested in your products and end up with some interesting content ideas that you may not have thought of. It’s also relatively low-effort for you as a brand marketer, though you would need to cast a careful eye over the content that’s being created!

You’re in a great position with digital content to check engagement for your business in real time, so make sure that you use the stats and metrics that you can use to refine your photography and content process. What types of imagery resonates the most with your audience? What feedback do they give you?

Once you’ve got fantastic content and photography created, you’ll need to find a way to distribute this to your local dealers and retailers. Let us introduce you to Embrosa.

About Embrosa

Embrosa is a Dutch company which creates technical solutions to give local entrepreneurs more marketing power. They started in 2017 in The Netherlands with the Embrosa app containing ready-made social media messages. Download their new app Embrosa Pics (Google Play / App Store): an app filled with professional visuals from optical brands. Opticians can download the visuals and use them for their online and offline marketing. Of course, TEF is shining also in this new app, check it out!

Brands: add your marketing content for free. Send an email to our chief content Myrthe: content@embrosa.com. Get in contact with CEO/sales Melanie if you want info about advertising: melanie@embrosa.com.

Embrosa team

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