Sunday, September 11, 2011

Why Does So Much Product Photography Fail?

There are countless small and even medium sized businesses struggling to make their mark largely because their advertising photography is simply not achieving much. In some cases it may be achieving nothing at all, and in plenty of cases it is clear to see that the company's product photography is actually having a negative effect on sales.

It's easy to see the product photograph as simply being an added extra, attached to an advert, flyer, web page or other marketing material simply to add a little colour and appeal. But the truth is that the overwhelming majority of people take one look at the photograph before reading any of the text, and then make a snap judgement not just about the product, but about the company itself, based on the quality of the product photograph. That's not the product they're judging - just the photograph.

Because often it is the quality of the picture which gives people the best clue as to the amount of care and attention the company gives to everything else. We've all got good quality digital cameras at home. Photography isn't the privilege of the few - high quality photographic imaging is in everyone's hands, and as a result we've become even better at making judgements very quickly about images used in advertising. A photograph that's little better than the sort of quality we might be expected to achieve on a family holiday is not going to achieve much in the eyes of most people.

In fact on many cases the product photograph isn't even looked at, because sub consciously we've already evaluated it out of the corner of our eye and made a judgement about it that it's either not good quality, or not meant for us. It's crucial therefore to think about how to make sure that product photography is able to achieve several key things. Firstly it must jump out at people and make it itself noticed. This doesn't just mean using bright colours, lurid backgrounds, supersized images or other gimmicks. Often quality will stand out all by itself, without recourse to gimmicks and tasteless trickery.

The second thing it should achieve it to make itself appear relevant to the consumer. For example, if you have two mobile phones, one of which is full of social networking tools, games, video camera and tools and features ideal for teenagers, and you have another phone with a built in 'Qwerty' keyboard, video conferencing facilities, management software and easy PC integration ideal for business people, it makes sense that the advertising photography needs to take these two different audiences into consideration. For teenagers the photograph is likely to include images or graphics which suggest movement, connectivity, excitement, fun and energy, whereas the product photograph of the other phone may offer a crisper, cleaner, more organised impression.

Once you've grabbed people's attention and made it clear that the product photograph is relevant it's then also important to achieve three more things. Firstly you need to be able to provide an unequivocally good quality image. This means that the quality of the product is clear enough that it will easily be recognised if seen in real life, and that people can see clearly aspects of the product which will be of interest and relevance. The next thing it will need to achieve is to communicate to the customer that the product and the company is about quality, and about standing out, being unique and being better than alternatives.

Finally product photography needs to engage the consumer by creating an emotive bond. The image should excite, enthuse, intrigue or otherwise actively engage the consumer so that they start to already imagine using it, having it and being seen with it, without really thinking consciously about it. That's a lot to ask from a photograph, but if you don't ask it, you won't get it and if you don't get it you won't get the sales you deserve either.

For very affordable, high quality product photography contact The Packshot People, experts in advertising photography that sells.


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