Photojournalism

PRE-320/JRN-320 – Dr. Anthony Curtis

Product Shots

Imagine walking along a city street where you encounter two grocers with sidewalk displays of fruit. You might like an apple so you look in both sellers' bins. One is charging 50 cents for an apple while the other is charging 75 cents. When you look closely at the cheaper apples, they appear bruised and some are may be rotten. On the other hand, the more expensive bin is overflowing with shiny red, ripe, juicy apples.

As consumers, we frequently select from competing products. Paying close attention, we sometimes notice that one manufacturer spent marketing money on classy photos of products, while a competitor may have spent its marketing money differently. Often, the difference between our perceptions of two products may lie in product photography.

Successful marketers know that, if you want to sell a product, you need great product shots.

Quality – you need the best possible image of the product alone. No distracting background. No poor lighting. No bad colors.

Lighting – No matter how good your product, if your photo is overexposed or poorly lit, editing wonπt be able to save it.

• To end up with a great product shot, subtle, natural, front lighting against a contrasting plain background color is the best way to begin.

If you're selling a green product, don't photograph it on a green piece of fabric. Try red or orange. Not only will the contrasting color make the product seem to pop out of the picture, it also would be easier to remove later on if necessary.

The product should contrast well with the backdrop. When the contrast makes it easier to see the colors of the product itself, the product will appear more vivid, alive and real to a customer.

Backgrounds – Have you noticed that products in catalogs often are shown without backgrounds? Even clothing models typically are shown against plain white backgrounds.

Without distracting elements behind the product, a catalog reader is free to see the product itself. An object shown against a white background is more compelling. A customerπs eyes will instantly be drawn straight to the product, which is exactly where you want them to go. The product looks cleaner without the distracting noise of the background.

Colors – Photoshop or another photo editing tool sometimes is used to compensate for minor color problems in a product shot. However, it is very important to be honest with the colors. Don't change a sweater to chartreuse if the product only is available in purple.

• For simple adjustments, use the Hue/Saturation toolbar
  (Photoshop: Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation)
• For more precise color adjustments, use the Color Balance palette
  (Image > Adjustments > Color Balance)

Other Enhancements – Photoshop tools such as Brightness & Contrast and Auto Levels can be used for quick improvements to product shots.

• Brightness/Contrast: be careful not to change the lighting too much, especially if you started with good lighting. It will be obvious that you edited or even over-edited the photo.
  (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast)
• Auto Levels: anyone familiar with Photoshop can access this tool
  (Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels)
• To lift your image off of the background, you might try adding a subtle drop shadow. It will add depth to the image and creates the illusion that the two-dimensional product photo is actually a three-dimensional image like real product someone might see in a retail store.

Details – Customer shopping online sometimes will not buy there because they think they canπt see product details as clearly as they might in a retail store. To solve this problem, online sellers often show multiple views. Of course, that forces a customer to continue to load images. A popular alternative for online sellers is the close-up bubble, which allows a customer to get up close and personal with a product, even though they still are viewing it in two dimensions

Web Optimization – Today, we must consider optimizing product shots for the Web. That means remembering the bandwidth limitations suffered by many customers and the limited patience of those who don't wish to wait for images to load. Downsize the photos. Image dimensions should usually be under 400 pixels by 400 pixels. If a larger image is needed, you might use a small thumbnail with a link to a larger version.

Anyway... Always keep in mind you're trying to sell a product. If you wouldn't purchase something from a poor picture quality, itπs probable that no one else would.

What's visually attractive to you may be just as attractive to customers – or maybe not. Always test product shots on colleagues and associates to see what they think.

No one wants old, bruised apples. Make sure yours are shiny, fresh and worth buying.