Why Basic Photography Concepts Apply to All Businesses
Why is photography important for business? Professional photographs add quality to your website, advertising and even in-store promotions. Without basic photography concepts, you risk looking like an amateur at best. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or how large your brand, as even small firms benefit from better images.
The United States Small Business Administration reports approximately 33.2 million American small businesses, making up around 99% of total companies in the country. A vast majority use the internet in some way for marketing, meaning you have a lot of brands competing to grab attention from the same pool of consumers. The higher the quality of your photos, the better.
Anything you can do to make you stand out helps enhance name recognition and turn browsers into customers. Fortunately, photography is something you can learn, even if you can’t afford a commercial photographer at the moment. Here are some basic photography concepts you should keep in mind when creating pictures for your business.
How Photography Concepts Can Apply to All Businesses
1. Light
Figuring out the lighting for photographs is probably one of the most difficult things for amateurs to grasp. For example, if you’re taking product shots, the last thing you want is harsh shadows or unlit corners.
Some solutions include using lightboxes for just the right illumination where you need it. You can also use natural light in some settings to get the perfect look. Stick to early in the day and just before sunset for the best lighting.
LTD Commodities adds some images with soft yellow lighting to give the hint of fall for their upcoming product selections. In contrast, many of the photographs they took for their summer catalog are much brighter and have more of a blue cast than yellow.
2. Continuity
Consistency matters in your photography for small business. You should try to take similar product images so users know your style and tone. For example, if you post images on instagram showcasing your latest collection, they should all have a similar focus, angle and background.
If you use a white background for some products, try to use it for all or the consumer may grow confused about who the retailer is.
3. Composition
Learn how to put different products together and create a visually pleasing image. If you offer a gallery of your work, you’ll want to compile the best examples and showcase them, for example. If you sell products, you may want to set the scene so people see the items in use.
Try to think outside the box and come up with professional quality commercial photos people stop and study for a minute. Use unique backgrounds, add little embellishments and details and take the image from an angle that shows everything well.
The Anstadt Company adds an image showing their work for York College. We see a beautiful brochure, a box, a flag and some other materials. Note how everything is arranged as though the person neatly unpacked the box. The layout lets the user get the full impact of what the company designed.
4. Story
Does your photograph tell a story? Excellent pictures capture a single moment in time and share the emotion behind the scene. You might see a laughing child as he runs through the tall grass, a shocked woman when her fiancé proposes or a bird taking flight just in time to avoid a predator.
What story do you wish to tell with your photographs and how can you capture them at just the right moment? Telling a story when you want to sell products isn’t quite as straightforward. You can compose the image to tell a story, snap footage of the item being used or add other things to try to grab emotion.
5. Color
Choosing the right colors for your photographs is one of the most important things you can do. The right colors add contrast, highlight what you want attention on or mesh with your overall color palette.
It’s difficult to capture just the right hue in a photograph, but if you learn to edit your photos, you can enhance colors, adjust contrast and bring an otherwise drab image to life.
Zoox shows off their autonomous vehicle. They’ve added some transparent shading to the video footage to take the robotic car from pale green to purple to pink. The pulsating colors work well with the black and white theme of the site. The colors are outside the norm for vehicles so they grab user attention and keep it.
6. Show Scale
When people shop online, it’s hard for them to know the actual size of a product. You can easily show scale by using common items next to your product. For example, a small item might be placed next to a quarter to show the size. On the other hand, you might put a surfboard in the ocean with a boat in the distance and a person on the board.
Think about how the objects around the item show it off to the best advantage. Does the entire composition tell a story and share details words alone can’t provide? Show products off from 360-degree angles.
Take Online Courses
If you want to improve your photography skills for your business, invest in an online course or two. Sites such as Skillshare, Udemy, Linda and Teachable give you a chance to learn from professional photographers. Invest in your knowledge so you can come up with some truly amazing clips for your business website.
