Picture Perfect: Why Investing in Professional Product Photography is a Smart Business Move

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence as a retailer is 100% essential. Whether it’s an optimised website, engaging social media platform, jam-packed email mailing list, or all of the above, you must have a digital strategy or two up your sleeve. One way to enhance that presence is through superior product photography. High-quality product photography is a powerful tool that will help to increase sales, build brand recognition, and create a positive image for your business.

Did you know? 50% of online shoppers say that large, high quality product images are more important than product information, descriptions, or even reviews.

Product photography is the art of taking photographs of products to showcase them in a visually appealing and attractive way. The purpose of product photography is to highlight the features and benefits of a product and to make it look as appealing as possible to potential customers.

Great photographs can be taken of products on their own in a professional studio, with on-brand backdrops, or with some effective CGI creative retouching. This kind of product photography will be particularly effective on your website in the product pages and listings, as part of print ads and web banner advertising, and in great social media campaigns.

Take it out of the studio, however, and you have a whole new set of opportunities to drive engagement and needs in your audience. Product photography in a relevant location or a dramatic setting can bring your products out even more, especially if you add a model into the mix.

For example, a photograph of a set of weights in the studio, or some workout apparel, will show the essence of the product. It will highlight the features and present that item in the best possible light. However, by adding a model using it, or posing with it, you then instill a need and a want in the audience. They can suddenly visualise themselves using the item.

This kind of product photography, using the model, is a key strategy in capturing customers who weren’t even aware that they had a need, driving a compulsion to know more and ultimately make a purchase.
Did you know? 78% of online shoppers want to see the product as if it’s part of their own daily lives.

You can take this one step further by working with notable personalities and influencers to create UGC, doubling the impact by piggybacking onto an existing engaged audience. Nano-influencers (social media personalities with fewer than 10,000 followers) are a very cost-effective method of building a UGC strategy, as quite often they will provide high quality content for you in exchange for free product. Further to this, they do actually tend to have a far more engaged audience than perhaps a super-influencer.

Investing in professional product photography has numerous benefits for businesses. First and foremost, professional product photography will help increase sales. High-quality product images can capture the attention of potential customers and help them make informed purchasing decisions.
Another benefit of professional product photography is brand recognition. Professional photographers can help create images that not only showcase the product but also reflect the brand’s values and personality by using different colourways, lighting techniques and backdrops. This helps businesses create a cohesive and consistent brand image across all marketing channels.
Professional product photography also helps businesses stand out from their competitors. In today’s crowded marketplace, businesses that invest in high-quality product photography have a distinct advantage over those that do not. Eye-catching images can help businesses grab the attention of potential customers and create a positive first impression.

While some businesses may be tempted to save money by taking their own product photos, this is not always the best option. DIY product photography may seem like a cost-effective solution when many businesses are tightening their belts and looking to cut costs wherever possible, but it can often lead to poor quality images that do not effectively showcase the product. Ultimately this can and will adversely affect your conversion rates.

Did you know? 90% of online buyers say that photo quality is the most crucial factor in an online sale.

Professional product photography, on the other hand, is a worthwhile investment that can pay off in the long run. Professional photographers have the skills, equipment, and experience needed to create high-quality images that effectively showcase the product and reflect the brand’s values and personality. A professional photographer will have spent many years honing their craft, and building their experience. They will have also spent upwards of £50,000 purchasing the equipment that they use to capture your product images. This expenditure, when you consider setting up for creating DIY photography, does suddenly make hiring a professional on an ad hoc basis feel like a much more sensible option, does it not?

Furthermore, Picture Perfect Photography offers fantastic membership packages that include so much more than a simple photography session (although we can of course offer a simple photography session, if this is what you need); our professional packages offer creative strategy sessions, exclusive discounts expedited delivery of the images, optional extras such as creative retouch, video production, and social media management services.

Ultimately, investing in professional product photography is a smart business move. High-quality product images can help increase sales, build brand recognition, and create a positive image for your business. While the upfront cost of hiring a professional photographer may seem an unnecessary expense when there are cheaper, do-it-yourself options available, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the initial investment.

By understanding the value of professional commercial photography and the impact of high-quality product photography on e-commerce, businesses can make informed decisions about their marketing strategies. So, if you want to take your business to the next level using effective product photography, get in touch with our team for a discovery call.

Picture Perfect Photography is a professional photography studio based in the heart of Yorkshire. We have captured millions of product and lifestyle images in our twenty years of experience, working both from our studios in the picturesque village of Haigh, near Barnsley, and on countless locations across the world. Our award-nominated founder and principal photographer, Collette Evans, has gained rave reviews for her attention to detail and ability to work to briefs of any nature. Get in touch today for a discovery chat, and a free quote for the work you have in mind.