Do You Need A Professional Photographer?
By Stu Leventhal - Guru Marketing Tips Editor
How Professional Do Your Biz Photos Need To Be?
The great master photogs of yester year, as with all artists of many genres; music, painting, sculpture, literature… never wanted their art (photographs) to be used for commercial reasons. Art was not to be profited on by companies it was meant to be enjoyed by the masses. Of course that flew out the window as artist of all kinds found they could not make a living unless they compromised and allowed their art to be used for commercials and ads.
Now-a-days photography is used to market a lot of stuff. Just about every ad has a photograph or two or three or more, to help sell its product or service. The big question is; are you using photography in the best way to gain the most sales? Also, you should ask yourself what kinds of photography works best for your industry? Does a particular tone or style sell more stuff?
Photos are used to catch a viewer’s attention, to enhance a story or to make a point.
Often in the digital marketing world photos are being used by SEOs to help rank website pages for search terms. The thing is that it is thought that search engines cannot decipher what a photo is about and thus the search engines relies on the publisher to tell it using text and words. This gives SEOs and marketers a way to morph what the photo is actually into what they would like it to be, since they are supplying the images description to the search engine.
There are certainly tips and tricks for getting great photographic shots and there are no shortages of photographic theory. Great Photographers could cost an entrepreneur or startup company a small fortune to hire but can a non-pro take commercial grade photographs? Usually that answer is no. Remember the pro has the best equipment; camera, lighting, gauges… An average person could not afford to purchase the high quality lens for example and camera attachments to compete with a seasoned pro photog.
That of course does not mean there is not plenty of room for an amateur to take marketing photos that are useful.
Generally the object of a photo is to capture an emotional state of its subject and set a memorable scene. Can you see how this could be used to sell products?
Usually photographs go with text. The photos must help the text sell. If your text is serious you do not want a silly photo distracting from your textual message. The object is not for the viewer to remember, “Wow what a photo that was!” Or “That photographer is really great. I wish I knew his or her name.” The object is to sell a product or service or promote a brand identity.
When choosing a photograph for an advertisement you want to capture a mood. Yes, you can stage the photo shoot to create the effect you are after. You do not want your photo to look staged though; it should appear as if it actually happened and you were there to capture the amazing moment.
Commercial photography usually needs to be very clear with details visible. Although, digital formatting can be done to clean up and clear up images to make them more visibly appealing than the originals. There is online photo fixing, enhancing and editing software that is now quite affordable by just about anyone who was interested in photography. It is relatively easy to learn how to improve original photographs and quite a lot of affects can be added to original photos to make them more pleasing to the eye.
Many pro photographers claim it is all about using light and shadow. Yet others concentrate on combinations of colors. The great photographers can duplicate hard to define things like mystery and love. They can catch a bewildered look and an angry scowl. Some concentrate on precision and others spontaneity.
To take your photography to the next level you have to think; are you capturing all the essential of the scene before your eyes. Can the viewer almost feel the heat or dampness in the air just from looking at your photo? Are you taking a picture of a deteriorating, weather beaten abandoned house or are you capturing the depressing loneliness of a once magnificent thriving vibrant town deserted to rot away slowly so many years ago.
Who do you wish to be interested in your photo? Women, men, senior citizens, teenagers, children? The same subject matter can be photographed from different angles and through different lens to engage the imagination of different types of people. You are selling something, who is your buyer?
Ask yourself can the text sell the item without your photograph? Will you sell more with your photograph? Do not just add a photo to have a photo. Get creative. Yes a photo can help you sell or tell a tale or set a mood in which people reading text will be more likely to purchase.
What really interests your buyers? Is it chivalry, adventure or romance? How about humor? Maybe you can show how your product or service will just add to having a good time, a laugh with friends or a spontaneous chuckle with a complete stranger.
Ask yourself; where does one’s eyes first go when viewing your photo? On what do the eyes linger? Is this good for pitching your message? Could you do something better? Should you be trying to bring more attention to one aspect of your scene than another so your viewer focuses more on one part of the image than another?
How could this photo be improved, for your marketing purposes?
Is your goal coming thru? Will the viewer get it and understand what you are trying to convey?
Photography tips and things to consider:
Now-a-days photography is used to market a lot of stuff. Just about every ad has a photograph or two or three or more, to help sell its product or service. The big question is; are you using photography in the best way to gain the most sales? Also, you should ask yourself what kinds of photography works best for your industry? Does a particular tone or style sell more stuff?
Photos are used to catch a viewer’s attention, to enhance a story or to make a point.
Often in the digital marketing world photos are being used by SEOs to help rank website pages for search terms. The thing is that it is thought that search engines cannot decipher what a photo is about and thus the search engines relies on the publisher to tell it using text and words. This gives SEOs and marketers a way to morph what the photo is actually into what they would like it to be, since they are supplying the images description to the search engine.
There are certainly tips and tricks for getting great photographic shots and there are no shortages of photographic theory. Great Photographers could cost an entrepreneur or startup company a small fortune to hire but can a non-pro take commercial grade photographs? Usually that answer is no. Remember the pro has the best equipment; camera, lighting, gauges… An average person could not afford to purchase the high quality lens for example and camera attachments to compete with a seasoned pro photog.
That of course does not mean there is not plenty of room for an amateur to take marketing photos that are useful.
Generally the object of a photo is to capture an emotional state of its subject and set a memorable scene. Can you see how this could be used to sell products?
Usually photographs go with text. The photos must help the text sell. If your text is serious you do not want a silly photo distracting from your textual message. The object is not for the viewer to remember, “Wow what a photo that was!” Or “That photographer is really great. I wish I knew his or her name.” The object is to sell a product or service or promote a brand identity.
When choosing a photograph for an advertisement you want to capture a mood. Yes, you can stage the photo shoot to create the effect you are after. You do not want your photo to look staged though; it should appear as if it actually happened and you were there to capture the amazing moment.
Commercial photography usually needs to be very clear with details visible. Although, digital formatting can be done to clean up and clear up images to make them more visibly appealing than the originals. There is online photo fixing, enhancing and editing software that is now quite affordable by just about anyone who was interested in photography. It is relatively easy to learn how to improve original photographs and quite a lot of affects can be added to original photos to make them more pleasing to the eye.
Many pro photographers claim it is all about using light and shadow. Yet others concentrate on combinations of colors. The great photographers can duplicate hard to define things like mystery and love. They can catch a bewildered look and an angry scowl. Some concentrate on precision and others spontaneity.
To take your photography to the next level you have to think; are you capturing all the essential of the scene before your eyes. Can the viewer almost feel the heat or dampness in the air just from looking at your photo? Are you taking a picture of a deteriorating, weather beaten abandoned house or are you capturing the depressing loneliness of a once magnificent thriving vibrant town deserted to rot away slowly so many years ago.
Who do you wish to be interested in your photo? Women, men, senior citizens, teenagers, children? The same subject matter can be photographed from different angles and through different lens to engage the imagination of different types of people. You are selling something, who is your buyer?
Ask yourself can the text sell the item without your photograph? Will you sell more with your photograph? Do not just add a photo to have a photo. Get creative. Yes a photo can help you sell or tell a tale or set a mood in which people reading text will be more likely to purchase.
What really interests your buyers? Is it chivalry, adventure or romance? How about humor? Maybe you can show how your product or service will just add to having a good time, a laugh with friends or a spontaneous chuckle with a complete stranger.
Ask yourself; where does one’s eyes first go when viewing your photo? On what do the eyes linger? Is this good for pitching your message? Could you do something better? Should you be trying to bring more attention to one aspect of your scene than another so your viewer focuses more on one part of the image than another?
How could this photo be improved, for your marketing purposes?
Is your goal coming thru? Will the viewer get it and understand what you are trying to convey?
Photography tips and things to consider:
- Often to display a company and its brand in a favorable light you need to take some photos of its employees in action. Done correctly a competent photog can paint the company and brand as being superior to its competitors.
- You can stage a whole scene in a studio but it is much cheaper to just find a place that is perfect outdoors or indoors, for your photoshoot. Creating a whole photo scene with props and costumes can get quite expensive. Consider asking your actors to just wear their own clothing to save funds.
- Use company employees to save on hiring models and actors.
- You can pose the people in your photographs or try catching them when they are unguarded for more natural images.
- Lighting makes the highlight or focal point of your photo shot stand out as important.
- Models need direction; you have to tell them the look you want from them.
- Yes use props and set people in ideal places to bring a moment to life. Remember that Your photos should never look staged.
- When you are working with a writer to embolden their words of wit, you need to talk and ask questions of the writer so you are sure of what exactly your writer is expecting from you. Your photo should aide the writer in achieving their goals.
- Remember that often depending on what a photo is being used for, especially if a lot of money may be raised using the photo, you may have to get participants to sign a release form so you can use them in a photoshoot. Pro models usually sign releases before they participate in a shoot.
- I know many of you are thinking like amateur photographers and that lately everyone seems to be snapping photos of everything and everyone. The thing is, when you make that cross over to photographing for monetary gain, as with advertising photographs, you often are required to get permission to take photographs of for instance a public building or space as well as privately owned places. Yes tourists may get away with photographing the same place without any static but a pro can get sued! Get into the habit of simply asking first to make sure it is okay with authorities before you take photos!
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