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Simon (T&M co-founder) and myself have been keen photographers for some time now, and recently we have been exploring the world of ecommerce photography. As a specialist Shopify agency, Thought and Mortar finds itself in the privileged position of helping our clients showcase their online businesses in the best way possible. Sometimes a client might already have great photography for their products, and sometimes, well… let’s just say there is always room for a little improvement. Given our position of privilege, I wanted to share some thoughts from along the way so far.
Promote your brand with clear art direction
Every brand is different, so from the start we make sure to understand our clients’ offerings and how they would like to portray their brand online – this is the most important part of the process. Together we create a photographic style that reflects these ideas, and by the end we aim to have high-quality, artfully styled images that tell a story and, ultimately, help drive sales.
Achieving this level of art direction is not easy and requires more than just a good camera. It requires a good understanding of aesthetics, a strong emphasis on collaboration, and the technical expertise to bring an idea to life – oh yeah, and quite a lot of patience too!
Developing a process
Concept Development
We work closely with our clients to understand their brand's essence, target audience, and marketing objectives. From there, we develop a unique creative concept that captures the core of their brand and conveys this to their customers. This might involve mood boards, brainstorming sessions, and competitor analysis to ensure all images stand out.
Styling and Props
The right styling can take a product shot from dull to interesting, from static to dynamic. We curate props, backgrounds, and set designs that complement products, to enhance their appeal. Whether it is a minimalist aesthetic or a more vibrant approach, we are always aiming for a consistent style that aligns with a brand's personality.
Lighting
Lighting is the most important element of any great photograph. We create lighting setups to highlight the best features of a product, create depth and dimension, and evoke the desired mood. We use either natural or studio lighting to show products in their most flattering light. The ability to consistently recreate a look is key.
Composition
Of course there are core principles of composition when it comes to creating balanced and engaging product photos. But this is where we get to truly experiment and have some fun with arranging visual elements, forming pleasing guides, and story telling.
Post-Production
Post-production is all about bringing uniformity to our image sets through colour correction techniques, retouching (remove that dust!), and optimising images for usage across all devices.
Always keep learning
We are lucky to work with some great clients who know us well and understand our approach to the creative process. That said, it still takes a degree of trust from them to let us have so much creative input to their brand. We respect that, and so far have had nothing but happy clients.
Every photography project we take on helps to grow our portfolio, each time becoming a bit broader and stronger. And the beautiful thing about photography is that you continue to gain more and more knowledge, shot-by-shot.
Always keep learning, and have fun with it too!
Feel free to say hello if you would like to talk about how we can help with your brand photography.
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