Lifestyle product photography is beginning to dominate the product photography space and for good reason! Customers are becoming more and more concerned with who a company are and what their ethos is and a great way to find this message out is through the visual content that a business puts out.
Product photography is more than just seeing what the product looks like, it also carries the company’s brand and shares insight on their identity and message. It’s also a great opportunity for the company to tell a story in the most accessible way possible; images!
One of the most successful ways to showcase your e-commerce products is to use a mixture of studio-based product shots and lifestyle product photography. This checks all of the customers boxes from finding out more about the product specifications to understanding the businesses story and brand. It helps to legitimise the product because it presents it to the customer in a relatable way. Seeing another person, often like themselves since most businesses will base their models off of their main customer base, means that the customer is able to imagine themselves with that product.
Essentially, what this does for the customer is it provides a context. For example, in the case of clothing as the product, lifestyle photography provides extra information for the customer than that of written content alone or lone studio-based shots would. The buyer can start to see the size and fit of a product through the introduction of a model. Alongside the extra information about the product itself, lifestyle images also provide us with more information about the brand themselves through things such as the style of model, the chosen location and the narrative that they are trying to convey. This can be anything from carrying a message of body positivity which lets the customer know that the brand is size inclusive to supporting social movements like Pride which allows the customer to see if the brands values align with their own.
Not only is the capability to share your businesses ethos and message through the use of lifestyle product photography helpful to your customer when considering and purchasing your product, but it is another form of marketing for your business that should be utilised. It allows your business to build a brand through imagery, which is one of the best forms of marketing, especially now where product imagery, in particular lifestyle photographs can be shared across social platforms. The great thing about lifestyle product photography is that the emphasis is taken away from the product itself and is more about the overall message. This means that your lifestyle product photographs can be shared on platforms such as Instagram and they will not only help in selling the particular product that is featured, but also, it will grow your customer base too by sharing your brands aesthetic and story!
Lifestyle product shots can be used to tell a story. A collection of images can be used together to allude to an overriding theme, idea or message. Generally speaking, there is more room for creative freedom in lifestyle photography than studio product photography. The reason for this is because studio product photography is solely about showing the product and its details. The way this is usually approached is by using zoom ins, 360-degree views and plain white backgrounds. A lot of this information can still be communicated in lifestyle photography, and when it is successful the content is far more audience friendly. For example, a zoom in to a shoe detail can still be achieved in lifestyle photography and would be done process wise in a very similar way to a studio based product shot, but the difference here could be something as simple as when we
see the zoom out lifestyle shot, the model could be wearing earrings sold by your business that match the detailing of the shoe. Not only does this build an outfit and create relatability for your audience, but this simple addition could help your business sell two items instead of one! Presenting your product within a real environment also helps shed insight on colours, textures and the scale of your product. In doing this you help your customer to see your product as real and sincere. This is one of the most important things to the customer when purchasing online products.
I will leave you with 3 go to points to remember when it comes to lifestyle product photography: 1. Customers not only want a great product, but they are looking to buy from businesses that share their values too! 2. A customer wants to be able to envision themselves with your product!
and finally, 3. Keeping it current and considering aesthetic means it will draw in customers across socials!
"The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don't have to explain things in words." - Elliott Erwitt