Photography 101

Looking for ways you can productively occupy some of this “shelter in place” space and support your businesses vital activity? You’ve come to the right place. Today we’re focusing on photography. After all, good photography is the single most important component in communicating your brand to editors and today’s media influencers. It’s also something that is easy to put on the backburner when we are busy.

So let’s shore up some best practices and let this incubation time ultimately be one of substantial and hard-to-come-by prep for your next stages of growth!

Now is a great time to work towards advancing your own skills behind the camera! As the technology of the iPhone camera continues to inspire, it’s important to not overlook it as a tool for creating exciting content. There may also be room to improve your product shots with the addition of an inexpensive tripod and a small light box.  Experiment with the slow motion video feature on your iPhone to showcase your work in a different light. Interject movement into a still image with video. Play with these features as the next phase of dynamic content will likely come from knowing how to maximize the potential of your phone. For more information on how to plan your own photo shoot, click here.

If an editor reached out and asked for a high-resolution image of a specific color of your product, could you find it in your files and send it within five minutes? Are all of your portraits and photographed products catalogued in Dropbox or on your desktop and then separated into two sets: Web Ready/Lo-Resolution and High Resolution (300dpi) images? 

Organizing your images so that you can use them effectively for various social media platforms, marketing material or pitching will bring clarity around what you have to work with (good communication is always accompanied by even better photography). It will also help you identify, for future reference, those product shots you still need to photograph and the budget needed to do so. 

Preparing now will put you in a position–post distancing– to be a quick responder to editors and collaborators. Do the same for your portraits, your bio and your logo files, making note of any needs. When was the last time you updated your portrait? Should you be asked to be on a panel or to be quoted as an expert, you’ll be asked to provide these same things again and again. 

Already published? No problem. If you teach yourself to think like an editor, you’ll always find more than one story angle lurking in your images. To start, study past issues of magazines and look at how they present a new product or event. For example, a new natural aromatic cleanser scent might end up in an article on Best-Smelling Natural Spring Cleaning Products. Can you connect it to an “evergreen” or seasonal theme? Finally, double check to be sure you have adequately photographed all aspects of the product. Are you making sure the minor, yet thoughtfully crafted, details shine through? Now’s definitely the time to tease out all possibilities.

Let’s look at your personal and team portraits. As a creative entrepreneur, you are an expert in understanding how to maximize the potential of your product by showcasing all that it has to offer. With up-to-date images, you can be considered as an industry expert, in print, on a panel or online.

Have you had your work space or studio professionally photographed? These images can also be the focus of an article.

If you find it’s past time for a new portrait or you see potential in your own work space studio, put this on your “to-do” list for when we come out of this Covid-19 lockdown. Nothing instills more confidence with potential clients, or an editor, than beautiful photography that shows off your best self and the products you’ve created.