Photography plays a key role in the success of your business. In our digital world, it’s often the first impression someone gets of your business.
“You’ve heard the adage, you eat with your eyes first. It’s the same for making purchasing decisions online,” said Peter Kelly, Central Tech’s small business management coordinator. “The better the photo, the more likely it is someone will stop their online scrolling and consider purchasing your product.”
With people spending more time shopping online, product photos are critical. Your photos need to stand out from the crowd, and represent the personality, style, and emotion you want your business to evoke.
“Consistency in your photos helps build recognition and trust among your customers. It builds a relationship, a promise of what your customers can expect from your business,” said Natasja Kemp, instructor of the Product Photography class at Central Tech.
Which leaves the question of how to take better photos of what you’re selling. Becoming knowledgeable about the fundamentals of photography can help you create better photos and boost your online image.
The good news…no fancy camera necessary!
Using just your smartphone, Kemp covers how to get on track to making better, more professional and creative photographs. Getting good exposures, finding compelling compositions, and creating a style that works best to tell your brand’s story are heavily discussed.
In a hands-on atmosphere, you learn how to use your smartphone camera to define your product. Utilizing easy to understand composition guidelines and simple lighting techniques are two ways of doing so. Consciously choosing your foreground and background are also discussed.
The last instruction given in class is on editing. Kemp discusses the editing tools readily available on your phone and talks about more robust editing apps available in the app store.
“Product photography is often considered a daunting task and is pushed to the backburner. It’s always a pleasure watching the relief come across a student’s face as Natasja guides them through a few photography lessons and they realize how easy it can be to learn,” said Kelly.
Becoming knowledgeable about some of the fundamentals of photography can help you create better photos and boost your online presence. You’ll leave class feeling more knowledgeable and confident in your ability to create a more professional and consistent online representation of your brand.