Product photography is an excellent tool for reaching out to a diverse audience while communicating the value of a product. However, there are several ways to also use non-product photography that will complement a store’s reputation, enhance its perceived trustworthiness, and, possibly, influence the purchasing confidence of its visitors.
A good understanding of how to use non-product photographs is a powerful tool for web designers and developers who are pitching new clients or helping existing clients improve conversions.
Types of Non-Product Photography
Non-product photography can be divided into four distinct types: biographical, associative, affective, and user-submitted.
Biographical photography is one of the easiest and immediately available forms of photography that you can use on a website. Businesses are made up of people, and customers, whether B2B or B2C, like to know that. So, why not include some photographs of the people who makeup a web store's staff? While you're at it, collect some stats about those same people. That way you can include a short biographical overview next to an image. This is a cheap way to create unique, indexable content for an online store.
Biographical photography is also an excellent way to match a face with a business. Personalizing a business with biographical photography distinguishes it from the competition by creating an environment that is something more than a place where transactions occur. It becomes a meeting place between customers who shop there and the people who run it. Think of it as a first step toward social marketing. As a developer, encourage your clients to include an about us section that is rich with biographical photography.
Associative photography is related biographical photography. It just takes it a step further. Associative photography connects or relates a business to a field of expertise. For example, if you work in a candy shop, your biographical photograph might show a picture of you smiling behind the cash register with a candy shelf backdrop. However, an associative photograph might include you tasting samples at a candy factory, or winning an award at a candy trade show. The key here is attaining photographs of your client or your client's employees being depicted in an industry-related environment that proves the company and the individual employees are experts in the field.
This type of photography is readily available in any workplace. Just think like a photographer and be sure to capture photos when the opportunity presents itself. As a web designer or developer, you can effectively use associative photography as a tool for developing a sense of reliability and expertise between your client's business and your client's potential customers.
Affective photography is the more dramatic and difficult to achieve, versus biographical and associative. Have you ever opened a magazine or a calendar to see magnificent photographic image? Did it remind you of an inspirational landscape you've seen? Well, these are the type of thoughts and feelings that affective photography dares to achieve—an intense emotional impact. However, the difficulty in creating these types of images lies in finding a suitable location to shoot the photograph, and in having the technical ability to photograph the scene with a high attention to detail. Because of this, I recommend finding a professional photographer to shoot these types of photographs or, alternatively, find an image online. It should be noted that the contents of an affective photograph should be a subject or scene directly related to your client's business. For instance, if you worked in a ski shop, a stunning photograph of a cornfield would do little to build relevancy. Therefore, if you work in a ski shop, use relevant photographs, such as snow-capped mountaintops, or a sun-drenched ski slope with fresh snow covering the landscape. Applying the visual impact of affective photography to your client's website is an effective way to create a lasting impression of the website's visitors.
User-submitted photography is exactly what the name implies: users take the photographs and submit them to your client via email, link, or upload. The types and styles of photographs that your client will receive from them will vary according to industry.
As a developer, these sorts of photos will give you the most work, since you'll need to develop the system for collecting, filtering, and publishing the images. This type of photography makes shoppers feel like that are members of a store's online community and it is one of the best and easiest ways to encourage repeat visits. Most importantly, using user-submitted photography is free (in terms of the cost of the photograph), which saves your client money.
Communication
Photography, at its core, is a form of communication. Therefore, it is essential that you are able to identify what your client's business goals are before placing a non-product photograph on his or her website. Because photographs come in a variety of forms, you can begin constructing a detailed design of your client's goals by asking some fundamental questions: What kind of colors would you like the photographs to have? What style of photography would you like to convey? What types of views or ideals would you like to communicate to your audience, and why? What type of emotional or informational impact would you like the photographs to have on website visitors? By asking your client these basic questions, you are beginning to formulate the photography's content, and, ultimately, influence the website's design.
Resources
You may not realize it, but you and your client may have photographic content available to you with little or no photographic work necessary. I like to divide these photographic resources into two main categories: in-house and professional.
In-house photography is a term used to describe photographic content that your client produces itself. However, not all in-house photography requires a camera. For example, your client may have a digital photography archive of corporate events or functions on a number of company computers. Go through that archive and see if anything suits your client's communication goals. Or, a magazine or newspaper might have taken photographs of your client's business or personnel when writing a feature article. Talk to the photographer and ask if you can scan the photograph and use it on the website with due credits.
Professional photography is the opposite of in-house photography: you or your client hires someone to take the photographs for you. Many web developers and designers have an ongoing relationship with a professional photographer just for this purpose. Also, remember to take your cut. When you secure a professional photographer for your client, you are acting as an agency, and you should get your agency commission. Have the photographer bill you for services, and you bill your client, adding a 15-to-20 percent commission. Nearly every professional photographer is familiar with this arrangement, and it is a normal business practice.
Consider, also, stock photography. By searching for photos online, you will come across two major types: stock and microstock photography. Stock photography websites, like Getty Images and Corbis, offer fantastic digital images from professional photographers, but at a high-price and with very strict licensing terms. As a result, I often choose to browse for images in microstock photographic websites, such as iStockphoto and Fotolia, which are the cheaper and less restricting of the two. Regardless, you can find great images on many of the stock photography websites that will likely boost the perceived quality and trust of your client's web store.
Conclusion
Solely relying on product photography can make your client's website seem cold and impersonal. You can warm up that web store, while distinguishing the store from the competition, by including some of the types of non-product photography mentioned above. Humanize your client's website. Make it personable. By doing so, you are creating a brand that is unique to your client, and ultimately, unique for your client's customers.
Editor's Note: Carlos Rivera is the webmaster at Haddrell's Point.
