How High Quality Product Photography Can Strengthen Your Sunglass Brand
A hero shot showing off these sunglasses, perfect for use on social media to engage your potential customers
Brand Strength Brings in and Keeps Customers
Reading through this article from The Hartford Business Owners Playbook, you can begin to see the value that brand strength can have for your company. Building brand equity opens the door to customer loyalty and helps educate your customers on the value your brand has over other companies out there. One thing to note as you begin to build your own playbook is how much of this can be achieved by quality content.
Your Product Photography is Part of Your Brand
I have said it in other articles, and it’s worth saying again here. Product Photography is a part of your brand. It’s as much a part of your brand as your name, logo, advertising content, marketing content, and web design. In order to build brand equity, your customers need to experience consistency when it comes to your content, including product photos. Does it make sense to have compelling Instagram images that links back to low-quality product photography back on your website? By the time they click through to a product page, you have almost earned a customer, that’s the time to keep up the experience and show off your products in the best possible way. Continue reading below for some thoughts on why you may want to outsource product photography for your brand.
Sunglasses are Tricky to Photograph Well
They can deceptively complex to photograph. They might seem like they would be simple to shoot since they don’t require the styling finesse of soft goods and apparel or have the complex metal surfaces that need to be managed in jewelry photography. The challenge with sunglasses mostly lies in the lenses. Lenses are generally quite reflective, even when they may not look like it in person. Simple dark tinted lenses can reflect a lot back to the camera, and that issue is multiplied when you start working with mirrored lenses. On top of that, you also have to deal with being able to see things behind the lens. It’s sort of the worst-case scenario of having a reflective AND translucent surface, it leaves few options for managing reflections.
Most Sunglasses Will Require Post Processing
Post-processing, or retouching, is necessary for sunglass photography most of the time. The main thing to look out for is lens color. Does the color of the lenses in the image match how they look in person? It is very common to lose some of the saturation or color nuance when photographing sunglasses, and post-processing can bring those details back. You want your customers to have as accurate of color as possible when shopping on your site. Additional, as with many small accessories, dust will be an issue. You can use an air compressor or canned air, but dust still finds it’s way onto set, and those tiny dust particles often catch the light and become very distracting. Whether you are shooting the sunglasses yourself, or hiring a photographer, I do not recommend trying to save money on retouching, it’s part of investing in the best possible product photos.
Investing In Showing Off Your Product
Speaking of investing in product photos: As I’ve written in other articles, consider approaching product photography with an investment mindset. If you are solely an eCommerce website, your product photos are all you have and you can fairly easily track the ROI of product photography because it has such a direct impact on sales. Clients sometimes come to me almost begrudging that they need product photos, or express that they have no or little budget to get them done. I will pose this question: What good is all the investment in production, website development, or marketing if your customers can’t see your product?