4 types of imagery that will help you sell more products as a food & drink brand
Food photography is an incredibly powerful conversion tool for your business and one of the best ways to use it is to get prospective customers to imagine themselves eating your food. In this blog post, I’ve shared 4 different ways you can do that, with an example of each style and the key elements you’ll need to consider when applying this to your brand imagery.
This is a tried and tested method I use again and again on my client shoots to help them sell more products with their imagery, so let’s dive in.
1. The Product Shot
A clear, product focused image to showcase my clients' beautiful branding & design and to communicate exactly what it is they have to sell.
I like to feature these within a lifestyle set up, to help their customers imagine themselves eating the product. If a customer can picture themselves within that setting, they're far more likely to buy.
I aim to create a contrasting colour palette that allows the brand colours to really shine. In this example, the soft oranges of the smoothie, walnuts and coffee act as a contrast to the blue / green of the label, drawing your eye straight to the product.
Ingredient cues help to further communicate what the product will look and taste like, activating the customer's senses.
I also tend to choose a light set up that mimics the product - in this case I chose natural light to reflect the natural ingredients in the nut butter and to indicate early morning sunshine (which is when your customer is most likely to drink a smoothie such as this one!)
2. The Texture Shot
This is one of my favourite shots to add intrigue and creativity to a collection of branded imagery. It's a guaranteed scroll stopper and a great way to stand out from other brands.
It's not always an easy one to capture though, as some textures lend themselves to this kind of image more so than others. Anything shiny, glossy or thick like this nut butter will work really well, as do interesting patterns, drizzles or dusts on a surface.
If your product doesn't really work in a close up like this, you can always try experimenting with the ingredients, recipe processes or pairings that do go with your product. For example, let's say you sell flour and other baking ingredients. A close up texture shot of flour might not be so appealing, but capturing the textures of wheat would be beautiful, or the little air pockets inside freshly baked, fluffy bread. It just needs a little 'out of the box' thinking.
To do these shots well, you'll want to pay attention to light and shadows and use them to intensify the textures even further.
3. The Close Up
These shots are all about making people hungry! Not to be confused with the texture shot above, this style of image is centred around the idea of getting up close and personal to the key selling points of your product. They help to further educate the customer on what your product is, but they also tap into the thing that sets you apart from other brands, or makes your customer go from 'that looks nice' to 'I need that now'!
In this example, I've created a sense of movement by removing the lid and leaving the spoon in the jar, mid-swirl, to demonstrate the thick but smooth texture of the nut butter. The angle also mimics the natural line of sight that we'd have if we were to sit down at this table, making it feel like you could almost reach out and grab the spoon.
Shooting these within a lifestyle setting - ie. with hints of props and recipes surrounding them - again makes it easier for your customer to dive right in and imagine themselves eating your food.
Labels and branding are often still visible in this kind of shot, to continue building brand familiarity.
4. The Hands & People Shot
A food photography shoot isn't complete without some yummy looking food, just about to be devoured by a hungry human.
And what better way to help your customers imagine themselves eating your food than to feature the hands or smiley face of another human doing exactly the same!?
The human element always adds beautiful depth to your imagery, particularly when you pay close attention to the colours and textures of the clothes in the background (or in this case, manicure!) and how they play with the shadows in the image.
Oh I do love a good hand & people shot!
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