Different types of Product Photography explained - what’s the difference and what do I need?

Hi there. We are product photographers, and we’re here to help shed some light on the different types of photography that you may need for your business. 

Product photography is a large umbrella term that encompasses things like “Advertising Photography” and “Catalogue Photography”. 

In addition to providing professional product photography, we also help clients with Branding work, branding photos, lifestyle photos, event photography, and more. So, let’s take a deeper look at these terms and figure this thing out. 

Product Photography can refer to advertising photos, catalogue photos, and more. 

Advertising photography typically refers to photos paired with ads. Think billboard photos, Google Ads (AdWords), Instagram and Facebook ads, and more. 

Catalogue Photography refers to more simple, consistent, and straightforward photos that are used for the sales / catalogue pages of a site. When thinking of catalogue photography, we typically think of things like a high-end clothing site’s catalogue. The goal is for all of your catalogue photography (all of your different products) to look good together on the same page, to be consistent, to present a professional look and feel to your customers. 

For Catalogue Photography, we recommend 3-10 photos per product, depending on the complexity of the product. If you are selling a Ferrari, you may want 40 or 70 photos. For a wristwatch, you may want 10. And for cologne, you only need 2-3 photos per product most of the time. 

Branding photography is also a bit of an umbrella term. This can be any sort of photography that helps with you or your company’s branding. This could be a photo of the CEO, some behind-the-scenes footage of you working on your company or building your product, and more. Anything that demonstrates value, authenticity, trust, professionalism, exclusivity, etc. When we work with you, we will figure out what you’re trying to convey to your customers and go from there to help you build content that will create the correct types of emotional impacts for your business. 

Lifestyle photography would sometimes be placed under the branding photography umbrella. Lifestyle photography is usually more relevant to influencers or a small team of people (at the most) who are trying to build a group of online followers that feel connected to whomever they are following. Lifestyle photos are great for specific types of businesses and business models. Used tastefully, it can also be used to demonstrate the value of products and services.

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