PHOTOGRAPHY

10 Types of Story-driven Photography

Think that there’s only one type of photography out there? Nope. There are plenty of different types of photography brands use. In this day and age having sharp, clean, and crisp story-driven photography is the key to selling more products, having more credibility, influence, and impact. 

In an effort to communicate an effective visual content production process, I broke down the various types to the top 10 repeatable types of photography brands should create. These 10 photography types include Studio, Flat Lay, Detail Shots, Hero, Product Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Product Story, Tribe Story, Scenery, and Textures. 

Below, I breakdown the key photography-types every physical product business and brand should create. I also include a brief description and showcase some photography examples I’ve created over the years. Enjoy!

01. Studio Product/People

Think Amazon or most e-commerce product gallery tiles. These are the product shots you see on a pure white background with minimal to no shadows casting down on the background. This type of photography is all about the product and showcasing it clearly for the consumer to make an educated buying decision. 

Multiple angles of the product are captured to inform the potential buyer further and highlight key features. High powered studio strobes with light modifiers are used to produce a soft, even light. This technique, when done correctly, will reduce hot spots and make the product attractive and feel more premium.

02. Flat Lay

Flat Lay photography is the art of styling multiple objects in an organized configuration and shooting from an overhead perspective. It’s a style used quite often by apparel brands, cosmetics companies, fashion bloggers, and even photographers themselves. Using several objects allows them to tell more meaningful visual stories than a single object can accomplish. The backgrounds are typically neutral in tone or texture to enable the objects to be easily recognizable. 

03. Detail Shots

Product Detail Shots are closeup photos of the product that highlight a particular portion of the item. The photo could be a close up of a unique feature on the product. In the case of a standard e-commerce website, the detail shots are accompanied by the main photo of the product in a product carousel. On landing pages, these detail shots are sometimes accompanied by text, which explains the feature and benefit to the customer. These types of shots are critical in highlighting the unique qualities of a product. 

04. hero Campaign

A Hero shot is a photograph produced to create excitement around the product, and typically, it’s featured more dramatically and creatively than your standard white product shot. If you could only produce one photo to tell the story of the product, the hero photo would be the one. Hero images are featured in launch announcements, social campaigns, and landing pages dedicated to the product. They are often used online, in retails and by PR because they rarely have room for more than a few photos in a press release. Through the use of creative backgrounds designed with visual retouching/imaging or photographing the product in an authentic situation, the goal is to effectively emotionally sensationalize the product benefits to a consumer. 

05. Product Lifestyle

Product Lifestyle photography shows a close up of product in action within the tribes natural surroundings. This type of photography gives the product story an opportunity to create a connection with the tribe by placing the product in situations and environments their familiar with. 

Point of View is a secondary form of Product Lifestyle taken from the viewers perspective and POV. These images should be beautiful and inspiring, highlighting places where thetribe would like to envision themselves and/or showcase unique subject matter or vantage point. 

06. Lifestyle

Lifestyle photography refers to the use of a person or group of people to show where the product may be used. Anyone that fits the tribe or persona’s profile best can showcase the interests, activities, and/or environments. There is no better way to express the brand than to show the tribe in action. Not only is it easier for people to picture themselves with the product, but they also aspiration ally place themselves in the photo. The key element is the person being photographed. Picking someone our target consumer can identify with, whether it’s a similar age, ethnicity, personal style, or similar interests, it can all sway a consumer’s opinion of our products. 

07. Product Story

Product Story photography is the practice of taking consequative photos that show the product in a natural element. It’s a combination of Lifestyle and Detail Shots. However, the difference that the person is directed to do things authentic to the environment allowing for close up shots. The objective is to showcase the product in a situational story to demonstrate the use of the product and key features. This will help to create deeper connections with tribe members while focusing on the product.

08. Tribe Story

The objective of Tribe Story photography is to document a tribe persona’s story in a natural candid way. The objective is to be genuine as we tell a tribe member’s story and how the precut is included into the activities. Never ever ever fake or direct the story. Whether that’s making up a story in order to get an emotional response of foucs in on the product. This is not about the product, it’s all about the tribe. The last thing you want is for someone to call the brand out as a fraud for discovering that a story, or components of it, were made up. Trust is lost immediately, and in most cases, is impossible to regain. Simply put; don’t fudge the story. Be 100% honest and authentic.

09. Scenery

Scenery photography is the art of capturing the city or nature in a way that brings the viewer into a scene. From grand cityscapes or epic landscapes, the best photos demonstrate the tribes own connection to outdoor beauty. There is little that compares to the grand majesty of landscapes and cityscapes. Capturing stunning scenery is an art in itself. Landscape shots require a deep knowledge of sense of scale, and how best to utilize the right time of day to one’s advantage. 

10. Textures

Texture Photography can sometimes be challenging, since composition, light and depth work differently when close up in a natural environment. In texture photography, it’s all about patterns, colors and depth, and every single detail of a texture plays a significant role in the overall perception of the photograph. The combination of these intricate details, interesting patterns, vibrant colors and a good depth – all contribute to a beautiful texture.

Note: Our collection of textures can we use in computer generated flat lays for promotional campaigns. 

PERFECT your Marketing Funnel with different TYPES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

As you can see, there are lots of different types of photography and there are even more that these 10 types. Subject matter, lighting conditions, and the location of the photoshoot will all impact a great photo, but most important is the intent of how the photography will be used. Being intentional from the beginning with a shot-list improves process, decreases cost, and increases clarity of your story.

Experience and testing go hand in hand — if you’ve found something on this list that you never tried implementing before or even thought about shooting for an up-and-coming product launch, there’s no time like the present to go get that shot and be intentional with story-driven photography. For more on what I can do to help advance your brand and/or product story, please reach out.

Here’s some more of my favorite images I’ve art directed with some talented photographers.