Product photos are a must! If a company wishes to sell something online then they have no choice but to take product photos of anything they are going to offer online. It is a crucial part of being on online retailer and there is no way around it. I am not talking about just any old picture either because that wont work. The pictures I am referring to are those really nice clean ones you see while shopping online with stores like Amazon and Walmart. You know the ones I am talking about. The pictures that feature a product sitting on a solid white surface with a solid white background. If you have ever placed an order for an item online then there is no doubt at all that you have see this type of "product picture" working it's magic; but have you ever wondered why it is done this way, and what it takes to make it happen? Odds are you have never really put much thought into it and, to be honest, neither did I until recently. An important job to do! There is somebody, somewhere tasked with prepping the products, setting up the backgrounds and taking the pictures that will later be seen online while you are shopping for whatever it may be. That "somebody" will repeat this cycle over and over and over with every product without ever changing up the formula at all. Why not change it up a bit? Most companies use this "white background" method on their product pictures for a few good reasons. The biggest reason being that there is really no reason to do it any differently because there is nothing wrong with this method, it works. Another big reason is after all of these years these pictures are expected to look a certain way. It is a true "if it is not broken don't fix it situation". BUT! There is nothing in the rule book against a company deciding to spice it up a bit if they so choose but why would anybody want to do that? Like I said, product pictures are a must, there is no way around it and there never will be but we reached a point here at the shop to where we wanted to bring these pictures to life a little, instead of doing the same old thing over and over. Lets break that monotony! Let me reiterate how important product pictures actually are. They play a vital role in a company actually selling their products online. Let me give you a hypothetical. Imagine going to Amazon looking to order a new toaster, but when you get there, all you find is a brief product description along the lines of " this toaster is a good'en"! Would you still order that toaster sight unseen? Or would you bail? Odds are you will immediately do a 180º and go find another toaster with a picture to back up it's description. The mentality behind this behavior is completely understandable and If the toaster is indeed a "good'en" then it should be no problem for the company to show us a picture, right? Have you ever gone online to order something that you had never actually seen or held in person, but thanks to those product photos you saw, when it arrived to you it felt strangely familiar? That is no accident! As a matter of fact, that is exactly what all retailers are trying to accomplish in the first place. To give the customer a sense of familiarity to the product they are interested in as a way to help inspire the customer to go ahead and buy the product right then and there. Using a visual aid such as well planned photos of the products in question is a no-brainer in this situation. Believe me when I say that ALL retail stores realize this and they are more than willing to do whatever it takes to get the photos they need in order to sell the products they offer. Sometimes companies will just go all out and hire other companies to do the pictures for them. Other times the company may simply decide to do it on their own, like us! An "in house" operation! At Hunter's Friend every single picture we use is taken by our staff here at the shop. Since we too are an online retailer these photos are extremely important to the success of our business, but instead of a toaster, we are talking about expensive archery products. These pictures go a very long way when it comes to putting the customer at ease about a large purchase because they feel like they have already seen the product up close and personal. Luckily these "white background" pictures are not all that hard to take and they usually require very little editing after the fact. The process is always the same though. Every time we get a new product it goes straight to get its picture taken in front of the white background. Lather, rinse, repeat! It is a job that has to be done but after you spend several years taking the same old pictures over and over you are bound to get bored of it sooner or later, right? We sure as **** did, but thankfully a change to our formula was on the horizon. |
We may be on to something! One day the topic of these pictures came up and the fact that all product pictures are done in the same way was discussed. We realized that this formula was really important but we were interested in coming up with a way to make it better. A way to take the concept of showing off the product, but also mixing it with an artistic vibe that wouldn't over shadow the product itself. What started out as an idea eventually blossomed into something else entirely. What if we did just that? What if we made it more artistic and try to give some life to these types of pictures? We decided to drop the white backgrounds for a minute and experiment with other options. Before long our General Manager Mike came up with something interesting and a game plan was starting to hatch. We put the idea into motion by taking pictures to use as samples in order to see how people would respond to them and to our surprise, people liked them,,, a lot. Not only were the pictures way more interesting to make but they were also very effective when it came to showing off the products themselves. These new photos also had a certain "WOW" factor to them and it really helped to draw the attention of customers. The pictures sort of scream "hey you, look at me, look at me, look at me" but not in an annoying, over baring kind of way but in the same way you would be drawn towards looking at a cool painting or drawing. Like I said, there is not anything wrong with the old white background style of taking these pictures but we certainly feel as though the concept of "product photos" was in need of an upgrade so we are pursuing one. Code name "Archery Porn"! After we had a few pictures finished we realized that these pictures had a very natural vibe to them. Before long the nick name "Archery Porn" or "AP" for short, just sort of stuck to the project and to be honest it is extremely fitting if you think about it. We take these pictures in a very low lit room with soft fuzzy black backgrounds and a mirror as the base so it is really not hard to imagine why the name was tossed out as a nick name for the pictures. I do want to stress that the name "archery porn" is in no way meant to be childish, immature nor is it aimed at offending anyone; It is simply satirical in nature and a perfect fit for the project. With that said I would like to introduce you all to some of our seriously hardcore "archery porn". |
Here is a standard product photo for the Apex Carbon Core Stabilizer. It is a very nice photo and there is really nothing at all wrong with it. BUT! If you add a little bit of creativity to the picture, it really can change everything. |
Here is the same Apex Carbon Core stabilizer but instead of a solid white back ground, we used a mirror with a black back ground. This really tends to bring the products to life, allowing for potential buyers to get a better feel for the product on display. |
Dialing it in! The Carbon Core was one of the very first products that we photographed in this manner but it gave us a good idea of how we wanted it to look. This method was able to take a stabilizer, a product that really has no interesting features to focus on, and make it stand out. This is when we decided to move forward with the idea. We were still going to take the necessary product photos with the white backgrounds but we were now going to take "fancy Archery Porn" pictures of every single product we carry to go along with those photos. There is no way to beat the old method so why not join it, combine it, and make it better. Testing the waters! Once we had a firm idea of the direction we wanted this project to go, I was then tasked with figuring out a way to execute it. There was some serious trial and error involved at first and a lot of it had to do with how bright to make the pictures. Would the pictures be better brighter or darker? Should I suspend the object in the air or simply let it rest on the mirror? All simple questions on their own but the only way to know for sure was to test each possibility. This led to me taking several photos of the same products trying to find that sweet spot with the lighting. I set up a work station in my office and I started testing every possible configuration I could come up with. Before long I had ironed out a pretty solid formula for the pictures. One that allowed the product to be seen clearly but that also made good use of the mirror below the product. I realized that I could actually use the reflection as a way to show off parts of the product that were not originally visible with the old style. I also realized that I could use the dark environment to help highlight certain attributes of the product, such as sight lights on a sight. The ball was rolling and all that was left was to do was, ahhem, take pictures of every...single...item we carry...GULP... Luckily I actually really enjoy taking these photos so it is no big deal to me at all. Lets check out some more "Archery Porn". |
Here is the TruGlo Storm 5 pin sight. This is a great looking picture and it does give you an idea of what the sight has to offer. My goal was to improve upon this type of picture the best I could. |
Here is the Storm 5 Pin using our new "AP" method. It still gets all of the major details across to the customer but at the same time allows you to see it in an entirely different way. |
This is the Joker 4 Pin with the normal method and this picture also does a great job of showing off the product. Lets compare it to the new method below. |
In the new AP version of the product picture some of the sights best traits become clear. Now you are able to see the sight light work and how exactly it illuminates the pins when the light is on but you are also still able to see the Joker 4 pin's design to get an idea if the sight is right for you or not.
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This is the Truglo Carbon XS Drop Away. It is an arrow rest that utilizes moving parts to work so there is really no way to show off that function with a still photo. The best you can do is show off the rest itself to the best of your abilities. The "AP" method makes this a lot more fun |
Here is the TruGlo Carbon XS using the new "AP" method. I personally think this one is awesome. It still shows the rest in the same way but it didn't hurt to make it a little more flashy. |
So far so good! The new AP method is still relatively young to us but so far we have had nothing but positive feed back about the pictures. Customers seem to be responding to the new photos in a very positive way and that is the validation we were looking for to continue the project. Being able to shake up the photography side of things for the products has been very refreshing for everyone involved and hopefully even for the customers too. We are planning to take "AP" style photos of every product we offer over the next couple of weeks and as of now we have several already finished. It will be interesting to see how it evolves from this point on. Heck, maybe other online retailers will adopt this concept as well. If this idea does blow up and turn into the next big thing for archery shops to use just remember where you saw it first. No matter what happens though one thing is for sure..... These pictures are a lot more interesting in every way compared to the solid white backgrounds and they are certainly a lot more fun to make. |