Commercial photography encompasses a lot of varieties and fields of photography. Even fine art photography genres, like landscape photography, monochrome photography, etc. can be integrated with commercial photography. The realm of modern businesses and commerce is greatly reliant on showcasing their products and services to their potential customers in the best way possible and so, product photography or commercial photography plays a massive role in the industry. Today, we will look into two of the prime sub-genres of commercial photography, namely, Mannequin photography, and 360 product photography.

Mannequin photography

If you run an online apparel store, chances are you may have spent a lot of time pondering how you can present your clothes or other apparel to your potential customers in an appealing manner. This is where mannequin photography comes in handy.

This is a style of commercial product photography wherein mannequins are used to show or display the clothes and present them in a manner that is quite similar to the way in which an actual human would wear them. This is perfect for people who are on a budget and do not want to hire actual models. There are agencies and studios out there that can execute a mannequin photoshoot and curate them in a way that would be appealing to your target customer base. Now, let us learn how the craft of photographing mannequins is actually done.

• Plan and decide- Before you start with the actual shoot, you must always pre-plan your shots, how and where you want to display them, which photographs must be prioritized, etc. This will save you a lot of time and hassle and will give you a clear idea of what your storefront will look like.

• Procure and dress up the mannequin- Once you have planned out your shoot, procure an invisible mannequin or one which has a translucent shade, so that it is easier to post-process. Dress up the mannequins and make sure to focus on the lighting. Please make sure that you do not use store mannequins since they come in specific poses, something that may not fit well with eCommerce storefronts.

• Post-process- Once the photo session is done, sort out the most relevant images and start processing them. Make sure that you present the photos in the best possible light. Trim out the mannequin’s exposed portions so that it does not distract from the product. Once you have completed this step, upload the photographs on your storefront in a planned manner with proper descriptions.

Advantages of mannequin photography

• Make the apparels look appealing and engaging.
• Deliver a detailed product understanding.
• Maintain uniformity in the content.
• Improves and quickens workflow.
• Helps achieve customers’ trust.
• Reduce overall costs and smoothen out the process.

If you have an online apparel store, you just cannot overlook the importance of this genre of commercial photography.

360 product photography

This is an advanced form of commercial photography that aims to describe the product in an extremely detailed manner. This method involves shooting multiple angles of a particular product and merging them into one final image later on. It is different from videos in the way that the images can be made interactive so that potential clients get a taste of what the final product would feel like. Now, let us see how this type of photography is done.

• Arrange the equipment- Normally, 360 product photography is pretty time and equipment intensive. You will need to arrange for stuff like a lazy susan, a speedlight, a soft box, a zoom lens [a 140mm should do the trick], and several other things. Please make sure to arrange everything before starting to avoid hiccups.

• Get the lighting spot on- For this genre of photography, the created lighting should be appropriate for the purpose. These kinds of shoots can be pretty demanding in terms of lighting gear, so keep multiple speedlights and flashes on hand to deal with every kind of shot.

• Focus on post-processing- This form of photography needs a good deal of post-processing to be done correctly. Invest in good software that would help you in creating these.

If you are not familiar with these techniques, we suggest you outsource this process to a third-party studio that can create and curate this content efficiently.

Now, let us study the various advantages that 360 product photography have

• This helps to increase the engagement and reach of the product.

• Products will be returned less and refunds will be reduced since customers will be able to explore the products and interact with them before placing an order.

• This will help push brand recognition since this genre of photography is extremely appealing and delivers a positive image regarding the brand.

Final take:

Commercial photography is an unalienable part of eCommerce and the aforementioned sub-genres of photography are absolutely critical in making your storefront stand out from the rest.