May 10
2
Make the Product Star
How to Make Your Products Stand Out
1. Concentrating on important features of a product can create surprising results. Here, the primitive appeal of a luxurious living room is brought into prominence by the look of an African plain. Photographed by Amo.zeen for Spiegel.
It is also a good way to check the composition (or arrangement of the subject within the space) for maximum display potential. Polaroid shots taken prior to the exposures of reproduction film can be utilized to scrutinize the set for all details, i.e. checking angle, clarity of lighting, product definition, contrast, composition, and accompanying props.
Photography provides an opportunity to make a visual request for attention. Products can be presented with impact and with creative flair. Spotlighting the merchandise in a pleasant setting accomplishes the kind of focus needed in order to communicate instantly that the items offered are important.
Photography can ensure that position of merchandising authority. And customers will take your lead. Naturally, the merchandise must live up to the promises that are made in the printed depiction. Catalog customers tend to have a trust factor in photography, essentially believing that they will receive the merchandise looking very much as it was shown in the catalog. Care should be taken to never abuse the trust of photography, by not attempting to make the merchandise look better than it really is.
3 An antique bench manages to give this stack of towels a sense of authority. Photographed by Marcus Tullis.
Photo retouching should only be used to correct a flaw or chip in the sample, not to enhance the look or to cover up an undesirable detail of the product. A disappointed mail order customer is usually a lost customer. Use the medium of photography to focus on the merchandise and show it to its best advantage. Allow it to speak for itself. If the item is
Varying the size of the shots, as we’ve done on this page, helps to add impact. Photographed by Amazeen for Spiegel.
outstanding because of its design lines, shoot it from an angle that reflects that design. If performance is the major benefit, try to show the product in use.
Concentrate on determining the finest features of each item of merchandise, and then on focusing the interpretation through the camera lens. Through design of the spread (making sure that nothing gets overpowered or lost,) and through the photographic display, it can be assured that each product gets its fair share of attention from the prospective customer.
This does not mean that all of the merchandise must be treated democratically in size allocation. Equal size depictions can be boring to look at, and may lose the potential of impact. Varying the size of the subjects is visually more interesting to the reader. For example, focus group studies have provided qualitative research on catalog consumer behavior. When presented with two different spreads to look at (one with 10 equal size photographic depictions, and one with 10 shots that varied in size allocation from small to quite large), the time the consumer spent observing the variable
4 The merchandise must live up to the promises made in the catalog. Here, James Caulfield allows the fabric of this dress to ripple, billow and fold—just the way it would in real life.
photo size spread was three times longer.
The number of items on both spreads was exactly the same, and the merchandise was the same. This technique of display is simply favored by catalog readers, and gives the products more of a chance to be fairly seen. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen your authority positioning as experts on the kind of merchandise that you are offering. By allocating some large space depictions on every spread in the book you are implying that products selected for this treatment are important. Customers expect something important on each spread.
They may give a spread short attention if that message doesn’t come through.
