Lifestyle, Creative or Pack shot?
When thinking about product photography you can categorise it in a few different ways. Sometimes you may require only one style of product photography, but other times you may require 2 or even 3 different styles to use in different platforms and for different purposes.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle photography can be used to show your product in a real life setting. It may be in a home environment dressed with different suitable props, outdoors in a rural or urban setting, or in an office/commercial environment. It is all down to what your product is, who are your target audience and your brand identity eg luxury, athletic, sophisticated, bohemian etc. Lifestyle photography can also be used to show how your product is used, and can include the use of models. I use props and backgrounds to create lifestyle scenes in my studio, I also work on location when this cant be done. You can see examples of Lifestyle product photography here.
Creative
Creative photography is harder to define. It is usually done in a studio setting and often uses more dramatic lighting and colourful backgrounds. It can also be used to create more physics defying imagery, something that wouldn’t be possible in real life but can elevate your product (literally and figuratively) giving it a high end vibe. I have lots of different backgrounds, props and styling tools to create creative and eye catching imagery. click to see examples of Creative product photography.
Pack Shot
Pack shot photography tends to refer to when you want your product on a plain white background. This is mostly used for e-commerce or sometimes in magazines/print. This is a simple way to show your product off from different angles and getting close ups of any defining details. Most products requite pack shots at some point, so this is something that I often do alongside other styles of photography. The lighting is kept natural, making sure the product is well lit and clearly visible so your customers can see what they are buying.
A little bit of both?
Sometimes the line between lifestyle and creative is a little blurred. For example you may want something like this image, where it is in a lifestyle environment with props and ingredients around, however the background is not what you would find in your normal kitchen and you wouldn’t have the product laid in this way. It is a nice bit of artistic licence to have it with lifestyle elements while still having some creative parts.
What’s right for you?
As mentioned at the start, you may decide you need more than one of these styles to use across different platforms. Social media is great for lifestyle and some creative photography, whereas shops require pack shots. Creative is great for social and websites. You may have the need for all three. We can do this while still keeping a cohesive style throughout, staying true to your brand identity.