Product Photography – Packshots vs Lifestyle

When it comes to choosing what type of product photography is best to showcase your product there are certain things to consider. I’ve created two lists below to help you decide when a plain pack shot, with just a white background might be a good option, and when a more realistic, lifestyle setting with styled background. and props would work better.

Packshots:

• Uncluttered/ no extra props = no distractions. Customers know exactly what they are buying.
• Used to showcase the design of the product.
• Looks consistent, neat and organised within your online shop or market place listings.
• White background can help show off the real colours, and lots of contrast between the product and its plain white backdrop helps coloured products stand out.
• File size can be minimised (increases loading speed on website).
• Market places such as Amazon use a white background as the main listing image.
• Great for PR and Magazine features that usually require ‘cut out’ images.

Lifestyle:

• Grabs customer attention on social media posts and increases engagement 
• Gives your brand style and aesthetic – Helps your products stand out and be remembered.
• Can use unique identifiers i.e styling and props, that make your brand recognisable.
• Showcases the product in a more natural environment and is more interesting.
• Makes it feel more real, relatable, and authentic.
• Visual story telling – Helps customers see how to use a product, puts it context and puts it in a position where it makes sense. Uses “show, don’t tell” technique i.e A picture says a thousand words. 
• Connects with the right audience.
• Gets your customers to feel, and creates a desired mood – it sells a lifestyle, and creates lasting emotional connections, which can lead to higher conversions.
• Professional lifestyle photography helps to create trust in the brand.
• Styling with props gives your customer a sense of product size.
• Market places also use lifestyle photography, and some prefer it.
• Popularity of lifestyle photography is on the rise because consumers engage with more authentic looking brands.
• More browsable, so ideal for catalogues and brochures.

According to statistics 76% of seven million product images use a plain white background, which might say something in itself, however, the benefit of having your images styled to suit your brand means you’ll be more recognisable and stand out from the crowd.

“People do not buy good and services. They buy relations, stories and magic” – seth Godin

Did you know, 95% of purchases are based on emotional factors? Because of this, I feel that lifestyle imagery has the edge when it comes to tapping into the emotions of the consumers.

However, there is definitely a place for both types of photography and it very much comes down to what is right for your brand. 

In my experience, my clients have used both. They find the lifestyle product images work brilliantly to capture there ideal customer and inspire them to click through whilst on social media. Then they use packshots, with a white backdrop when sending images to be featured in magazines.

Remember it’s the gorgeousness of your product photography that will sell your products. So, the most important thing is to make sure your images look professional, well-lit with plenty of detail and that the colours are accurate.

Poor photography could seriously hurt your brand and cost you sales, so investing in a professional product photographer is a no-brainer and pays for itself (and you’ll continue to benefit from it) in no time. A good brand product photographer will help you decide what images will really work for your brand and come up with styling concepts to suit your product.

If you want to find out more about what type of product photography would be best suited to your product business, I’d be happy to chat with you about it. Why not explore my product photography section to see other brands that I’ve worked with.