| If you're thinking about getting some product | | | | is a photograph of a product without any |
| photography done, then before you do, why not | | | | background, providing greater versatility. But since |
| stop and take a moment to consider the benefits of | | | | this definition probably doesn't excite you as far as |
| having packshot photography done rather than your | | | | imagining the possible ways in which packshot |
| standard type of product image? | | | | photography can help your business market products |
| There is no doubt at all that in today's image driven | | | | much more effectively, let me explain a little more. |
| world of business and marketing having the right | | | | A packshot image is achieved in a professional studio, |
| product photography carried out is key to success. | | | | usually against something called an infinity cove. This |
| There are simply too many corporate messages out | | | | is simply a smoothly curving, entirely featureless wall, |
| there bombarding us all every day for us to take in | | | | often up to around seven feet, with no corners or |
| much more than a small percentage of the messages | | | | edges. |
| being conveyed. | | | | Because it is featureless there is nothing to focus the |
| That's why advertisers and marketers have been | | | | eye on, and so an optical illusion is created which |
| relying more and more on product photography to | | | | means that anything placed in front of the infinity |
| do the job. This isn't just about taking a photograph | | | | cove stands out clearly and crisply, and because the |
| of the product, it's about creating an image from the | | | | background is smooth and uniform it could be as |
| product that sells. This is where packshot | | | | close as an inch or as far away as a million miles. This |
| photography comes in, because with a packshot it is | | | | produces an image of the product with a clean white |
| much easier to get much more for your money, and | | | | background, perfect for including in catalogues or on |
| create more images that sell, rather than just | | | | websites, without the usual distraction of desks or |
| another image which tells people what the product | | | | walls. |
| looks like. | | | | But packshot photography can be cleverer than that, |
| The ironic thing is that these days most product | | | | because photographers can then remove the white |
| photography is not about telling people about what | | | | background from the product photograph, leaving |
| the product looks like. It's about conveying a | | | | only the product itself. This can then be |
| message, a mood, an attitude or a style, and it's | | | | superimposed onto almost any background you |
| about telling the consumers something that is | | | | choose. It could be used as part of a montage of |
| relevant to them, and their needs. | | | | products (a technique used by a lot of catalogue |
| For example, a mobile phone is the sort of product | | | | suppliers), or you could superimpose the product |
| that really benefits from clever product imagery, | | | | photograph on to a background which suits a |
| because whilst many people will have an interest in | | | | particular audience, a particular opportunity, event or |
| the way it looks, these days it's much more about | | | | season. |
| the overall style, attitude and benefits, rather than a | | | | Effectively by choosing to use this type of product |
| simple look. Beauty is much more than skin deep, but | | | | photography you achieve the long term versatility |
| product photographs often can't even scratch the | | | | that enables you to market your product in an |
| surface. | | | | almost unlimited number of ways, all with a single |
| So what actually is packshot photography, and what | | | | image. A picture may paint a thousand words, but |
| can it offer businesses beyond standard product | | | | only packshot photography can sell a product a |
| images? The simplest definition of a packshot image | | | | thousand ways. |