In the commercial world, photography holds a lot of weight. As well as offering a great way to capture products and keep audiences interested, a quality commercial photographer can revolutionize everything from marketing drives to commercial events. But not every photographer is up to this task.
Commercial photography requires patience and skill to get right. Even if you can take a striking picture, it might not be enough to secure you a place within the industry. Instead, you’ll need to get your head around the following surprising secrets of commercial photography success!
# 1 – It’s All About Balance
Commercial photography is pretty unique because it’s not dependent on your vision or creative talent. Rather, commercial clients will hire you to bring their vision to life. Yet, they also don’t want you to just play by a rule book and give them photographs that they could’ve taken themselves.
In that sense, commercial photography is all about finding a balance between creativity and customization. The team at Shootday are a great example of this. They’ve earned their reputation as business event photographers trusted by leading brands due to an ability to carefully design each shoot around every client’s individual brief. But they don’t just do what clients ask for on paper. They also bring those visions to life in exciting, captivating ways that keep their clients surprised and ultimately impressed.
As a commercial photographer, you should do the same thing, finding how to hold your creative vision alongside an understanding of precisely what that brand needs to shine.
# 2 – Keeping it Consistent
Consistency is also more important in commercial photography than it is in pretty much any other kind. That’s because brands don’t necessarily want striking, unique photographs every time. Rather, they want you to create a consistent instantly recognizable brand image.
Again, this is tricky to manage because you still want to keep each picture fresh and exciting. However, it’s also important to note that, sometimes, you’ll need to pick the most fitting picture from your shoot, rather than automatically putting forward your general favorite from the day. To mix things up, introduce additions like props or new angles, while trying to stick with the same overall style.
# 3 – Getting Good at Editing
Ultimately, brands want product or event photography that shows everything they do in the best light. Editing and post-production are a large part of that, and may include everything from basic filters to greenscreen work and more.
The main thing to note with commercial work is that, while the editing might be heavy, the finished look shouldn’t be. Perfecting seamless, natural-looking photo finishes is undeniably one of the best ways to stand out. That requires both in-depth technical skill across editing software like Adobe Photoshop, and also an ease in spotting the ideal edits to make.
Commercial photography is a great way to make money from a career that’s often fraught with dry periods, but make sure you’re ready for the task by keeping these industry secrets in mind!
