The Power of Professionalism: Why High-Quality Photographs Trump Amateur Mobile Shots in Advertising


In today's visually-driven world, the impact of advertising hinges heavily on the quality of pictures used to convey a message. With the ubiquity of smartphones, many businesses may be tempted to cut costs by relying on amateur mobile phone photography for their promotional material. However, a closer examination reveals that consistently using professional photographs is not just a luxury but a strategic necessity in the competitive business marketplace.

First impressions matter. A properly captured image that is colourful, clear, and detailed speaks volumes about the brand it represents. Consider the scenario of a potential customer scrolling through a social media feed or browsing a website. An eye-catching, high-quality picture immediately grabs attention, conveying a sense of professionalism and credibility. Alternatively, an amateur cell phone photo might lack the clarity and finesse needed to make a lasting impact, killing any enthusiasm the viewer may have had upon seeing the image.

One key aspect where skillful photography triumphs over amateur attempts is in the ability to control lighting and composition. Lighting plays a pivotal role in photography, influencing the mood and tone of a picture. Experienced pros possess the expertise to manipulate light to highlight the product or service being advertised effectively. Whether it's the natural light or the precision of studio lighting, those with years of experience in the industry understand how to use light to their advantage. In contrast, amateur photographers might struggle with harsh shadows, overexposed highlights, or inadequate illumination, resulting in subpar images that fail to showcase the subject in the best possible light.

Composition is another critical element that distinguishes professional photography from amateur snapshots. Pros are trained to frame shots thoughtfully, considering factors such as visual balance, symmetry and how to keep a viewer's attention. A well-composed picture guides the viewer's eye, telling a story or emphasizing specific aspects of the subject. Amateurs, lacking the same level of expertise, deny the client this value derived by years of experience and training. This lack of composition finesse can dilute the impact of the advertising message and hinder the viewer's ability to connect with the brand.


Consistency is a hallmark of successful branding, and this principle extends to the graphic elements of advertising. Employing a competent photographer ensures a consistent and cohesive look across all marketing materials. This uniformity helps build brand recognition and reinforces the brand's identity in the minds of consumers. In contrast, relying on a variety of amateur mobile shots can result in a disjointed and unprofessional appearance, potentially diluting the brand message and confusing the target audience.
Beyond aesthetics, polished photographs also provide a level of reliability and trustworthiness that amateur shots may struggle to convey. Customers are more likely to trust a business that invests in high-quality images, perceiving it as a sign of commitment to excellence. This trust factor can be a decisive factor in a customer's decision-making process, especially in industries where credibility and reliability are paramount.


While smartphones have democratized photography, businesses should be cautious about compromising on the quality of their visual content. The benefits of consistently using professionally captured and curated photographs far outweigh the initial cost considerations. From making a powerful first impression to conveying credibility, controlling lighting and composition, ensuring consistency, and building trust, professional photography emerges as the smarter business move in the competitive landscape of advertising. In a world inundated with visual stimuli, investing in high-quality images is an investment in the success and longevity of a brand.

 The Benefits of using bespoke photography in your business marketing material, instead of stock imagery.

1. Stand Out from the Crowd

- Custom photography allows your business to create a distinct visual identity that reflects your brand's values and personality.
- Custom images have the power to tell a story, evoke emotions, and establish a connection with your audience.
- By using unique visuals, you can avoid the risk of using the same stock images as your competitors, ensuring that your marketing material stands out.

2. Authenticity and Credibility
- Stock imagery generally lacks authenticity, as it is created for general use and lacks a personal touch. There's connection between business and viewer.
- Bespoke photography enables you to showcase real people, products, or services, adding credibility to your marketing material.
- Custom images can also help build trust with your audience, as they portray an accurate representation of your business.

3. Tailored to Your Business
- Custom photography allows you to capture specific aspects of your business that align with your marketing goals.
- A professional photographer can work closely with you to understand your vision and capture images that perfectly represent your brand. A thorough consultation policy with your photographer is essential to fully conveying what the goals of the business are.
- By tailoring the visuals to your business, you can effectively communicate your unique selling points and attract a greater number of prospective clients.

4. Consistency in Branding
- Utilizing bespoke photography ensures consistency in branding across all marketing materials.
- Custom images can be tailored to match your brand's colour palette, style, and overall visual identity.
- This consistency helps reinforce your brand message and enhances brand recognition among your audience.

5. Flexibility and Versatility
- With custom photography, you have the flexibility to capture images that are versatile and can be used across various marketing channels
- Unlike stock imagery, which may have limitations on usage, custom images can be adapted to suit specific platforms and campaigns.
- The versatility of bespoke photography allows you to have a wide range of visuals at your disposal for different marketing purposes.

6. Increased Engagement and Conversion
- A number of recent studies show that incorporating high-quality, custom images in marketing material leads to increased engagement from the audience.
- Unique pictures capture attention, generate interest, and encourage users to spend more time interacting with your content.
- Engaging media can ultimately lead to greater conversion rates and a positive impact on your business's net profits.

In this world flooded with repetitive and dull stock imagery, businesses that invest in bespoke photography earn a significant competitive edge. By assigning photographers to capture unique visuals, businesses can create a distinct visual identity, enhance authenticity and credibility, tailor their marketing material to their specific needs, ensure consistency in branding, and benefit from the flexibility and versatility of custom images. Ultimately, bespoke photography can lead to increased engagement and conversion rates, making it a worthwhile investment for any business's marketing plan.

Pandemics seem to suck a lot of the energy and enthusiasm out of most folks. But in all honesty, the past year has enriched me with a renewed energy for making a difference in my work. Going from general photography work where a typical client could be a magazine, a retail store or maybe an artist to distilleries, breweries and wineries has been a wonderful transition.
For an entire year, I've been striving to improve my skills in the recording of a variety of bottles from many a brewery, winery etc. It's been a blessed experience and a mountainous challenge. Glass bottles with their great variety, labels that are made of so many different materials all present challenges.

In the local area I've had the pleasure to work with vineyards to document their product for social media and online catalogues, distilleries to show off their fresh new branding design and breweries to provide images of new products for a variety of online and offline presences. I've even received invitations to visit manufacturing facilities in order to document processes and day to day activities. The variety of projects is widely varied. 

What I have recognized in my new attention to the industry, is that across social media channels, many of the images being posted have a fairly similar character. To the point that it kind of all looks like a single person is providing the majority of the imagery. This is the type of work I am doing my darndest to avoid as I find my visual voice in an already saturated marketplace.

I read a book by Seth Godin which speaks of the importance of creating a "purple cow" in order to be noticed when the markets are filled to the brim. When there are more providers of a service or product than the demand is calling for. The idea is that in order to stand apart, such as if you were raising cattles for example, you would need something that immediately grabs attention and is wholly remarkable. Worthy of making a remark about. A cow that is purple, would be such a thing.
My goal, even though I may never achieve it, is to create something that is remarkable. A purple cow so to speak.
I want my drinks photography to have a special character which immediately identifies it as something only I could have created.
​
It's a daunting task, but one well worth the time and effort required.
Excuse me while I attend to my purple cow project.
I've much preparation to do.
​Have a great spring.

For those of you who enjoy photography as a hobby alone, and don't intend to make money from commercial projects, you probably don't have this problem.

Projects executed for commercial clients in most cases require an estimate or quote in order to get approval for the job. I've always found putting these things together to be a big pain. Of course the estimate I submit is never certain to be accepted, and some folks like to haggle in order to get more out of me for even less investment.

That's okay, I suppose.
It's actually expected in certain societies that the parties involved will toss numbers back and forth for days until they both come to agreement. That being said, it's not always appreciated that the interested prospect doesn't believe that the price I quote is a valid one. Or the "final" or "best" price.

When coming up with the quote, I look at all the factors involved including the value that the prospect can expect to get on the publishing of the image(s).
I need all the details in order to provide an accurate and fair quote for each job. Hence, lots of questions should be expected. It would be misguided and amateurish of me, and in fact any commercial photographer, to spit out a quote on a job before getting al the information around that job.

I would assume those in other service industries do the same in the course of quoting a job, whether they be small or large in production. Not knowing how big the job is, what the images will be used for, for how long etc. could lead to a job quote that has the potential to be terribly over or under-priced.  It could also adversely affect the future business potential of the photographer. 

The struggle is real.
Knowing all the details leads to accurate, fair quotes for jobs. Full stop.

If you have ever come across an apparently still image with a tiny section that moves (suddenly), you've probably discovered a cinemagraph.
I think they are wonderful tools for grabbing attention.

Basically, these are still images combined with video and the appropriate areas are blocked out. Cinemagraph, is a blend of the words "cinema" and "photograph". You can easily see how these work to make sense considering the result.

Here is a link to my newest cinemagraph on my Youtube channel. 
I have a feeling that there will be more to come.

This is an offering that I plan to provide clients in the near future once I get my skills to the point of full comfort of execution.
Let me know what you think. 

There comes a time when you, as a creator should come up with a few words that define your "style" or "look".  This year I decided that my "style" is something that I would call "Dramatic Minimalism".

When you scan my portfolio I hope that you come to the same conclusion.

Keeping the viewer's attention where it needs to be is what my work is all about.
As it changes, grows, matures and becomes a metamorphosis of its former self, viewers will see how
I myself have changed and grown as a photographer.
​
I dearly appreciate you for visiting.
Thank you for looking.

Admittedly, I am not a stickler for perfect colour when it comes to my own personal work, but when I am taking on a commision that's another matter altogether.

There are one or two things that really bother me when I see a photograph of a scene or product, and knowing that the colour is off is certainly one of those 2.
It doesn't happen too often but when it does, I cringe.
I've even taken to downloading the culprit image and working on it in software to see how much I can correct it. Given that it is always a low-resolution jpeg file, the results are usually rather crap but it's satisfying to know that my estimation is generally very close to exact.

What's worse is when I see images by "professional" photographers, usually portrait shots that the shooter is using to market their services with. My glob, what were they thinking? It's criminal. Just criminal.

A couple of years ago I was lucky to have had the opportunity to document the paintings of a local artist.  Such projects are heavily dependent on the ability to record perfect colour. These images are used for sales material, submissions to competitions and galleries etc. If I were to screw up the colour, it would have been disastrous for the artist and most surely would have put a big stain on my reputation.

There are techniques and tools to ensure good colour that every photographer should be aware of. In my case, I come from a studio skills education background. I learned how to print in colour as well, having been trained by a life-long photographer Rafael Goldchain (look him up). I can't say that printing is an enjoyable process, but it did instill in me the desire to "get it right" . 
One of the key tools I employ is a colour chart that holds industry standard colour chips. Xrite colour checker in the passport size. It goes to me on every shoot (almost). In the studio I'll pop it into the scene either before I start shooting the subject or at the end before I tear down. Notably, If I have to change lights mid-shoot, I'll shoot an additional colour checker to make sure I have all the information I need for success.

Secondly, in order to work on the images on my equipment, it is paramount that my monitors are calibrated regularly for accurate colour. I do this process at least every month and certainly before I work on a job for a client. This way there can be no doubt in my mind that the images I deliver are colour accurate each and every time.  I use the iStudio system from Xrite to do this. Plugging it into the system and following the instructions makes for a pleasant task that even I can do in little time.

Looking for that signature style of work is one of those, long drawn out processes that never seems to be far from my mind.

Taking the hint from a choice few successful photographers, and artists (including musicians) I've been on the path of signature creation for the past few years. I'm truly not sure if I have settled for any one style of shooting, but I am recently recognizing work that I know is NOT what I would like to call my style.  Most of it is typical of that shown on Instagram and similar public forums.  After a while (and a few hundred images) they all kind of look like they came from the same source.

There's just not anything "unique" about them.
Sometimes I find myself stopping in the middle of a shoot once I realize that the image on the screen looks not unlike everything on the Instagram feeds.  It screams copycat and I instantly put a halt to the process. 
The last thing I want to create is something bland and without merit.  The status quo deserves zero attention.  The purple cow deserves all my attention.

Whenever I grab a new bottle I am interested only in creating more of that elusive purple cow goodness. If I'm only making images that allow me to "fit in", I'm inevitably making no progress.
Don't know what I mean by "purple cow"?
Take a few minutes to search for the book by Seth Godin, called "Purple Cow".  If you want to make any headway as a creator, entrepreneur, business owner etc, go grab a copy. You'll be thanking me later.

Anyway, searching for style is another way of saying that I'm always hoping to create that purple cow. The work that stands apart, and deserves comments and attention. Work that is remarkable. Work that is worthy of making a remark about. It's this sort of art that spreads amongst a choice audience.  
I am not trying to appeal to a big audience. That, after all would be a fool's errand and would lead to going absolutely no place.

Making art for the smallest viable market would be the smartest action for me and for you, if you are intent on gaining the attention of a certain market.  As I go through this process, it seems that with each image I create, I am getting closer to the type of work that speaks to me and is a strong representation of my "style". The work that is worthy of remark.

Today it is a bottle of scotch whisky. Tomorrow it might be some rum or a cold glass of beer. The niche is obvious but the style is still a challenge. 
​Cheers

I recently took the time to photograph a Canadian bottle of apple cider here in The Tiny Studio Peterborough. 

Glad I did.
Afterwards, I popped it in the fridge and allowed it to cool to a decent temp. The next day at lunch, out it came.
Coupled properly with a turkey wrap and a salad, this cool and crisp cider from No Boats On Sunday was an excellent drink. 
I was able to finish the entire bottle, without feeling dragged down as alcohol is known to affect me.

The alcohol by volume is a respectable level, so I was completely clear to drive and could get back to work without consequences. Light and delish, is how I would describe it. It is without a doubt my favourite cider now.
Not as sweet as some, not as boozy as others.
​Okay, back to work.