Why Every Marketing Executive Should Be Best Friends with a Professional Product Photographer (and Why Cousin Timmy Won't Cut It)

Every pixel counts and every Instagram scroll could make or break a brand. The role of a professional product photographer is more crucial than ever. While it may be tempting to hand over the camera to Cousin Timmy, the youngest son of your sister's hairdresser who just graduated from photography school, here's why that might not be the best idea:

First off, let's talk about experience. While Cousin Timmy may have a fancy camera and a knack for snapping selfies, he lacks the years of expertise and industry know-how that a seasoned professional brings to the table. A professional product photographer has honed their craft through countless hours of practice and training, developing an eye for detail and a keen understanding of what it takes to create compelling visual content. But it's not just about technical skill; it's about creativity and vision. A professional product photographer doesn't just point and shoot; they conceptualize, plan, and execute each photo with purpose and intention. Another word for this point and shoot seeing what sticks practice is commonly referred to a spray and pray. But a seasoned experienced professionals that isn’t learning as they go, knows how to tell a story through images, using lighting, composition, and styling to evoke emotion and create a connection with the viewer. Observations of most (but not all) fresh out of college photography school graduates shows an overwhelming amount of people that understand the technical aspects of photography like exposure and ISO and such but lack the nuanced storytelling or brand building components necessary for application in the business world.

Why else wouldn’t Cousin Timmy be a good candidate? “He is nice, eager, energetic and cheap.” You could hire him as the corporate product photographer and also have him double as a part time janitor. But let us not forget about reliability. When you're juggling multiple projects and deadlines, the last thing you need is to worry about whether Cousin Timmy will show up on time (or at all) to capture those all-important product shots for your ads, packaging, social media and presentations. Would you really want to gamble with your brand? Marinate on that a moment. It only takes one really crappy brand image to ruin your reputation. A professional product photographer is a reliable partner you can count on to deliver high-quality images consistently and on schedule.

Perhaps most importantly, hiring a professional product photographer is an investment in your brand. Your visual identity is a reflection of your brand's values and personality, and skimping on photography could send the wrong message to your customers. With a professional behind the lens, you can be confident that your brand will be presented in the best possible light, helping to enhance its reputation and drive sales.

Now, let's talk turkey. While Cousin Timmy may offer to do the job for a fraction of the cost of a professional, hiring a less-than-stellar photographer could actually end up costing your company more in the long run. Think about that for a second. I’ll wait. If the images he delivers are subpar or fail to capture the essence of your brand, you may need to invest additional time and resources into reshoots or editing to salvage the project. Been there and done that nonsense; spending hundreds of hours over the years trying to correct what an amateur, albeit enthusiastic picture-taker like Cousin Timmy created. You can’t always correct in post folks. Editing cannot make a very bad photo good but it can make an already great photo excellent. Remember that. Experience reveals that companies do not often count the hours upon hours of re-shoots, extensive hours of trying to correct bad photos and the blowback of their brand deterioration. They do not always catch it when Cousin Timmy uploads a CMYK image to be used on the website banner or send a PSB file to a printer for a 4” x 6” company postcard. Then there is the aforementioned potential damage to your brand's reputation if the final product falls short of expectations. Don’t blame bad timing too quickly or blame the product for being too expensive. Sometimes the problem may be more simplistic. Poor imagery wrecks brands far more often than you believe. It could very well be attributed to poor consumer perception of your product or service. If your website or catalog photos are trash then your products are likely trash as well.

Wait! Isn’t that just perception? Of course it is. But the perception of value is as important as the product itself. How often have we seen extraordinary imagery, video and a website with insanely beautifully captured photos and video; perfect lighting and composition and perfectly glamorized versions of products on a website. Then you get the product and despite it not as incredible as you thought, you’re subconsciously kind of proud that you still purchased it. Why? Because of how that product or service is represented. You want to be in that club. You like how their premium look makes you feel and you associate that premium vibe to the value you receive real or imagined. It carries weight folks and it is a near certainly that Cousin Timmy didn’t learn consumer psychology in photography school.

Now hold on! Don’t get it twisted. This isn’t throwing shade on Cousin Timmy. These are facts. So while Cousin Timmy may be an okay picture-taker of butterflies, wood peckers and squirrels with that new camera he just bought when grandma’s birthday money, when it comes to capturing the essence of your brand and helping you stand out in a crowded marketplace, nothing beats the expertise and professionalism of a seasoned pro, preferably one with some sense of business. It may also be a boon for Cousin Timmy to have some actual real life business or brand experience to develop those critical thinking skills so he knows what image may or may not be appropriate. So go ahead, make friends with a professional product photographer. Your brand (and your bottom line) will thank you for it.