by Michael Sewell
Lifestyle imagery goes beyond just showing a product in use. It should resonate with your client's specific target market and appeal to their ideal customer.
We all buy on an emotional level, whether it's shoes, cars or camera equipment. Often, items are purchased with a goal or aspiration in mind, rather than a necessity. If you think of some of your own purchases, and lets take camera or lighting equipment as an example. We tend to upgrade our equipment because we read of the increased specifications and the better performance. Our goal is to increase the quality of our images, increase our keeper rate, move into different genres of work etc.
Whilst we all know it's important to understand the needs of our clients, we also need to understand the goals of their prospective clients, and the lifestyle associated with the products we are photographing.
Understanding Emotional Connection in Product Photography
Diamond Theory design and manufacture clothing for a very specific target market. Their clothing is tailored for bodybuilders and strength athletes, and they've built their reputation on the fit of their garments, and the quality of the materials.
The material and fit can easily be displayed in your standard, “on white” product images, similar to the thousands of images seen across the hundreds of e-commerce sites. They get the basic message across, showing close ups of the material itself, the logo, the fit across the back etc.
These images simply reaffirm the claims of the manufacturer, but they don't create that emotional connection we are looking for.
On-White Product Photography vs. Moody Lifestyle Photography
If you are wondering, the on white images were taken with two Elinchrom ELB 500 TTL kits firing through Phottix Raja stripboxes at an output of 4.0 (equivalent to 100Ws). They were placed either side of the subject, and a little further back, creating the accent lighting down either side, and providing shape and texture to the clothing.
The keylight is another ELB 500 TTL head firing through a Phottix Raja 150cm Hexa softbox at an output of 3.0 (equivalent to 50Ws). Because of the power levels used, you can achieve this three light setup with two ELB 500 kits, as each 500ws battery pack can power up to two flash heads.
Moody Lifestyle Photography for Fitness Brands
Moving on to the lifestyle imagery, what do we need to bring to the image to take the attention of the prospective client? As with any product, knowing what the prospective client wants from the product, or the environment the product is intended for, can help build an appealing lifestyle image. With the clothing from Diamond Theory, their target market is very specific, and strength athletes and body builders have a specific mindset in regards to their lifestyle. The lifestyle imagery needed to be quite “moody”.
This image puts the garment into context, as it's a training T-shirt, and our model is obviously in a gym. The accent lights do their job, defining the pectorals and also allowing the viewer to see it's a comfortable fit, even across the bicep. Again, three lights. An ELB 500 TTL head firing through a gridded Phottix Raja strip frame left, firing at 4.5 (equivalent to 150Ws). A second ELB 500 head firing through another honeycombed Phottix Raja strip was placed frame right, and barely out of the frame. The output was set to 3.0 (equivalent to 50Ws). The key light was a third ELB 500 head placed camera left, firing through a gridded Phottix Raja 105cm at an output of 3.0 (equivalent to 50Ws).
Lighting Setup for Fitness Photography
A different training shirt, and two lights. The first accent light is an ELB 500 firing though a gridded Phottix Raja strip frame right, and set to fire across our model's chest, developing the shape of his pectorals, as well as highlighting the smooth texture of the material. It also helps create depth on his face with the highlight of his nose. It was set to an output of 4.0 (equivalent to 100Ws).
A second ELB 500 firing though a gridded Phottix Raja strip was placed frame right again, and set to fire straight on to our model. This was to focus on emphasising the triceps muscle and forearm. It also aided in shaping his face, creating a nice definition of his cheekbone.
Black and White Lifestyle Photography for Social Media
Whilst these images put the product in context, we also needed marketing images, rather than website product images. These images are what I would describe as the hardcore lifestyle imagery that is most likely to appeal to Diamond Theory's prospective client from a social media post. They are designed to be dark and moody, and were supplied to my client in both colour and black and white. The images they had the greatest response to, were the darker black and white images, which received a great deal of comments and click through to their website store. Again, the simmering moody determination that is seen within a gym, when developed within the image, helped create the emotional pull of the product.
Product Photography Lighting Techniques for Strong Definition
The image above is again, only two lights. Frame right, I placed one of the ELB 500 with honeycombed Phottix stripbox barely out of frame, and firing at an output of 2.0 (equivalent to 25Ws). For the keylight, I switched out the Phottix 150cm for the Phottix Raja Deep 80cm softbox with honecomb. This was placed frame left, and the light stand was at its maximum height of around 2.7m. Bearing in mind, the Phottix Deep 80cm is quite long, so the effective front of the light source is much nearer to our model than a standard softbox would be. The output was also set to 2.0 (equivalent to 25Ws).
The Deep 80cm gave a nice definition to his face, and particularly the striation of his pectorals.
Rembrandt Lighting Technique in Lifestyle Photography
I wanted to go for a classic Rembrant lighting technique for this one. It's just a single light frame left, and as high as my light stand would allow. I used an ELB 500 with the Phottix Raja Deep 80cm and honeycomb at an output of 3.0 (equivalent to 50Ws), which provided a tightly controlled small pool of light with great contrast. The light falling across his chest and arms emphasises the fit of the shirt nicely.
Whilst not a "stereotypical" gym image, this style appeals to the clients target demographic, and has created a lot of interest for Diamond Theory.
Lifestyle imagery is about far more than just the product.
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To see more of Michael Sewell's work, read his blog, or book on a training course, you can check out his website here: Focal Point
