Types of Product Photography: How to choose the right images for your brand

If you are new to creating content for your brand, it’s important to get familiar how the different types of product photography can work for and against for your product.

Have you every wondered how big brands with marketing departments get their products to look so desirable?

Just take a look at the perfume industry if you need an example of the difference brand and content aesthetic makes. Fashion brands are able to make scents that are rarely anything special into an image of luxury and desirability.

In this post I’ll be sharing an overview of product photography and how different types of photoshoot can work for or against your product and how you can achieve some of that same magic with your brand.

Pack Shot Photography

A pack shot is a type of photograph that would traditionally be printed onto the front of the products packaging in store, hence the name.

In 2025 pack shot is a term used to describe a white background photograph of a product shot in a studio environment. These will be used by brands for product packaging as well as e-commerce and online catalogues.

Hairdryer Pack Photography for Remington - Photographer Jack Pickerill

A good pack shot shows your potential customer exactly what your product looks like and what features the product has. In pack shot photography we need to make sure that all materials on the product look like the correct texture and finish and that all colours are as accurate as can be.

Pack shots are typically lit in high key lighting so we can ensure that no areas of the product aren’t visible to the consumer. They are also typically shot at long focal lengths so that elements of the product are not distorted and the consumer knows what they are getting when they order the item.

Technical considerations

A Pack shots main purpose is to be descriptive but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to do. A pack shot photographer will often use 4 studio lights as a minimum and typically the more lights on a studio shoot, the more reflections and catch lights become a consideration and the more light has to be modified.

Pros

• If done well, pack shots can make your product look very premium

• Descriptive

• A versatile digital asset

Cons

• Not engaging for social media

• No contextual environment

• High key lighting, can be less stylish

Use cases

• Product Packaging

• Ecommerce shop

• Brand Catalogues

Lifestyle Photography

Lifestyle photography is using props and the surrounding environment that your product will be used in. Wether this environment is real or a set, the key consideration with lifestyle photography is styling.

Lifestyle Photography for Russell Hobbs - Photographer Jack Pickerill

The key to styling here is making the image seem authentic and ensuring the props and environment align with the brand and products values.

Experienced still life photographers are skilled at styling and can execute lifestyle photography well on their own but ideally this type of photography involves working with both a photographer and a stylist on set to ensure efficiency and quality.

When booking a photographer for this type of work, check to see if they are experienced still life photographers and have experience working with stylists.

Pros

• Relatable to the consumer

• Social media friendly

• Brand strengthening if done correctly

Cons

• Time consuming

• Can be expensive due to rental of props, sets and spaces

Use cases

• Social media

• Website banners

• Product launches

Hero Shot Photography

A hero shot is a stylised, stand out image that is the face of a brand, product or campaign. If there could only be 1 image that your potential customers see, you would want it to be your hero image. The focus on this type of shot is about making something interesting, high quality and dynamic.

Lower or wider angles are often used in this type of shot to give the image a more stylised look.

Hero Shot Photography - Photographer Jack Pickerill

Pros

• Can make or break a campaign or product launch

Cons

• Time consuming - Hero shots are premium photography that takes time and care in every stage from conception to lighting to retouching.

Use cases

• Product Packaging

• Billboards and physical advertisements

• POS boards

• Social media advertisments

Macro Photography

Macro product photography is a close up look of an aspect of a product. The point here is not to show what the product looks like but to highlight a specific quality of the product, in the case below, the products texture. These shots can look simple but are often meticulously styled to get just the right composition.

Macro Skincare Photography © Teal Studios

Technical considerations

Macro photography can vary in difficulty with the size of what you are shooting and can often require specialist equipment to be done correctly.

When shooting a product from a couple of inches away, getting every point of the frame is focus involves a technique known as focus stacking.

This is when photographers take numerous shots at different focus points and then combine or ‘stack’ them on top of each other in post production.

Pros

• Great to highlight one aspect of a product

• Very trendy in advertisement and campaigns as of 2025

Cons

• Lack of context - best used as a supplementary image

• Can require complex styling and specialist macro lenses

Use cases

• In product packaging as a supplemental image

• Billboards and physical advertisements

• Social media

In Use Photography

In use photography is showing a model using your product in a natural or demonstrative way. This can often blend into the lifestyle image category depending on if the model is on a studio backdrop or a propped set.

In use photography is great for showing the practicality and use of your product. Both in use and lifestyle images can be an aspirational pitch to your consumers, so again the key here is prop and model selection to ensure that the image speaks for your brand.

In Use Product Photography - Photographer Jack Pickerill

Pros

• Aspirational

• Versatile

• Instructional and informative to your consumer

Cons

• Typically not as glamorous or striking as hero or macro images

Use cases

• Social media

• In product packaging as a supplemental image

• Billboards and physical advertisements

Do you still have questions? Send us an email at info@tealstudios.co.uk and we'll be happy to answer them!

Discover how hiring a professional product photographer can take your brand to the next level! Contact us today for bookings and pricing.

Choosing the Right Photographer for Your Brand

Choosing a photographer for your brand is more like choosing a tattoo artist than choosing a car insurance provider. Insuring a car can be summed up in 12 words: fully comp - sort low to high - pick the first one - job done.

Typically you would want to spend a bit more time on picking a tattooist. It wouldn’t be the best idea for example to choose an artist that specialises in stick and poke tattoo’s to carry out that photo realistic family portrait on your back.

Similarly, that friend of a friend that takes amazing landscapes and family portraits might not be right for launching the brand for that product that you’ve already invested so much of your money and time into.

Campaign Photography by photographer Jack Pickerill

Being a photographer isn’t an all encompassing title and one size really doesn’t fit all here, we have specialisation for a reason. 

Unfortunately that specialisation does come at a price. When you work with professionals in a chosen field you are paying for that studios collective knowledge and experience. The increase in rate you can expect when hiring a premium photography service should come with it a premium experience. Working with a high end photographer you should find that all of sudden your emails are responded to, clear guidelines are set, the right questions are being asked. Here comes the real cost saving with experienced photographers. You won’t have to do your shoot all over again because we get it right first time. Experts in their field have already made and learnt from the typical mistakes that inevitably all photographers make when learning their craft. 

When choosing the right photographer for your campaign, what you need to know should boil down to the following traits:

• A proven track record - can this photography studio execute your brands ideas from a technical standpoint? Take a look at the quality of their work, does it match that of the reference images you plan to give them?

• Creativity and style - Does the photography in their portfolio convey a similar message to your brand? If you want your brand to feel contemporary, does the studio you are at choosing look current and top of the latest trends and photographic techniques?

• Professionalism and reliability -Did they reply to your emails in a timely manner? Are they asking you the right questions? 

• Attention to detail - What does their site look like? Did you notice that the copyright symbol on their website still shows 2022?! If they haven’t noticed that, how likely is it that they are going notice that your images aren’t straight or dusted correctly?

Truly interdisciplinary photographers are renaissance men and not jack of all trades. They do exist but it’s important to separate the wheat from the chaff here. As a representative for your brand, it falls on you to decipher whether the photographer you are hiring truly understands what it takes to execute your brands message and wether they can collaborate with you to bring that to message to life in your brands photography.