Types of Product Photography: How to choose the right images for your brand
- Jack Pickerill
- Jun 11
- 4 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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