What makes a viable advertising photograph?

I have been a freelance commercial photographer in the Adelaide hills since 1997. Repeatedly, I have seen how good professional photography works for businesses across several levels, both subtle and overt.

I have a very diverse portfolio and significant experience shooting a wide variety of subjects. My regular work includes everything from location photography of people, architectural and industrial photography, and food, right through to studio work, including products and cars. 

The common thread of all of my work is the need to manage the many variables at hand when art directing a photoshoot. There are no hard and fast rules of how to best unlock the worth of the subject matter so every job is a balance between the technicalities and the design of a photograph. A viable commercial photograph can promote interest or action for the brand. It can garner attention to convey a story or even generate an emotional response.

Generations of farming. Photographed for Jeffries Soils

So what makes an advertising photograph viable?

Firstly, a successful commercial photograph is seldomly an accident. Building an image is a series of conscious decisions. When staging a photograph, every component is included by design and needs to be coherent and precise. Working in 2D, especially digital, allows control to eliminate distracting objects or surroundings.

Fresh baked bread, shot for Laucke Mills.

The image will need to function on a handful of levels. Most importantly it must draw the attention of the target audience. I assume that the people I want to communicate with have a strong working knowledge in the subject I am shooting. If I’m not au fait with that subject, I’ll ask an expert to be sure there is nothing incongruous in the photograph or performance. 

With the appropriate content chosen to create the photo, the components will need to be assembled as an interesting contextual whole. The subject matter is the lure to pique interest, and the way the image is composed and lit, is the burley to motivate them to linger and absorb the message.

A photographer acts much like a journalist by eliminating all but the key points needed to illustrate the events. A poorly handled photograph can contain the exact same subject matter as a professional image but barely function as a communication tool.

I commonly see businesses conflating their smartphone’s camera facilitates with their perceived abilities to create communicative photographs. The resulting images may be totally acceptable for personal photography as they are well exposed and have good colour, but are under-crafted to be competent promotional tools. It’s easy to be seduced by great colour in a punchy photo but there are many more layers to a commercial photograph.

The ultimate goal is to create a photograph that resonates with the target audience and can generate a sense of connection and to have people want to identify with the object or brand.

What I am trying to illustrate is that the task of a professional photographer is very broad. Having an in-depth working knowledge of camera and light management is just scratching the surface. A professional photographer must be able to synthesise light, composition, storytelling and mood into a communicative and engaging two-dimensional image.

As a freelance commercial photographer, I am expected to produce consistently strong images, often improvising within unphotogenic circumstances beyond my control, whilst working with people I have never met.

Thankfully I love improvising, and I'm always up for a good challenge.

Here is a link to my blog article on the distinction between a beautiful photograph and a photo of something beautiful.