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Creative Product Photography Ideas to Inspire Brand Awareness

Getting someone’s attention is important…but it won’t matter if your creative product photography doesn’t represent your brand. Often, without clear brand representation in your photography, it is much more difficult to achieve brand awareness from your target market. In the height of eCommerce, getting someone to recognize your brand is practically a new form of currency. However, the real challenge can be creating eye-catching content that shows off your brand’s true identity.

Reflect On It

We love this reflective setup by photographer Leslie Grow. The simple mirror and single drink make this interesting shot, made easy. Any product photographer knows the utter dread when they see that they’ll be photographing anything reflective. So, major props to this photographer, Leslie Grow, for taking this creative direction head-on.

Playing with shadows and shapes is perfect for getting a classic, modern look that was portrayed in this series for The Girlfriend. While lacking a specific product, this project demonstrates how retail photography can have a wide range in terms of simple product shots, to loose, conceptual imagery.

Getting Au Natural

The image and branding seem simple at first glance. However, taking a simplistic approach can be more difficult than it seems. Focusing too much on the proportions and layout can lead to stressing and removing and replacing and switching props for way too long. Taking inspiration from simple setups and basic props can make it easier when figuring out these small elements of a shoot you might accidentally get you all wound up. A rock and a leaf- that might be all you need to make a product stand out on social media or your website.

The styling also demonstrates the true identity of the brand. To ensure that the image is in line with the client’s products, the photographer chose to emphasize the natural, organic nature of the brand. Warm colors and natural elements can be found all over their website. So, by using natural prop pieces and a simplistic set, the brand identity is well represented within the image.

Fresh Squeeze

“Squeeze” was taken quite literally when creating this product shot. We see versions of this image often, but the background and active “squeeze” help the image stand out. Taking the product out, the background of this image could easily be used for social media, website backgrounds, etc. A setup like this might be a great option if you’re looking to step away from the popular “pour” or “falling ingredient” images.

Right from the image, we see that the brand portrays itself as fresh, natural, and organic. Placing a product directly into nature gives a not-so-subtle hint to an audience that the product is not too far from nature itself. Not only do the bright colors and natural background help show what the Squeeze brand is selling, but it also gives their target market a sense of who they are, creating that ever-important brand identity.

Perfectly pointy photography for this matte lipstick line. Finding new ways to place and style products can be challenging, especially when trying to come up with new creative sets for similar types of products and brands. The unique art direction above finds a new take on product placement; sometimes, a new perspective is all you need!

Holiday shoots can be especially tricky when trying to craft content that maintains brand identity, while also remaining fun and festive. However, this image demonstrates a perfect blend of holiday colors and shapes and still keeps the branding front and center. The minimalist nature is on trend with the simplistic-focused consumerism that we are seeing in the makeup industry lately.

Create Colorful Cutouts

As I’m sure you can tell by now, cutouts are trendy. Lately, we are seeing fun, young brands using bright colors and bold shapes. HEMERA decided to hop on board and used colorful, 3D geometric forms to not only depict its product and its prickly ingredients, but also portray who they are as a brand- young, clean, and simplistic.

We have seen more and more brands hopping on board and using these eye-catching sets. The loud images and creative design that we see above might be a great option for your brand; it might even be a fresh, new way to capture the attention of your audience.

I’d be remiss to not mention that Transform design does a great job of breaking down their art direction behind this shoot. So, if you’re looking for more inspiration, make sure to check them out for a more detailed breakdown of their brand’s photography and strategy.

Create Colorful Cutouts

More creative shapes and styles! Boxes and stands are common in product photography, but the white boxes and green foam get boring. Finding new ways to use a technique you’re already familiar with is always exciting. Similar paper and wood cutouts, like these, can be found on craft websites and amazon, which makes it even more tempting to add to that idea board we all have.

These fun shapes add a unique texture to the packaging and help audiences spot the simple, natural, and modern elements of the Typology brand. Finding the perfect balance of texture and space is tricky. However, they seemed to nail it, combining a simplistic product with more eye-catching props. An idea like this could be replicated for any brand, it seems all you need are some fun columns and you’re all set!

Throw it all in

Flat lays of ingredients are another common ask for eCommerce brands. However, this shot here might just give you some new inspiration for your prop display. Flat lays are normally the go-to when it comes to showing ingredients or produce in a product. However, adding the ingredients all together into a bowl, a pitcher, or vase, might just be a new creative option to try out.

The founder of the Vintner’s Daughter shot here described her product as the “power of nature captured in a small glass bottle.” Perfectly capturing just that, the photographer seems to have taken that idea and ran with it. The glass pitcher is a fun way of displaying the natural ingredients in the product and conceptualizing the brand’s natural and fresh ideology.

Throw it all in

While the amount of spicy crumbs in this image is quite impressive, the words seem to really take the stage. Putting many elements into a shot, without it looking overwhelming, can be tricky. However, this image includes the product, a model, an ingredient, letting, and fun shapes, all without being too crowded. Sprinkling some cheese dust or flour over letter stencils like these could be a creative idea to test out on any food or kitchen products you have coming your way.

While it might get messy, any product styling like this will really capture the attention of someone scrolling through their socials. The bold flame calls attention to the image and then leads any eyes to the fun lettering and chips across the image. The styling may even assist with creating a recognizable brand image; a large shape-or giant flame in this case- is hard to miss. Overall, this spicy set could be a great way to capture the eyes of any interested consumer.

When You’re Stuck, Stack it Up

Similar to the Mac Cosmetic shoot above, this shoot finds a new orientation to display products with an experimental creative direction. Eggs and shiny shoes might not be the most obvious pairing. However, combining these two products together is certain to get some double-takes.

Finding unique ways to indirectly demonstrate a certain feature of a product can be super effective when you want engagement. In this case, we see the shoes impossibly balancing on eggshells, to portray the lightweight nature of the shoe. Bringing metaphors to life is not only effective but also a great way to show off your creative capacity to a client.

All About Aesthetic

Sometimes, building the perfect aesthetic can be just what you need to get someone to stop scrolling. Trendy, bold cutouts, bright and colorful content is popping up all over the internet. Instagram layouts and brand colors are very influential when it comes to social advertisement. Geometric shapes were not surpassed with this shoot either; we see multiple lines and designs that make the shot that much more interesting.

The image above is a part of a colorful collection of photos, all depicting a wide range of jelly products from bags to flip flops. Capturing the brand’s youthful essence, the creative direction allows the audience to reminisce on a beach day they may have had as a child. The bright, minimalistic approach also helps to demonstrate the fun, yet affordable, branding of Sun Jellies.

Whether you’re a photographer, creative director, or online brand, these photos are sure to get those wheels turning. It can be difficult to come up with new ways to capture the same product or fulfill unique creative requests. However, whether it’s mirrors, upside-down products, spicy flames, or shoes balancing on eggs-no one has tried it all. Hopefully, this collection of creative product photography can spark an idea or two that can truly help a brand get some recognition.