Photography is pervasive in today’s world. So much so, in fact, that photos are the most engaging content on the web. Photos are universal and unlike text, they transcend language barriers. Everyone in the world has an understanding of an image and what it can mean, or how it can make you feel. That’s why having great photos for your business is a must in our image-obsessed world. Not convinced quite yet? Here are a few more reasons.

Get People’s Attention

Having captivating photography gets attention! For many entrepreneurs and small business owners, it may feel like an extra and unnecessary cost to hire a photographer when everyone has a camera these days. Why not just take the photos yourself? In a world that is saturated with photography, it’s not enough to just have photos. In order to stand out, you need to have great photos. This means those photos that are taken on your phone camera just won’t cut it.

A professional photographer has an eye for detail and nuance in a scene that maybe you wouldn’t see. Why risk your brand image for a poorly lit iPhone photo, when you could have a pro make your company look top-notch?

Create a Professional and Trustworthy Brand Image

One major advantage of professional photography is that it can help build trust with your customers and clients. Say you own and operate a restaurant and need photos for your menu. You want the food photography on your menu to look clean, professional, and most of all delicious. Poorly composed or lit photos can make your products look unappealing and potentially drive away customers!

Hiring a professional photographer is invaluable in making your product not only look appealing, but stand out, which will ultimately draw in more customers and make your business look legitimate, trustworthy, and professional.

Appeal to your Customers’ and Viewers Emotions

Human beings are drawn to emotion and storytelling. When you can tap into a connection with your customers that goes beyond a visually appealing image, you could be building a relationship that lasts a lifetime. Beautiful photos that tell your brand story (or tell the story of how your business operates on the day to day) in a way that is relatable to your audience can go a long way in establishing lasting connections.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of sharing photos for your business on social media. People love being able to peek behind the scenes of your business’ outward presentation to see the real people behind the brand. Show them! Having some high-quality photos of your staff or business operations can go a long way to establish a trustworthy image and allow your customers to feel connected to you without sacrificing your overall brand identity.

(P.S. These photos make great material for advertising campaigns.)

Save Valuable Time

Photographic technology has come a very long way and seems to be advancing faster every day for mobile phones. Apple’s popular ad campaign “Shot on iPhone” shows just how far phone cameras have come. With all this in mind, you might still be wondering why it’s necessary to hire someone to take your photos. The answer to that is twofold.

First, a professional photographer is just that, a professional. The hours dedicated to learning the craft show through the quality of their work. Try as you might, it is incredibly difficult to capture stunning photos without lots of experience capturing other stunning photos. Experience is a must, especially in the more technically demanding forms of photography such as commercial photography.

Second, who has the time? A typical photoshoot can stretch from a few hours into a day-long (or longer) production depending on the shoot. How many times during a busy week have you wished you didn’t need to sleep so you could finish up projects before an impending deadline? Cramming in a photo session might not be feasible. Leaving the planning and execution of a detail-oriented photoshoot to someone who does that as a full-time job just makes sense and can save you a headache or two.

Open up More Possibilities for Print and Large Scale Advertising

A photo or series of photos that are well done can sometimes act alone as advertisements, in this sense, the idea of “less is more” can apply. Images are eye-catching and absolutely necessary for your print advertising because you can save pricey ad space by focusing on great imagery and limiting copy. When you are getting ready to put out a print ad campaign, a professional who knows the parameters of photographic printing and understands how to tell a story through images will be invaluable to your advertising efforts.

Print Ad for Nike of Football PlayerThere are a few parameters that need to be met for photos that are going on a large print ad or billboard, the main ones being file type and size. A professional photographer understands how to photograph, process, and export a photo that is optimal for all sizes of print, from magazine ads to large scale prints and digital billboards. From start to finish, a photographer’s experience and tools can allow for clear, detailed, and perfectly color corrected photos for your print advertising, big or small.

Aside from aesthetics and attracting customers, having visually appealing photographs in your print ads works better logistically. Let’s face it, print advertising can cost a pretty penny. When you budget in the cost of a large print ad such as a billboard you want that billboard to last a long time and prove it’s worth by bringing in more customers or clients. You want to save as much money as you can by making sure it is spent strategically. Having a top-notch ad is going to be expensive regardless, so making sure you are prepared with great images is essential. You’ll save time and an expensive mistake by making sure you have all your bases covered before you begin printing, and that includes making sure your photos are the best they can be.

Conclusion

This list of reasons why it’s in your best interest to hire a professional photographer has the potential to go on and on. So for the sake of brevity, our conclusion is this, professional photographers know how to capture mundane things in a way that makes them special. Don’t settle for basic phone photos and half-hearted product shots to advertise your business, when you could save valuable time and money with well thought out, visually appealing photos that will go a long way to advertise your business.

Original article.