Photography On Purpose

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Photographers, why are you in the photography business?

“To take pictures and make money,” I hear someone say.

 

While walking through a park, a young girl sees a photographer taking pictures of some people and she asks him what he’s doing. The photographer replies, “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m taking pictures.”

She continues her stroll and a few minutes later, the girl sees another photographer taking pictures of people and asks him what he’s doing. The photographer answers, “I’m busy making a living.”

After walking further through the park, the girl finds another photographer taking pictures of some people and asks him the same question. The photographer says, “I’m making a special portrait for this family’s photo album.”

 

For corporate and commercial photographers, you should be in business to help grow the value of your customer’s business. Your job is to use photography to help their business succeed. If their business doesn’t succeed, neither will yours. You are their business partner just as much as they are yours.

 

Picture Perfect

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Pictures interest people more than text.

People get information faster from pictures than text.

People can get more information from pictures than text.

People understand pictures better than text.

Pictures have greater emotional impact than text.

People trust pictures more than text.

Pictures have more credibility than text.

Emotional impact + trust + credibility => pictures influence people more than text.

People remember pictures more than text.

 
So what should your company use for your marketing, more pictures or more text?

 

More memorable corporate photography

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Everyone wants to save money. Presumably that’s why some companies use cheap stock pictures on their web sites. But using such pictures is counter-productive. Cheap stock pictures actually push customers away.

By design, cheap stock pictures target the lowest common denominator. This means the pictures are bland, generic and very simple to understand, just like the pictures in a children’s book.

A 1988 University of Texas study, “Effects of Color and Complexity in Still Photographs on Mental Effort and Memory”, showed that: (i) viewers pay more attention to complex photos; (ii) complex images are processed by the viewer just as easily as simple ones; and (iii) viewers remember complex pictures more than simple pictures.

This means that using cheap stock pictures serves no purpose other than to save money. But spending any money for something that delivers nothing is actually a waste of money.
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Put a price on your head

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What price would you put on a headshot of yourself – $50? $100? $150?

What’s the value of a business marketing tool that you can use for several years on your business cards, web site, blog, marketing collateral, social networking profiles, e-mail signature, press releases, newsletters and media handouts – $200? $300?

What’s the value of something that will catch the attention of customers, build trust, increase your credibility, make you look important and more competent, and enhance the perceived value of your business – $400? $500? $600?
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When to pay less for corporate photography

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All companies need some type of corporate photography to help market their business. And of course when hiring a photographer, every company is looking for a deal, a bargain, a discount.

Professional photography isn’t like selling widgets or any low marginal-cost item. When a photographer has a very low price, it means something is off, something is missing. But is this always a bad thing?

It’s okay to go with cheap photography when:

• You want less.

• You’re happy with good enough.

• You don’t mind working with a less-experienced photographer.

• You like to cut corners.

• The pictures aren’t really important.

• Your business marketing doesn’t have to be effective.

• You don’t need to make a good impression.

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Memorable (part 2)

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In his 2011 book, Moonwalking with Einstein, science writer Joshua Foer describes how someone can increase their memory. He learned of a technique while covering a national memory competition. The following year, Foer won that same competition using this very technique.

To improve one’s memory, Foer learned that one has to associate an image with the information that needs to be remembered. The more memorable that image, the better the chance of remembering. It’s possible that Allan Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory (visual explanation here ;-) ) might help explain this.

Alexandra Horowitz, a PhD in cognitive science who teaches psychology at Barnard College in the US, wrote, “… a simple fact of human cognition: we naturally remember visual images. … The less banal, the better. Quotidian scenes are forgettable. What snags the cells of our brains are disgusting, bizarre and novel images.”
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Memorable (part 1)

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A university study recently published in Psychological Science concluded that taking pictures may impede one’s memory. The press release is here.

A brief summary of this study: one group of people were asked to take some general pictures during an art museum tour. The next day, these people had difficulty remembering exactly what they had seen. But a second group, who were asked to zoom in and photograph specific details of what they saw and to pay more attention to their photography, had better memory of what they had seen during their tour.

Sadly, the study uses the silly phrase “photo-taking impairment effect”. The researcher wrote, “In order to remember, we have to access and interact with the photos, rather than just amass them.”
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