Making Product Images Come Alive
A good source of inspiration for product renders/images is advertising. Product ads are designed to make products look absolutely irresistible. You can greatly improve your product renders and photography and train your eye for good images by studying product ads.
Product ads offer many styling cues that we can learn from. A good way to learn about product styling is to observe an ad that is captivating or “looks professional” and ask why it looks that way. Let’s take the following image of a truck, for example:
Source: Pexels
This image does a great job at highlighting the ruggedness and off-roadiness of the truck. It’s almost as if it invites you to step into the truck and go for an amazing adventure. It brands the truck as a capable, tough machine that can go anywhere. At the same time, it makes the truck look absolutely stunning. How does it do that?
There are several cues in the image we can take inspiration from.
The angle of the shot helps to lend a sense of size and superiority to the vehicle. We’re looking up at this truck and our eye level is somewhere below the door handles, making the truck appear imposing and strong. Nobody wants a puny, weak truck; we want trucks that are powerful, that make us feel like the king of the road (or dirt path).The low eye-level of this image helps to sell that image.
The depth of field helps to emphasize the sheer size of the space around the truck. The mountains in the background have just the right amount of bokeh (blur) to convey the message of a vast open landscape. This further strengthens the image of a powerful truck that is made for adventure; for exploring huge places like this. This isn’t your everyday pickup truck in the suburbs, this is a real adventure machine made to explore the world.
The dirt on the wheels is a subtle but important touch. It proves that this vehicle is off-road capable; that it arrived in this location because it was driven there; that it is practical and well-used. Again, it sells the idea that this truck is a no-nonsense outdoor-focused machine.
The golden sunset reflected in the doors is the icing on the cake. The golden gleam of the truck in the sunlight makes it a breathtaking sight to behold. It takes the image above the plane of functionality and into the realm of emotion. It invites the viewer to desire the truck, in hopes that one day, they’ll also be able to drive it into the sunset and witness a stunning view like this.
Having that kind of connection in your product renders or images can really turn your products from interesting to desirable. And that’s an important distinction to note if you want to make the best product images.
