Commercial Photography

Commercial photography genres

Commercial photography encompasses all the genres of photography that a business would engage a photographer to shoot. It is usually a business-to-business agreement for photographic services where the photographer is contracted to photograph and deliver specific images within an agreed budget, scope of work and time frame, and the photos are usually used to promote business products or services.

Each type of photography can be grouped into one of four major photography categories: Commercial, Creative, Portrait and Outdoor. This page covers the commercial photography category of photography.

The genres of photography that can have major elements of commercial photography are;

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Commercial photography assignments

Photographers that classify themselves as being in the business of commercial photography could expect to have enquiries from any genre of photography. This leaves the photographer open to a very broad and varied range of potential assignments, some of which may be out of the scope of their experience.

As such, most photographers in this field will focus on one or more genres and specialise in those fields. For example, an architectural photographer may also specialise in corporate head portraits and industrial photography so that they can capture most or all the business photography requirements of an architectural firm, including head portraits of management and staff.

Another photographer that specialises in private family studio portraits may also offer corporate portraits due to the genre and equipment required being relatively similar and a food photographer may also specialise in product photography.

Return on investment in commercial photography

Businesses will want to see a good return on their investment (ROI), so it’ll be likely the business will provide the commercial photographer with a brief outlining specific items to be addressed with the shoot. Likewise, you may be approached by a business that knows they want to increase public awareness of their brand, but they don’t have any idea on where to start, you could suggest they prepare a brief with your help. Doing so would increase their trust in you and your business which in turn could result in a longer tern business relationship.

Contracts and commercial brief

Contracts, agreements, a budget, a photography brief, and insurance are all items that need high consideration in this genre of photography.

Show off your best commercial work on social media

You should aim to build and maintain quality images that are fully representative of your skills and work on a website and on social media accounts such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

Business professionalism

Always maintain a very good level of professionalism in all genres of photography, especially with any business-to-business photography client. Excellent professionalism and work ethic will help you stand out from your competition. As much as our personal difficulties affect us from time to time, when dealing with business clients try to avoid airing any of your personal issues with them.

If you have to reschedule an appointment it is much better to inform your client that you need to reschedule the appointment due to unforeseen circumstances and to apologise for the inconvenience. Much better than to tell them your two-year-old is barfing like a landlubber on a dinghy in the Antarctic Ocean in winter!

Keep detailed notes

When determining the scope of commercial photography assignments, make sure you keep detailed notes during all of your conversations. A remark from the client that to you may seem like a frivolous comment may actually be a vital requirement of the assignment, and as you are working through your notes in preparation for the commercial assignment you will see it and will hopefully clarify the remark with the client. Ensure you are clear with the client’s requirements for the assignment.

Gear for commercial photography

If possible, have a backup camera and lenses, especially on business-to-business photography assignments that have involved a lot of planning and other logistics. For example, if a commercial client has gone to the expense of flying you to a destination, and has organised employees to escort you whilst there, it would not be acceptable of the client for you to run out of memory cards, have camera issues or drop a lens and have no backup. Prepare wisely for every commercial photography assignment.

Keep up with your creativity

With commercial photography assignments covering such a vast expanse of photography genres you could easily be asked to photograph in a genre that you aren’t familiar with. So you should always try to keep up your photography skills in as many genres as possible, including creative photography, and keep up with new photographic trends.

Keep developing your commercial photography skills

There are a vast number of educational resources online these days, both free and paid. So, keep up with your creativity through education and practice.