In simple words, Lifestyle Product Photography is about showing products functioning within their purpose. It’s one thing to have a product image that works just fine for an eCommerce website, it’s another to show people experiencing it in its environment.
The main reason why lifestyle product photography is so effective, is because it helps showing products in real life situations, where people can actually have a better idea about how the product looks and how it is meant to be used. Lifestyle product photography is the best way to tell stories in order to engage with their intended users. There are basically two ways of doing what it is considered to be Lifestyle Photography:
Products Being Actually Used
This is the most evident reason why it is called “lifestyle”, because it not only limits itself to showing people using and wearing products; it goes beyond that. Here, in these images you can experience the actual lifestyle this products are trying to project on society. Pinterest made this popular without a doubt, and is a very clever way of personifying products. By doing this, photographers are not merely transmitting the features of a product. Here they are showing us what a specific lifestyle feels.
Products Photoshopped into an Existing Image
This is the cheapest way to create simple “Lifestyle” pictures. For example if your product is a pair of Safety Shoes, first we take a picture of a Construction environment, and then at the studio we take several pictures of the product at certain angles (and lightings) that would best match the first image. Finally we use Photoshop to put both images together.
