Is it smart to phone in your brand photography?

I love my iPhone. It’s Simply invaluable for keeping my business ticking along while I zoom between commissions. It can do anything – including – whisper it, taking high-quality photographs. But do your pocket megapixels really have the muscle to capture effective commercial photography for your business? Read on, because I decided to put this to the test during a recent client shoot.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Cherry is a professional photographer. She’s invested many thousands of pounds in her cutting-edge camera, lighting and technical equipment. Not to mention spending most of her life passionately practicing, refining and improving her camera technique. She’s hardly going to tell me to forget all that and whip out my iPhone instead, is she?

Actually, I’m not going to tell you anything. Instead, I’m going to show you. After all, as a photographer, it’s my job to communicate visually.

The iPhoneography test

On a recent commission to one of North London’s grandest hotels, the Simply stunning West Lodge Park, I had the honour of photographing some of their stately event spaces.

These are a couple of the images that will shortly appear on West Lodge Park’s website and marketing collateral.

As I took these images, I also used my iPhone camera to see what I could achieve using the same setting, lighting and technique….

….Are they terrible? No. But bear in mind I’ve used my skills to set the scene, line up the angle, and choose the best time of day to take advantage of the incredible natural light that flowed through those huge windows.

Even so, without a long lens, the full effect of the banquet table falls flat. I couldn’t get it to stand out from the rest of the room. Instead, the shadows from under the table now detract from how stately and opulent this room looks in the flesh. These smartphone snaps Simply don’t do this space justice.

I’d also add that anyone without my years of experience would struggle to set these shots up in the first place. And even a keen amateur would spend more hours than they’d anticipated going through a process of trial and error to capture a handful of ‘best of the worse’ shots.

The truth is, even high-quality camera equipment will only get you so far if you don’t know how to use it. You need a well-trained eye to adjust positions, props and people’s expressions if you want to bring an image to life. This is something you Simply can’t download as an app.

Smartphones Simply can’t compete.

As I said at the start, my iPhone keeps me connected to my business. But would I use it to, say, prepare and submit my tax return? I could, but instead of trying my hand at amateur accountancy, I gratefully hand this task over to a professional. Their expertise saves me hours of admin, and protects me from costly errors.

Your commercial photography is really the same. If you’re going to stand out in the marketplace, you need photography that drives desire in your customers, and communicates your brand story. And that takes more than a few dozen megapixels and a range of interesting filters. It requires the skill, experience and expertise that only a professional commercial photographer can bring to the table.

Ready to invest in commercial imagery for your business? Let’s talk.