Whether you realise it or not, the product photos used in your marketing have been digitally manipulated.
Within reason, this is not a problem. Go too far, however, and it can be viewed as false advertising.
When Olay “optimised” 60-year-old Twiggy to promote a face cream, they conveniently removed all wrinkles from the former model. UK lawmakers savaged the Olay brand, banned the ad and cited “gross misrepresentation of products”.
What is optimisation?
A professional photographer wouldn’t dream of giving you product shots without some level of digital fine tuning. This includes adjusting contrast and colours, contouring, cleaning up obvious technical flaws etc.
Dos and Don’ts
At Boylen we photograph and optimise products on a daily basis. Here are a few standard guidelines:
There are now laws prohibiting body image manipulation in Australia – and in time they will apply to food photography. The push is already underway in France.