A recent article in Digital Camera World highlighted the issue of treasured family photos becoming inaccessible as time and technology march onwards. Hard drives can fail, image formats go obsolete, cloud services can shut down at short notice. Our precious images might be easily retrievable one day and lost forever the next.

Obviously, family photos and commercial images are very different, but the value of a company’s visual history shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Every year, businesses generate thousands of photos. New product launches, high-level employee appointments, award ceremonies, staff events, and dozens of other milestones all get recorded, whether formally or informally.

As a brand grows its history becomes ever more important. But, without due care, those legacy images can disappear.

So how do you safeguard this valuable corporate resource?

Does the idea of a headshot session fill you with dread? You’re not alone - I’d estimate about 80% of clients tell me they hate having their photo taken the moment they get in front of my camera. So what’s going on, and what can we do about it?

You’ve got something to sell, and you’ve found a product photographer who’s a good fit for your brand. All that’s left is to send it off, and then sit back and wait for the amazing images to arrive, right?

Not quite. Believe it or not, not all product photographers can read minds. When an item arrives, it can be a simple matter of working out the best angles and lighting to make it look great, but more often than not, it takes a bit more effort to get images that are really going to work hard to sell your product. So, how do you make sure you get what you need?