One of our newest R.W. Elephant users recently sent us this email:
“I have added a link on my website to direct clients to the gallery. Clients have already started looking there and renting items that they didn’t call me about to begin with. The gallery is going to really increase my business.”
Having fantastic photos makes even more impact. Here are some tips:
- If possible, have a professional photographer capture your inventory. Their expertise will make your products look oh-so-much-better than a DIYphoto shoot.
- Pay attention to the lighting. Even if shooting outdoors, consider renting professional equipment to show your rental products in their best light.
- Create as much consistency as possible. Shoot similar types of items at the same angle, distance, etc. Use a consistent backdrop so your rental products, not a distracting background, are the focus of the image gallery. Use a service like RemoveTheBackground.com if necessary to create a clean look.
- Be sure to take pictures of your pieces in whatever units you plan to rent them in. For instance, if you always rent your pair of wingback chairs together (never individually), you’ll want to add them to your R.W. Elephant account as “Pair of Wingback Chairs” and your images should correspond. Whenever renting sets or groups together, be sure your images portray the group accurately. Also, if you plan to rent an “assorted” set, be sure to snap a few images or different combos so what they see is what they get.
- Get lots of hands on deck on inventory shoot days. Have a staging area where someone is measuring each piece. Get dedicated movers to keep the process running smoothly. Make notes as you go so you don’t have to track down all of the inventory to get details after you’ve put it away.
