MDS Brand Blog

5 Tips for Great Boat Photographs

Posted by MDS Brand

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Taking great boat photographs is essential for any boat dealership. Here’s why: Pictures are the closest thing to the actual boat a customer can see without going to a dealership, and since most buyers shop online before entering a shop it is absolutely necessary to accurately portray your inventory. Additionally, photos can tell a story and give life to your brand; an exciting dealership takes exciting and action packed photos, a laid-back dealership takes photos that are laid back and relaxing to look at, and so on. Subsequently though, boring, cheap, and lifeless photos can reflect poorly on a dealership.

It is wise to hire a professional photographer, but if that just isn’t in the cards - or isn’t yet - below are some tips.

Here are 5 tips on how to take great boat photos.

  1. High Resolution, High Resolution, High Resolution
    Why is this SO important? Your images are a direct reflection of the quality of your company. Photos tell a story and give life to your brand and this can be used to your advantage. If you want your customers to identify your brand as high quality, high quality photos are a must. Well executed and well represented photos are a major selling point to your customers. It shows that your dealership puts in the effort it takes to be of the highest quality. In turn, this will gain your customer's trust, which is essential when considering where they want to spend their thousands of dollars.

    What does “high resolution” mean?
    From a design perspective, high resolution images can be used for a higher range of applications, and low-res images have a low range of uses. For example, a beautiful but low-res image cannot be blown up and used for a billboard, whereas a large beautiful image could easily be displayed on a billboard.


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    TIP: Do not, I repeat, do NOT try to hide imperfections. Doing so can lead to legal issues. Be open and honest. Show off those scratches and your customers will know that you are trustworthy.
  1. Quantity – This is not to replace quality.
    When your dealership’s design team is shuffling through photos to use for your website or any other marketing channel, it is best to have lots of images to choose from. This allows for them to pick images that are the absolute best fit for the application. Additionally, taking more photos during the photographing process increases the chances of getting that perfect angle, light source, etc.
  1. Angles, and lots of them.
    We have all seen the seemingly, two-dimensional boat images taken from one of the sides of the boat. It’s flat and boring, and more importantly, leaves out any visibility of the interior (or the entire other half of the boat for that matter). Your customers want to see every angle of the boat; the front, side, back, helm, bow, etc. - and see it all with an attractive twist. See below for examples:


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    Every customer is as unique as the boat they seek. One customer may be more concerned with finding the perfect looking boat (exterior and color), while another may find the comfort and options more appealing. It is important to make sure that the interests of all of your customers are covered in your images.
  1. Consider the background
    This is a very important factor to be mindful of when photographing your inventory and lifestyle shots. The goal is to have your subject (usually the boat) be the only noticeable thing in the image. Anything else creates a distraction and detracts the eyes away from what is important in the image. Simplicity is key.


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    Background tips and points:
    --Bright sunny days may seem like the best condition to take photographs but actually, it is best to have some overcast. Here’s why: unobstructed sun rays create very stark and sharp shadows with very blown out highlight areas. Some cloud cover will create softer shadows and softer highlights which make for an image with all the right details.
    --It does not do your dealership a service to have your building in the background of every boat image. Your brand should speak for itself.
    --Once the perfect background is found or set up, use that area or method consistently with all of your boat images. Background consistency looks clean when the images are all seen together - on an inventory page, for example - and helps to keep the attention on the boat.
  1. Leave lots of space around the boat.
    Perhaps the most visually debilitating mistake when photographing boats is poor cropping. Often times important features like the entire bow or motor is missing in the picture. It is best to make sure the entire boat is in frame with plenty of space around it. Leave the artistic cropping to the professionals. To add, It helps to have plenty of extra space around the boat to accommodate cropping for the different size requirements for different applications. For example, an ad may require a square image but if the photo doesn't have enough extra space around it to crop into, there is a risk of cropping out important information.


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When in doubt, hire a photographer. They know how to produce the best photos and in turn, you will have plenty of wonderful material to choose from that represents your company in the best way. If you want to give it a go yourself, these 5 tips on how to produce great boat photographs will surely help you maximize your brand appearance.

-Written by Kayla Pohovich, a professional Graphic Designer at Marine Dealer Solutions.

Topics: Boat Dealerships, Marketing Tips & Tricks