The first photo you see on a website, a magazine cover, an ad photo – all examples of the Hero Shot. What’s a Hero Shot, you ask? The quick explanation is that it’s one photo that visually communicates the most important information about your brand/product.

It’s one of the most significant images in your marketing arsenal.

Below, we’ll see what a Hero Shot includes for different types of businesses, elements a strong Hero Shot has, and how to create one for your next interior design project photo shoot.

The Hero Shot Explained

A Hero Shot is a photo that communicates your brand's essence and value proposition in only one image.

Because it’s so all-encompassing, it’s often one of a business’ most-used marketing images.

Here are examples of what a Hero Shot should focus on for various business types:

Interior Designers: Displays your most outstanding work and what it provides for your clients. It’s an image you submit to magazines and blogs, for awards, for design books, and likely use on your website homepage and in your online portfolio.

Other Service Providers: Highlights the difference in hiring you. It likely features you/your team and a client or the final result of your work.

Product Sellers: Shows your product and emphasizes what buyers can gain from it. The key is to not focus on your buyers' issue or only the product itself.

What Else Does a Powerful Hero Shot Have?

A Hero Shot must also be cohesive with your other visual and nonvisual marketing.

For product sellers and certain service providers, the image should also work well when it’s out of context and not surrounded by supporting text and images.

The viewer should be able to guess what your business is focused on quickly.

Finally, to make a Hero Shot as effective as possible when used in advertising, it needs to lead to a strong and persuasive call to action.

How to Get a Hero Shot at Your Next Interior Design Project Photo Shoot: A Step-by-Step Plan

1. Know Where You Want to Use It

You need to know the orientation your Hero Shot must be in and think about how it could end up being cropped.

Many businesses use a Hero Shot on their website and need the photo to be horizontal but work well on a cellphone screen, too.

As an interior designer, you may want to get published in a magazine or design book; a vertical photo works best for that goal.

Look at the images published in those materials and note what your Hero Shot should have.

Your photographer, who should be experienced with interiors, may also have tips for getting your photo published.

2. Think About Potential Spaces

Now that you know which orientation you’ll need for your Hero Shot(s), you can think about which spaces of the project you’re photographing would be best in that position.

Because photo shoots have limited time, you want to ensure you spend most of that time photographing showstopper spaces, not lackluster ones.

3. Create a Shot List

You now have pretty much everything you need to create your shot list.

This list of specific photos of particular places you want the photographer to capture keeps the photo shoot efficient and ensures you get the most important images.

Try to be as thorough as possible when creating your shot list.

Think about the level of detail you want to show, angles you’d like to have, etc.

4. Find an Interior Stylist

What looks good in person and what looks good on camera, in print, and online can be very different.

An interior stylist knows how to make spaces look as good as possible in photos, even though the areas have already been curated by a professional -- you.

Ask your photographer and fellow interior designers for recommendations.

5. Remember Your Goal

It can be tough to see parts of your design tweaked as the shoot goes on or to stand by as the same space is photographed repeatedly.

But remember the goal: these pictures will be like your calling card. The tweaking and time spent to get them to be just right will make all the difference.

Ready to get your Hero Shot? Let’s get your photo shoot with CatMax Photography booked.