15 Lifestyle Photoshoot Ideas: How to Make Your Brand Relatable

By capturing products in action within real, relatable settings, lifestyle photoshoots transcend the intent from look at this to look at you. Lifestyle product photography and videography conveys a brand’s values and aesthetics, illustrates function, feels personally relevant and aspirational, and builds strong emotional connections with a brand. A single shot, series of images or video can be incredibly impactful in enhancing a product’s desirability and deepening customer engagement – lifestyle photography and videography is a powerful tool in a marketing team’s arsenal!

Coming up with the ideal lifestyle photoshoot or video shoot idea is hard work – and at Salt Paper we’re thrilled that we get to do it every day. Visual storytelling is what gets us up in the morning! In this article, we’ll share 15 lifestyle shoot ideas that serve as great jumping off points for showcasing premium products and brainstorming compelling campaigns.

On Location vs. In Studio

First a note about where lifestyle shoots take place. As a full-service, commercial content partner, Salt Paper has the capability, experience, and expertise to provide you with a picture-perfect location for your shoot – whether that’s actually on location or built-to-suit at our 22,000+ square foot studio. 

Our best-in-class carpentry team designs and builds custom sets that precisely fit the creative brief. From stunning, full-sized interior and exterior rooms to thoughtfully-crafted vignettes, our set builders take full advantage of our on-site wood shop and work in close collaboration with our set stylists to bring the artistic vision to life. 

If the only way to go for your photoshoot or video shoot is on location, we can help you find the place. We offer location scouting and shoot anywhere in the United States. 

OK, in no particular order, on to some exciting lifestyle shoot ideas!

1. Real-life settings

Showcasing products in a strategically selected real-life setting, such as a home, cafe, or park, can help your target audience envision themselves using them in their everyday life. 

2. Interactive scenes

Take the real-life setting idea a step further by staging scenarios where your product is in use. Family dinners, friend gatherings, workplace meetings or other group settings where your product is being interacted with lets your audience place themselves in the equation.

3. Day in the life

A “day in the life” series typically features either the same person or different people using a product throughout their day. This can range all the way from morning routines to evening relaxation, depending on the product.

4. Narrative storytelling

Build a narrative around your brand or product. This could be through a progression of images or scenes that tell a story or through capturing moments that hint at a larger story. This is similar to the “day in the life” approach but is less linear and more abstract.

5. Multigenerational scenes

You can emphasize your product’s appeal across different age groups and highlight family values by capturing multigenerational family interactions where the product is being used or enjoyed by grandparents, parents, and children together. 

6. Diverse models

Using models of various ages, backgrounds, and body types to represent the diversity of your potential customer base makes it more inclusive and tells about your brand values.

7. Customer highlights

Featuring real customers in your shoot is a win-win – it authentically communicates a testimonial to prospective customers and makes your current customers feel valued.

8. Emotional connections

Photos and footage that evoke emotions can create a stronger connection. Aim to capture emotions and expressions that resonate with your audience – joy, comfort, relief, and satisfaction, as examples. 

9. Behind-the-scenes

Who doesn’t love a peek behind the scenes?! Showing your product being made or the people behind your product in action helps to humanize your brand and build trust.

10. Seasonal themes

Whether it’s a cozy winter setting or vibrant summer scene, using the season as a backdrop shows how your product fits into various times of the year.

11. Local landmarks

Incorporating local landmarks or well-known scenes serves to connect more deeply with your local audiences. This not only makes your brand feel familiar and relatable, but it also demonstrates pride and suggests loyalty.

12. Hobby integration

Showcase people using your product while engaged in various hobbies – such as painting, gardening, cycling, or cooking – showing its versatility and appeal to a broader audience.

13. Animal inclusion

Animals and pets tend to evoke a warm, approachable feeling, making your images more endearing and relatable to pet owners and animal lovers.

14. Remote work/learning environments

Showing how your product can be integrated into a remote work or learning environment can be very relatable in our current climate. 

15. Health and wellness

If your brand is related to personal care and health, focusing on health and wellness themes, like yoga sessions, meditation, or fitness routines, will likely strongly resonate with your audience.

Picking Shots: No Easy Feat

Executing a lifestyle shoot is a multifaceted process that involves numerous members of our team and our client’s team and encompasses five stages: conceptualization, pre-production, production, post-production, and delivery. 

One of the toughest parts of a lifestyle photography or videography project is choosing which images and footage to use and which will ultimately stay on the cutting room floor! It’s a process during post-production that starts with easy weeding and is followed by a careful exercise of elimination. 

Once the best-of-the-best images are selected, it’s important – especially because these are lifestyle shots – that final edits keep realism and consistency top of mind. Conducting authenticity checks ensures edits are true-to-life and are not over-altered to the extent that they misrepresent reality or the essence of the brand. Getting feedback from different stakeholders confirms which images feel most true of the brand’s ethos and the original intent of the shoot.

How will you tell your brand story? Connect with us to discuss how to make your brand not just relatable, but highly desirable. We can’t wait to brainstorm lifestyle photoshoot and video shoot ideas with you and make our collective vision a breathtaking reality!