But professional photos may be expensive, and small, new businesses are not always able to afford them. With that in mind, Idea Bank has fitted one of its Warsaw Idea Hub branches with a full-featured packshot studio. Start-up clients can use it for free to produce photos of their products, portray pictures and even to record a video.

In the era of Internet and glossy magazines, exposing the product appropriately is crucial to attracting customers and encouraging a purchase. Graphic representation should provide the users with the same impression they would get from a real-world encounter with the product in question. Technology providers try and outdo one another to affect people’s buying choices with different solutions. Many novel marketing tools and advertising formats, such as the Google Merchant Center or Facebook carousel ads, are aimed point-blank at enticing customers with pictures.

Entrepreneurs often hire advertising photography companies to create pictures of their products. Photo sessions have to be booked at least a few days in advance, and they are associated with high costs that may become a barrier for some businesses, especially the young ones. That’s why our new Warsaw branch at Polna 11 features a fully equipped commercial photography studio for beginning entrepreneurs to use at no charge - offers Jakub Domeracki, head of Idea Bank’s Business Incubator.

The studio is equipped with a light table necessary for taking pictures of small objects, e.g. purses, phones, or cosmetics. It features two canvas backdrops, a grey one and a white one, which may be used for portray sessions or put on the table so as to enable photographing larger objects. Pictures taken with a 20Mpx Canon 70D camera are suitable for print, and the studio has Manfrotto stands and a universal lens. There are three flashbulbs (two 400W and one 800W), along with a few light modifiers, including a softbox and a beauty dish.

A well-taken picture is not everything. Some editing is necessary for the photos to look their best. At Idea Hub’s packshot studio entrepreneurs will find a 23-inch iMac with Adobe software. Amongst available programs there’s Photoshop CC, the most popular digital image editor on the market, Lightroom - used for viewing, classifying and storing pictures, and Bridge, which combines all of those functionalities.

The studio also allows for recording videos, as there are both impulse and continuous lights - perfect for simple movie lighting. LED lamps are also available.

The photos’ quality has a great influence on the company’s image and the perception of its services. Product photography should highlight the most important features of a product and expose its most distinctive elements. It is hard to reach the desired effect with photos taken with a smartphone or a regular reflex camera. One needs professional facilities for that, and thanks to Idea Bank start-up owners now have them at their disposal - says photographer Robert Szaban.

One can visit the studio with a hired photographer and save money on space rental as a result. For clients who prefer to take advantage of the studio unassisted, Idea Bank is to hold a series of training events to pick up some photography and movie-making basics. The participants will be able to bring their own products to practice on. There are three workshop sessions planned for this August. The bank also intends to hold regular group meetings for people who are set on learning how to create their own pack shots.

The studio concept has been put forward by Dominik Fajbusiewicz, Idea Bank board member. He is also the one who stands behind Be Proud, Idea Cloud, Mobile ATMs and Idea Hub. The studio is available at the Polna 11 Idea Hub (Warsaw). It is open Mon-Fri 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM and Sat 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM. It is possible to make an advance booking directly at the branch and via phone or mail, but it is not obligatory.