The Brief
Our collaboration with Help for Heroes, a well-known charity supporting the Armed Forces community, was an exciting project full of fun and personality. With their growing online shop offering an increasing range of clothing and gifts, Help for Heroes wanted ecommerce and lifestyle photography that captured the charity’s ethos.
This project was a full team effort, from set building and styling to perfect photography and retouching. Our aim was to deliver images that not only look great but also connect emotionally with customers. This brief required both sharp ecommerce photography for their online shop and atmospheric lifestyle imagery for their social media and website content.
Representing Brand Values
Help for Heroes operates with a purposeful mission: to support the Armed Forces community and their families through comprehensive services and fundraising initiatives. Their ecommerce site is one of the many ways people can show their support, making every purchase a way to give back.
The charity wanted their images to reflect this blend of purpose and quality. Our task was to showcase their product range in a professional, appealing way, while also capturing lifestyle moments that felt warm, authentic, and relatable.
A Morning In The Studio
The first half of the shoot focused on ecommerce photography, centred around a clean studio set with a light grey backdrop to keep attention squarely on the garments. Our lead photographer Paul worked with models Zara Phillips and Phillip Barden from Face Model Agency for the shoot.
The models were styled in everyday jeans to keep the casual look consistent across different tops and accessories. Our approach to ecommerce photography for Help for Heroes followed a consistent style:
- Studio model shots were captured in both 3x4 and square formats, providing versatility for product listings and social media.
- Logo and detail shots were carefully highlighted, with garments positioned to emphasise design features without unnecessary white space.
- The models were not overly posed, with relaxed, smiling and laughing facial expressions.
This ensured a full catalogue of images ready for immediate use across the online shop.
Flat Lay Shots
Help for Heroes wanted some creative flat lay shots as part of the project. Paul set up several creative arrangements featuring products of the charity's core range. The styling reflected the theme of the shoot with a warm tone to the wooden flooring images, and a Christmassy feel to the card images. Our team also delivered ecommerce flat lay images of all the garments and accessories. Flat lays were styled meticulously, with garments smoothed to perfection, armpits tucked under, and hoods positioned neatly.
Creating A Cosy Lifestyle Set
The afternoon session moved into our room set studio for lifestyle photography designed around an autumn/winter aesthetic. Help for Heroes wanted imagery that would translate into emotive seasonal marketing campaigns, cosy, family-oriented, and full of warmth.
Our set builders and stylist Charlie Sherry brought the mood board to life by building a lounge setting with a lamp-lit atmosphere and carefully chosen seasonal props. Key creative touches included:
- A colour palette of deep autumnal tones, complemented by soft cosy textures and furniture.
- Props such as wool blankets, board games, and warm drinks to depict an evening spent indoors.
- Ambient lighting achieved using lamps in the set and and studio lighting.
- Wear with items such as thick socks and slippers to rustic brown boots, grounding the imagery in a natural lifestyle setting.
Lifestyle Modelling
Zara and Phillip embraced their roles, engaging with the set in natural, relaxed ways, relaxing on the sofa, sharing laughter whilst playing board games, and embodying the friendly spirit of the brand. Paul worked to capture candid-style shots alongside posed compositions, resulting in a balance of a lifestyle feel and focus on the products.
The variety of crops, both portrait and landscape, ensured that Help for Heroes could use the content flexibly across product pages, campaign banners, and social channels.
Final Images
The shoot resulted in a versatile collection of images that combined the precision of ecommerce with the character of seasonal lifestyle marketing. The ecommerce product shots are now live on the Help for Heroes online shop, perfectly styled and consistent across ranges. The new shots from this project fit naturally alongside our previous shoots for their products.
The lifestyle photographs capture warmth, togetherness, and the charity’s values in a way that will support winter promotions and storytelling campaigns. We were delighted to work with Help for Heroes on this project, contributing our expertise in studio model shoots, creative set building, and lifestyle storytelling. The final images not only showcase the products beautifully but also embody the charity’s vision.
Images In Use
Help for Heroes have used the images on their ecommerce site as well as in their social media posts. The variety of images they received from the shoot provide their team with options. The mix of lifestyle and ecommerce images will help the charity build the brand whilst keeping the products the focus of their ecommerce site.
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