Visualising Values With Help For Heroes
Help for Heroes is a wonderful charity that supports veterans and their families. As well as fundraising through various community activities, they have an online shop full of branded garments that supports the cause.
Their purpose-driven clothing and accessories help raise awareness of the charity and allow customers to wear the brand values proudly. We were thrilled to be approached by their team and couldn't wait to get started!
The Brief
Help for Heroes wanted to fill their website full of exciting and relatable images of their new clothing ranges that would appeal to a new audience as well as current supporters of the charity. T-shirts, jackets, hoodies, jumpers and a whole range of branded accessories needed images - this was no small project!
A mix of image styles was suggested to provide both inspiration for customers and clear ecommerce listings.
The project included a location shoot that focussed on empowering activities and community, underpinned by feelings of warmth, hope and support. These images would support the charity's storytelling throughout their marketing activities.
Additionally, Help for Heroes required professional studio model images that were engaging, and flat lays that provided a consistent and clear look across all listings. The garments were unisex, and this needed to be easily understood from the images.
Planning The Project
Our Production Manager Katy looked after this project for us. The shoots had to be organised around stock availability. This meant the shoots were split into two separate shooting days taking place weeks apart.
There were plenty of challenges for Katy that covered model availability, location sourcing, and weather. This wasn't an easy project to organise and we had to be flexible.
Katy booked the chosen models from our regular partner Face Model Management, with five models in total for the two days.
We found several locations in our local area ideal for the shoot, helping ease the logistical challenges. Our surroundings of green spaces, flowing water, and established woodland were perfect.
On Location
The theme was friends on a walk, crossing fields, visiting a river, and having a brew afterwards. Our lead photographer Paul accompanied four of the models for the location shoot. We got lucky with the weather, being blessed with bright sunshine on both days.
However, the glare from the sun had potential to over expose the images or make the models squint. Paul's experience with location shoots played into his hands, allowing him to use the sun to his advantage, creating purposeful glare in some of his images that contributed to the spring/summer feel.
In The Studio
Our studio session was split between simple flat lay images, and a model shoot. The mix of imagery would give Help for Heroes' customers a comprehensive visual of all the products allowing the charity to capture buying intent effectively.
To turn the shoot around quickly, several members of our photography team worked on the project - our fashion studio was busy! There was a great atmosphere during the shoots, encouraging the models to show some personality in front of the camera.
The flat lays were handled with precision, ensuring even lighting and focus across the garments to keep them consistent.
Creative Shots
The brief contained a selection of creative concepts that our team could have fun with. There were various arrangements of flat lays and hanging garments that would provide engaging images for web and social media use.
Go Behind-The-Scenes
Our Director Will takes you on set and on location with our photographers. Plus, Katy explains how she juggled the planning for the various elements of the project.
The Final Images
In total, we completed post-production on over 300 images, ready to be used by the Help for Heroes team. Here's a selection across the location, studio and flat lay shoots.
The Images In Use
The mix of photography styles work well together across the ecommerce site. The model images are engaging and help to tell a story, whilst the studio shots provide clarity to the listings. The diversity of images has also provided the charity with options for their social media content.
Help for Heroes
You can visit the Help for Heroes shop to take a look at their clothing range.
