What is Industrial Machinery Photography?
Industrial environments are beautiful in and of themselves. There’s just something unique about capturing the process of hard work and machinery.
However, despite this uniqueness, industrial companies rarely consider industrial machine photography.
They look at it as an expense with no ROI. But they couldn’t be any more wrong.
Capturing your machinery can greatly benefit an industrial brand. It can be used for advertising, pitch decks, presentations, and so on.
Industrial Machine Photography Definition
Industrial machine photography is the practice of capturing industrial machinery and their impact. These machines can come from multiple sectors—for example, manufacturing, construction, logistics, and much, much more.
Types of Industrial Machine Photography
There are several different types of industrial machinery photography. The most popular types are the following:
1. Machinery in Action
One of the main types of machinery photography is actually capturing the machinery in action. This includes all action also, both from the machine and the crew required.
With this type, the machine or machines are operational. By being switched on, they highlight the movement, power, and purpose of the equipment.
It could be something like a robotic arm in a production facility or packaging machines, etc.
It could also be heavy-duty construction machinery. There are several different industrial machines in this industry. For the most part, you’ll see heavy equipment in mining and oil.
2. Workers with Machines
Another type of industrial machine photography is capturing the workers interacting with the machine.
Despite new technology, not all machines are automated. Some, typically a lot of machines, still require workers to complete a process.
This itself is beautiful. It’s the relationship between humans and machines. Though very opposite, capturing them together can tell a story of a thousand words.
Again, like the first type, capturing workers with machines has various different angles. It could show how the machine operates, how it’s maintained, or just the relationship between the machine and humans.
3. Heavy Equipment
Heavy equipment can be found in multiple industries. Think mining, construction, and logistics. They vary but can consist of cranes, bulldozers, and excavators.
For the most part, these are captured in operation and in outdoor environments. The goal is to showcase the scale of the machine relative to its surroundings. It can also be used to show the power and helpfulness of the heavy equipment.
A lot of the time, these are huge wide-angle shots. At the end of the day, some heavy equipment is huge – almost impossible to capture without a wide-angle shot.
4. Construction Sites
Construction sites fall under various different types of photography. One of these types is actually industrial machinery photography.
For the most part, this is the heavy machinery used in construction sites. We’re not talking about drills, sanders, etc. We’re talking more about large excavators or cranes.
This type of photography can also be used to show the “stage” of construction. However, instead of just focusing on the stage, there’s a specific focus on how machinery has helped with each specific stage.
The unique thing about this type of photography is that it can used for everything. It can be used for your website, a brochure, to update stakeholders, and much, much more.
5. Aerial Views
Aerial photography has taken the world by storm over recent years. Drones are getting better and better and smaller and smaller – which is perfect for photographers.
As you can probably imagine, this type of photography is all about capturing aerial views of industrial machinery and sites. Usually, it’s used when it’s impossible to capture the extensiveness of the machinery or site from a ground-based angle.
6. Manufacturing
Manufacturing is another popular type of industrial machinery photography. For the most part, this is about capturing the machines that produce goods.
This type of machinery photography varies—a lot like the other types mentioned on this list. It could be as simple as capturing an automated assembly line, or it could be used to capture very specialised machinery built for a specific purpose.
It can also be used for various reasons, such as training purposes, documentation, marketing, etc.
7. Industrial Architecture
Moving away from the machines themselves and to the homes that house them is industrial architecture photography.
This isn’t really industrial machinery photography. However, it plays an important role in housing the equipment, especially when it comes to manufacturing or something similar.
The goal here is to capture the “home” of the equipment. It provides extra depth to a company’s image by putting an image to a facility.
Why Get Machinery Photography
The benefits of getting machinery photography may seem limited if you’re in the industrial industry. After all, it’s just an expense, right?
Not at all. After reading the following reasons, you’ll be surprised by the type of return you can get on machinery photography.
Boosting Marketing and Advertising Content
The first has to do with marketing and advertising content. Of course, capturing anything, whether a machine or not, can be used for marketing or advertising.
These images can help your company showcase its equipment, facilities, and, most importantly, operations to potential clients and investors.
It doesn’t matter how either. It could be through social media, a brochure, social media, or even a pitch desk. The options are unlimited.
In addition, you can capture this content once and use it for multiple purposes. There are no rules to it. You can use it in all your marketing content again and again. Making a one-time investment something you can use for years to come.
Enhancing Training and Operational Manuals
Industrial photography can also be used in training and operational manuals.
Simply put, clear, detailed images of machinery and how they work can help employees understand how to operate them.
It can also be used as part of a guide. For instance, safety guides, cleaning guides, etc. This also prolongs the longevity of the equipment.
An investment in this type of photography can have a usage until you replace the equipment. Which, in a lot of industrial settings, is around 10 to 20 years.
Highlighting Technological Advancements
This almost falls under the same bracket of marketing and advertising. However, the main benefit here is showcasing to customers, stakeholders, investors, etc., how you’re spending money to improve your processes and outcomes.
Without question, this can be used for marketing and advertising. However, it can also be used in-house. It can be used to show your employees how you’re investing their hard work to increase the longevity of their employment, etc.
This is probably one of the better benefits when it comes to industrial machinery photography. The ability to showcase advancements in your operations is superb.
It’s something that not many industrial companies should do, as it provides everyone with a much clearer image of how you’re investing in the future.
Establishing Brand Trust and Authority
People trust what people see. If they don’t see anything, they can’t trust anything. Or worse, they don’t even think you’re a real business, as there’s no photo trail of who you are, how you operate, and how you invest your money.
The importance of this cannot be overstated. People need to see what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter if they’re investors or customers. Both parties need to put a face (or organisation) to a product (or service).
By doing this, the investor or customers can trust you. They know who you are, how you operate, and the outcome you produce. Not only that but also with industrial machinery photography, what machinery you use and how you invest in your business.
Documenting Machinery for Legal and Insurance Needs
If anything were to go wrong with a piece of industrial machinery, it could cost thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands.
Because of this, business or even machinery insurance is required. However, without photographic evidence of the before or after of a machine, it can be hard to make a claim.
Simply put insurance (and sometimes for legal matters) requires some type of photographic imagery to view. It can be analysed and referred to when needed.
Of course, this isn’t a hugely beneficial reason. However, if you’re going to get industrial machinery photography anyway, this could be something you add to the list for the photographer.
Please review some of our industrial machinery photography projects.
The Process of Industrial Machine Photography
If you’re going to hire an industrial machinery photographer today, the process is quite simple. For the most part, it looks like the following:
1. Pre-Shoot Planning
The first step of industrial machine photography is the pre-shoot stage.
Simply put, during this stage, we discuss the client’s goals to get a full understanding of the expected result.
During this time, we’ll also talk about what’s required by the customer. For example, if they want photographs of the workers interacting with the machine, the machine must be in operation, and the workers must be there.
There could also be various different goals. For example, an on-site visit can fulfil 2, 3 and maybe even 4 or 5 goals. It really depends on the requirements of the customers.
That being said, this is the perfect time to develop a “shot list”. In other words, a list of images that need to be captured to fulfil their goals.
2. Equipment Selection
Based on our client’s goals, we then need to select the right equipment to bring. This is done without the client’s help.
We plan this a few hours beforehand. This way, there won’t be any mishaps when we arrive on site.
The type of equipment we bring will depend on the goals. However, it can consist of tripods, stabilisers, drones, cameras, etc.
3. Safety Measures
Industrial settings aren’t safe. You have heavy machinery, hazardous materials, and other potential dangers.
Nobody wants to be hurt, so, on-site, we consult with health and safety to get and understanding of how we can be safe on your property.
4. Photography
Once the safety measures have been covered, we then feel confident we can start undergoing the photography. Depending on the size of the project will depend on the time this takes.
We’ll get multiple angles of each shot from our shot list. We’ll also use different photo techniques as well as forms of lighting so we can select the best for post-processing.
5. Post-Processing
Any photography business has a post-processing department. This department helps identify the best photos and edits them to meet the client’s specifications.
The process can be very extensive. It can involve colour correction, exposure adjustments, cropping, and several other enhancements to improve the quality of the image.
Alongside this, more advanced post-processing techniques may be required. For instance, removing objects from the frame, stitching multiple images together, or adding text and/or graphics.
6. Final Delivery
The final delivery will be images that fulfil your goals. These images can be used in whatever way was planned.
You’ll also get revisions if you’re not pleased with the final result. These revisions can be used to improve the images and fulfil your goals.
The way they’ll be delivered will also depend on your requirements. For instance, if you’re using them for digital purposes, we’ll supply them in digital files. If they’re being framed in an office, then we’ll deliver them in print.
Get Machinery Photography in Dubai, UAE Today
If you’re interested in getting machinery photography in Dubai, UAE, then we recommend you contact us.
We’re Masoud Raoufi, and we’ve been helping businesses in Dubai and the surrounding area with photography for over 12 years.
Since then, we’ve helped countless customers with their industrial photography. This includes such photos as machinery all the way to architectural images.
For more information about how we can help, contact us. One of our team members will be more than happy to quote you.
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