At one time or another, you’re bound to face a crisis. Your loved one might be diagnosed with a terminal condition. Your marriage might come to an end. You may find yourself in a dire financial situation.
The list could go on and on. No matter who you are, how much you earn, how rock-solid your life feels, crises are inevitable. But the way you respond to these crises is optional.
Staying strong during a crisis is key to getting through tough times. Here’s how to stay mentally strong during a crisis:
1. Accept reality
When faced with bad news, it’s easy to waste a lot of time thinking things like this can’t be happening, or this shouldn’t be happening to me. But this isn’t the time to waste your vital resources worrying about fairness.
Accept the situation. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with what’s going on, but it does mean that you’re willing to acknowledge reality. Only then can you take positive action.
2. Don’t worry about building strength right now
Trying to build mental strength in the midst of a crisis is like lifting weights right before you try to pick up a heavy box. It’s not the time to worry about strength building—it’s time to put the strength you already have into action.
3. Seek support
Talk to your friends. Ask for help from a professional. Reach out to your loved ones. Whatever you do, make sure you that you ask questions, tell people what you need, and get the emotional support that could assist you.
4. Practice self-care
As difficult as it may be to eat and sleep, it’s important to take care of your body when you’re in the midst of a crisis. Go for a few short walks when you can, make healthy eating choices a priority even when you’re pressed for time, and rest your body and your mind.
5. Ask yourself what advice you’d give to a friend
Sometimes, a crisis requires you to make tough decisions. And when you’re feeling overwhelmed and really emotional, those tough choices may seem impossible to make—especially when you have to make them fast.
Whether you have to decide which medical procedure to try, or you need to find a new place to live, ask yourself what advice you’d give to a trusted friend. That helps take a lot of the emotion out of the equation, which can be key to making the best choice possible (even when you feel as though you’re between a rock and a hard place).
6. Create a helpful mantra
Develop an affirmation, like “I’ve survived tough times before I will get through this too,” and repeat it to yourself as needed. It can help drown out the negative thoughts that are bound to swirl in your mind, and it can keep you on track so you can move forward.
7. Prioritize what needs to get done
When you’re in the middle of a crisis, you’re going to likely need to give some things up so you can focus your energy on the task at hand. Create a to-do list that will help you prioritize what needs to get done. And write things down, as your memory is sure to fail at times when your stress level is high.
8. Find time to experience your emotions
While you don’t want to suppress your emotions forever, there are also times you need to regulate your feelings so you can be productive. Crying in the doctor’s office might get in the way of being able to ask the questions you need answers to. Similarly, allowing fear to take hold might prevent you from taking action.
At times, you may need to move forward quickly—with little time to really even think about how you’re feeling. That’s OK when you’re in an acute crisis. But just make sure you set aside time later to let yourself experience painful feelings—it’s a crucial part of healing emotional wounds.
9. Take small steps
A crisis can make you feel overwhelmed by all the things you need to change, accomplish, or solve. Break down those big tasks into small steps.
Whether you need to sort through a loved one’s belongings after they’ve passed away, or you need to shed some serious weight to resolve a health crisis, identify something you can begin working on today.
10. Do something that helps you keep a sense of normalcy
When you’re in the middle of a crisis, you might feel like the entire world is upside-down. Perhaps you spend all day every day sitting in the hospital at a loved one’s side. Or maybe you’re applying for jobs from the time you wake up until the time you fall asleep.
Doing one thing that helps you feel “normal” might help you stay mentally stronger. Watch your favorite show before you fall asleep. Go for a walk in the morning, like you always did before the crisis. Whatever it is, look for one shred of normalcy that you can continue even when life feels anything but normal.
Build Strength After the Crisis Is Over
Once the acute crisis is over, take time to unwind from the stress you endured. Whether that means planning a weekend hike in the mountains or scheduling an appointment with a therapist to help you move forward, take whatever steps are necessary to help you grow from your experience.
Pufferfish Creates Beautiful Underwater Designs On Sand To Attract Female Partners During Mating Period
Nature is the first creator while the man copies it. An amazing little pufferfish’s abilities are going to surprise you. The little one carves ornate symmetrical patterns into the sandy floor to attract female partners. Who need to have pick up lines when bae is such an artist! When the phenomena were discovered in 1995, no one could explain it. A team of researchers has been behind this artistic carving only to know it was puffer fish’s mating rituals. It was divers who first noticed the 2-meter-wide circular structures near Japan’s Amami-Oshima Island. Researchers first thought it was a bigger fish which was doing it, they could not believe that a small fish was doing this.
These are aggressive fish that are willing to attack anyone they perceive as a threat. Puffers usually live alone and do not usually share their territory with other fish.
Fighting instincts: These are aggressive fish that are willing to attack anyone they perceive as a threat. Puffers usually live alone and do not usually share their territory with other fish.
Poison spikes: One of the adaptations that helps the pufferfish survive is the ability to produce a poison known as tetrodotoxin. This toxin is secreted across their body, making puffers dangerous to touch and even more dangerous to consume.
Intimidating posture: These fish might look adorable when they’re puffed up, but the truth is that this trait is an intimidating survival mechanism. Few predators will stick around to eat a fish that has suddenly doubled in visual size.
Romantic disposition: Despite their violent attitude towards humans and other predators, pufferfish are actually quite attached to their mates. The male usually helps the female lay her eggs by guiding her through the water and rubbing her side as she gives birth.
Evolution and Origins
The evolution and origins of pufferfish are not well understood. Pufferfish, also known as blowfish, is a group of fish that are known for their unique ability to inflate their bodies into a sphere-like shape as a defense mechanism. This group of fish is found in various regions around the world, including the coasts of Japan, Africa, and the Americas.
The earliest known pufferfish fossils date back to the Eocene epoch, approximately 56 to 33 million years ago. These ancient fossils suggest that pufferfish have existed in their current form for a long time, and have likely undergone little evolution over this time.
Pufferfish belong to the family Tetraodontidae, which is part of the order Tetraodontiformes. This order of fish is characterized by having four large, fused teeth that form a beak-like structure, and is thought to have evolved from ancient, bony fish that lived in the oceans millions of years ago.
Despite the lack of a clear evolutionary history, it is widely believed that the ability of pufferfish to inflate their bodies evolved as a defense mechanism against predators. By inflating their bodies, pufferfish can make themselves too large to be easily swallowed by predators, and can also produce a noxious substance that can deter predators from attacking.
Classification and Scientific Name
The scientific name of the pufferfish family is Tetraodontidae. This name translates to “four-toothed,” representing the four teeth that typically jut out from the fish’s mouth. These teeth are actually fused with the fish’s jaw, creating the resilience needed to break through hard shells.
Species
There are at least 200 species of pufferfish in existence, which have been classified into 29 genera. Because these are such hardy and resilient fish, it’s easy for them to adapt freely to any environment.
Types of Pufferfish
Some of the most notable types of pufferfish include:
Dwarf puffers
Dwarf puffers: Dwarf puffers, or Carinotetraodon travancoricus, are tiny freshwater pufferfish that are native to the rivers of Southwest India. These fish are popular in aquariums, resulting in severe overfishing that threatens them in particular. Dwarf pufferfish may also be known as peak puffers or pygmy puffers.
Nile puffers: Nile puffers or Tetraodon lineatus are one of the most popular kinds of freshwater pufferfish to keep as a pet. As the name implies, the gorgeous yellow-striped fish are found in the Nile river and throughout Africa.
Takifugu: The genus of pufferfish native to the northwest Pacific Ocean is collectively known as Takifugu; these are the fish that were originally eaten as “fugu.” There are 25 different types of Takifugu, but they are all toxic.
Additional pufferfish include:
Fahaka pufferfish
Dichotomyctere nigroviridis
Blackspotted puffer
Colomesus asellus
Black saddled toby
Tetraodon
White-spotted puffer
Arothron
Torquigener albomaculosus
Sharpnose puffer
Northern puffer
Lagocephalus sceleratus
Longnose puffer
Canthigaster
Lagocephalus
Contusus
Southern puffer
Sphoeroides
Blunthead puffer
Pao
Carinotetraodon irrubesco
Torquigener
Checkered puffer
Bandtail puffer
Guinean puffer
Marilyna
Eotetraodon
Amblyrhynchotes
Appearance
These fish come in a wide variety of sizes, colors, and adaptations. Some puffers are tiny, and others weigh up to 30 pounds. Some of these fish have delicate spines, while others are covered in harsh spikes. However, they all share the same core feature: an air sack that can inflate when the fish feels threatened.
Another feature that almost all of these fish share is the presence of either a sharp beak, a set of teeth, or both. Pufferfish use their beaks and teeth to break apart shellfish; they also use them to aggress against other fish and various types of predators. Even babies are capable of seriously injuring anything that drifts by.
Aside from these features, they actually have rather distinct forms and faces. Takifugu looks completely different from Nile puffers, and pygmy puffers are far smaller than any of the other members of their species.
Distribution, Population, and Habitat
These fish can be found in all of the warm regions of the world. Whether they prefer saltwater or freshwater, most types like to live in secluded areas with plenty of covers. This typically means coral reefs, reed-covered marshes, and anywhere else where water and vegetation coincide.
Because they are not fished as a source of food, there have been no official counts of the population. Although the majority of pufferfish are labeled as least concern, nearly all types of Takifugu are considered to be near threatened. The most vulnerable types are those that are used as either exotic food or exotic pets.
Predators and Prey
These fish are predators and are known for being rather aggressive in fighting other fish off their territories. Pufferfish attack with their sharp hooked beaks, which are normally used for shelling mussels, crabs, and other shellfish.
Because they are covered in poisonous spikes, they have no real natural predators except sharks, which typically do not mind the presence of the poison.
Reproduction and Lifespan
The mating cycle is well-suited to this fish’s name. After two pufferfish have courted each other, the male pushed the female to a safe place along the shore. There, she lays her clutch of eggs, which are light enough to float on the surface of the water. The couple will likely remain in the area until the eggs are hatched.
Pufferfish eggs hatch within a week after they are laid. The baby pufferfish are usually too small to see, but they will grow quickly over the following months. A fully grown pufferfish can weigh as much as 30 pounds.
The hippopotamus is one of the most powerful animals on the planet. Hippos are the third-largest land animals and are native to Africa. When many of us think of hippos, we imagine a big gray blob hanging out in the water and relaxing in the sun. However, you might be surprised to find out that hippos are actually far more interesting than we may have initially assumed.
The hippopotamus is a semi-aquatic mammal native to Africa. It is one of only two species in the Hippopotamidae family, the other being the common or river hippo and the pygmy hippo. The river hippo is the larger of the two, with the majority of its population situated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The common hippo, along with the elephant and rhinoceros, is one of the largest creatures on the globe. A full-grown male can weigh up to 7,000 pounds. A female hippo will typically weigh around 3,000 pounds.
Hippos live in rivers, lakes, and mangrove swamps, where territorial males rule over stretches of water and herds of five to thirty cows and calves. While you will almost always encounter hippos in the water, they actually cannot swim or float. However, hippos can hold their breath for up to 5 minutes. That’s ample time to wander along the lake and riverbed bottoms. Often, only their eyes will be visible, but they will always stay in shallow water during their time in rivers and lakes.
How Long Do Hippos Live?
The average hippo’s lifespan is 40-50 years. Donna the hippo was once one of the oldest captive hippos. She died in 2012, at the age of 61, at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, in the United States. Bertha, the oldest known hippo, has lived at the Manila Zoo in the Philippines since it opened in 1959. Her age was reported to be 65 when she died in 2017.
As we can see, the lifespan of hippos greatly increases when they are living in captivity in comparison to life in the wild. This is because, in captivity, they don’t have to deal with as many external threats or forage for their food. With all of this knowledge on the hippo lifespan, let’s jump into their amazing life cycle.
The Average Hippo Life Cycle
Birth
The hippo’s gestation period is around eight months. Baby hippos weigh between 25 and 50 kg (55 and 110 lbs) when they are born in the water. To take their first breath, they must swim to the surface. The mother usually only gives birth to one calf. However, they can give birth to twins sometimes. At about three weeks, hippos will finally stop nursing and begin to eat grass. Soon after giving birth, the mother and child join hippo schools that offer some protection from crocodiles, lions, and hyenas.
Calves
Hippo calves will never stray far from their mothers. They may feed and even play all on their own. However, they will still always come back to their mother. In fact, hippos do not leave their mothers until they are completely mature, which is around the age of 7-8 years. When the baby hippos are old enough, their mother will teach them to swim. Baby hippos can only stay underwater for a half minute. Mother hippos must safeguard their offspring from male hippos as well. Grown males do not attack the babies on land, but they will attack and frequently kill newborn hippos in the water.
Adulthood
As the babies grow into adults, the females are ready to mate as young as three or four years old, but usually not until they are five or six years old. Males develop more slowly and are ready to breed at around 7.5 years old. This is the age when they will finally leave their mother. Boy hippos frequently find a flock of hippos that has just lost its leader and take over as the group’s leader. The girls, on the other hand, will join their mate pack.
Factors That Impact The Hippo Lifespan
The Hippopotamus population has been falling over the previous ten years for a number of causes. Though the IUCN Red Categorize does not list these animals as endangered, pygmy hippos are considered endangered, while common hippos are classed as vulnerable. According to the IUCN, between 115,000 and 130,000 common hippos are left in the wild.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest factors that impact the hippo’s lifespan:
Hunting: Hippo poaching for their ivory canine teeth and flesh is one of the most serious threats to their existence. Both species have large lower canine incisors, which attract illicit hunting and trapping in addition to their meat. Humans eat both the common and pygmy hippos and use their skins to make jewelry and other goods.
Habitat loss: Large-scale construction near wetland regions, as well as water diversion for agricultural uses, have resulted in severe habitat loss for hippos. In order to keep its hide moist, the amphibious common hippo needs access to a permanent body of water. When droughts and development obliterate rivers and lakes, it faces additional obstacles.
Human conflicts: Every year, hundreds of hippos are killed to reduce human-wildlife conflict. The destruction of wetlands and woods to make way for farming and houses often forces both species to graze on human-occupied lands. To protect their land, farmers have been known to kill hippos.
You can have fantastic products, but if you don’t show how your products will benefit your customers, how will you convert leads into sales? Your products can be introduced to your customers more effectively with lifestyle photography. Best of all, it doesn’t need to cost a fortune.
What is lifestyle product photography?
Lifestyle product photography shows products for sale in the context of the environments in which they’re intended to be used. It makes products more relatable and helps shoppers envision how they’d use the items in their own lives.
Whenever consumers shop for new products online, they learn more about them through text and photos. Written descriptions are great for explaining every little detail—what the product is, how to use it, top features, size, and available colors or materials.
Lifestyle photography, on the other hand, puts the product in the context of everyday consumers. Using the right location, props, and often models, lifestyle photography helps buyers envision what it’s like to own and use the product—as well as how the product might improve their life or how they might feel after purchasing it.
For example, if you sell computer accessories, buyers want to see what the keyboard or mouse pad may look like on a typical desk. If you sell shoes, buyers want to picture how they might style their outfit or use the shoes on appropriate surfaces—trails for hiking shoes or the dance floor in high heels, for example..
Lifestyle photography takes the guesswork out and shows a lifestyle the brand promotes—often aspirational but not entirely out of reach. After all, the goal is to grab attention and encourage shoppers to hit “add to cart.”
Healthcare product provider Carstens supplements its wall-mounted workstation product photos with lifestyle ones. The product shots on a white background are great for inspecting the product. But the lifestyle shot of a nurse attending to a young patient brings context to the company’s products.
Prospective buyers can visualize the product as a valuable addition to their healthcare facility when they see the nurse’s positive interaction with her patient. It also shows Carstens customers that the brand knows patient care and support are pillars of the healthcare industry.
A recent survey found that 51% of consumers believe their relationships with brands start the moment they feel understood by those brands. Lifestyle photos can kickstart that connection, demonstrating you understand consumers’ pain points and how your products can solve them.
What makes lifestyle photos successful is the photography team’s ability to create themes people can relate to. It goes beyond creating a photo that looks good on a website. It can be the start of a positive relationship if customers feel like the brand understands what they need and desire.
Lifestyle vs. product photography
Lifestyle images and product photography both feature products, but the styling and purpose of photos differ. Product photos show your customers exactly what they’re buying, providing views from different angles, with and without packaging.
As a health and beauty brand, you could show a facial cream’s color or texture and the jar it comes in. If you sell lipsticks, you can show different color swatches to help consumers compare them. Some product photos also display what’s included in the purchase, such as any extra accessories, cleaning or care products, or other complementary items.
Ecommerce product photos generally have a white or light gray background—ideal for browsing, hero shots, and third-party marketplace selling. Some brands use colorful backgrounds, props, or product groups to add creativity. Most product shots are high quality and high enough resolution to allow consumers to examine the product from every angle. Some products even have a 360-degree spin.
Lifestyle photos, on the other hand, focus less on product information. The goal of lifestyle photography is to show where and how consumers are likely to use the product, along with the intended results.
Home goods and gifts merchant MOXON London lists a diary for sale on its website. The product page features a lifestyle shot and a white background product photo side-by-side. The left image shows a young professional flipping through a diary—a familiar moment for many at the start of every workday.
The white background product photo on the right shows the layout of each diary spread. A combination of product and lifestyle photos provides consumers with practical information and aspirational lifestyle.
Another example is lifestyle and wellness brand Paris Laundry, which uses both types of photography for its online store. The first photo for the brand’s nourishing facial oil shop listing is a straightforward ecommerce-style product shot with a white background. It shows the packaging and the glass bottle.
Paris Laundry also uses a group photo of its skincare products. This photo highlights other products by the same brand and may help upsell other complimentary items.
Following that, you can see a more creative product shot that still features the same glass bottle with added oil drops and a vibrant grapefruit.
The brand has chosen a female model with dewy skin and minimal makeup for the facial oil’s lifestyle photos. With a smile, she’s holding the glass bottle, ready to use the oil. The styling of the photo mirrors the product’s signature colors of white and gold.
With the claims of rejuvenating skin and minimizing signs of aging, the facial oil’s target audience is likely reflected in the model’s appearance: women buyers who want to look after their skin using luxury skincare with long-lasting benefits.
The importance of lifestyle product photography
Lifestyle product photography brings a new level of intimacy and transparency to browsing products. It can also make the difference between opting in or out of a purchase. Or help decide on keeping the product or sending it back for a refund.
To put it into perspective, a recent study found 37% of shoppers returned their purchases because of unmet expectations. Another 29% felt unhappy the product looked different in person than online. Accurately representing your products through photography is critical to your bottom line.
Lifestyle photos can also answer questions buyers may have. For example, you can show where best to use the product, like at home, in an office or business environment, or outdoors. You can also show the scale of the product. Plus you can repurpose your lifestyle shots for other uses—social media, digital ads, press releases, packaging inserts, brochures, and more.
You can commission two types of lifestyle photos: composites with existing stock photos and your product or photoshoots put together from scratch by photographers, studios, or agencies.
1. Lifestyle photography composites
Lifestyle photography composites involve Photoshopping a product image(s) into another image that features context for your photo setting. This means you don’t need to worry about props or models on set, and you can source backgrounds and context images from stock sites.
A good composite will look natural, so much so you can’t tell it from an actual photograph. To get a natural result, photographers and editors will add elements like natural shadows and make sure the product doesn’t have sharp cut out edges. For example, we created the lifestyle composite below with a stock photo of the kitchen for the background and added the product photo we shot for our client in the foreground. Without knowing, you’d likely think it’s a real photograph.
Some of the benefits of using lifestyle composites instead of organizing a photoshoot include:
Save on model fees. Professional model fees range from $300 to $3000 per day. Plus, photoshoots with models often include hiring a professional hair stylist, makeup artist, and stylist. You also need to add time spent on casting the right talent
Avoid hassle with photoshoot locations. Shooting on location at a private residence usually requires a property release and can cost between $400–$2000 for the day. With a full-on lifestyle shot, you’d also likely need props, a set, and a stylist. The photographer may also require special equipment and an assistant. And if the location has complicated lighting, more advanced retouching may be required.Not to mention the food for cast and crew is an often-overlooked expense.
Reduce costs overall. A full day of professional-level lifestyle photography can result in around 5–10 final looks in a day, can involve between 5–6 different parties, and cost $2000–$10,000. The budget for composites pale in comparison. In fact, you can get lifestyle composite shots from POW for as little as $150 per image—pricing that makes for easy budgeting and planning.
2. Products in-use
Lifestyle photoshoots organized from scratch show products in use. These photos are taken on location in the original scene they depict. Unlike composites, lifestyle photos aren’t edited onto new backgrounds. Instead, it’s all shot together at once.
For example, baby and children clothing brand Monica + Andy uses lifestyle photos, both with and without models. The first photo shows a set of play chairs for toddlers. The background looks like an authentic children’s room, although the image might have been shot in a studio. The leftover fruit on the table implies children have just been there. The second photo shows two content toddlers sitting in chairs and playing at the table. The model outfits are carefully coordinated, as are all the props in the photo.
To execute a photoshoot like this, it’s essential to hire an experienced lifestyle photographer—even though it comes at a high price.
Lifestyle photography tips
If you want to hire a photographer for lifestyle photography, follow our tips to make the most of your photoshoot. If you haven’t done this before or weren’t satisfied with the results the first time, these suggestions will help you prepare for every stage of the process.
Stay organized
As you start with your first lifestyle shoot, set up a simple, accessible file management system to store your photos. You may reuse them in the future. Having an organized asset library will speed up the process when you or a marketing team member need to use a photo you’ve ordered in the past, even more so if your team works remotely. We recommend using a standard naming convention for your assets so that as your business expands, your organizational process can also handle the scale.
Be clear with your vision
Once you have a better idea of your brand’s visual identity, it’s time to brainstorm and share shoot ideas with your photographer. You can use Pinterest to create moodboards with photos that align with your branding and ideas for scene setups, model outfits, product placement, and more.
It’s easy to go overboard with your vision, but your photographer can advise what’s feasible, given the timeframe and budget. Make sure you know which products you want to shoot and have the stock ready—you may want to get more than one unit of the same product in case any get damaged before or during the shoot.
To keep everything on track, it helps to create a shot list. This will help you ensure you’ve covered all the bases as well as your photographer understand your expectations.
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Show your brand’s values and personality
Lifestyle photos should reflect your brand’s values and personality. For example, is your business eco-friendly, or does it target the latest technology trends? Is your brand inclusive, or does it stick to traditional values? Knowing if your brand is more playful, relaxed, serious, or polished can help your photographer understand what photos to create.
Fur, a vegan skincare brand, markets itself to bodies of all types. The brand’s modern, off-the-cuff vibe is also reflected in its product shots. For example, the lifestyle photo for bath drops shows a grainy photo taken with direct camera flash, reminiscent of retro film photographs taken in the spur of the moment.
On the other hand, the sea-inspired bath and body brand Old Whaling Company opts for a more polished, classic look. The lifestyle photo for its bar soap set is bright with soft lighting and crisp details. The styling signals a more traditional bathroom setup compared to Fur.
Mix it up
Why only promote one product at a time when you can include others in your photos? Use other products from your line as props in the background or mix and match to add texture, color, and visual interest.
Sustainable home care product retailer Full Circle highlights its soap dispenser in the lifestyle photo above. But you can also see other matching products in the background. Not only do the other items help create a realistic kitchen scene, but they also show consumers how the products work well together.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes
If you need ideas for lifestyle photos, think about questions your customers may have about your products, such as where they should use them. For consumers to be able to relate to your photos, use models whose appearance, body language, and outfits reflect the product’s target audience.
Not sure what questions your customers have? Check with your customer success team to see what types of queries they’re getting. You might also check your on-site search report to see if people are searching for answers on your site.
Maintain your standards
If you receive poor-quality photos, consider whether it’s worth using them at all—a bad-quality photo may be more damaging than no photo at all. You don’t want to get off on the wrong foot and scare people away with a bad first impression. At the same time, reflect on what may have gone wrong to lead to a negative outcome.
Double-check your brand guidelines and photoshoot requests in case of a communication breakdown. It’s also possible it wasn’t the right photographer for your brand.
Maximize your investment
You’ve already invested time and money into a new set of lifestyle photos—now is the time to bring a return on your investment. Make the most of them in other parts of your marketing besides product listings on an online store or website.
Sharing lifestyle photos on social media is an excellent way to raise brand awareness. In a recent study, almost half (48%) of online shoppers reported social media is a good source for discovering new products. As many as 87% took action after seeing a product they liked on Instagram: they followed the brand, visited its website, or made a purchase.
How to get lifestyle photography
Depending on your budget, you have several options to get lifestyle photos for your business. Don’t be discouraged if your business is small and you don’t have a substantial amount for photography now—there are ways you can still get lifestyle photos worth sharing on your website or online store.
Hire a photographer or a studio
Hiring a qualified photographer or studio gives you access to professionals who live and breathe photography. While the most costly route, it typically yields the best results.
Find a photographer with a portfolio that matches your brand style. Every photographer has a different style and niche. A photographer who takes dark, edgy photos outside may not be a good fit for a bright, fun indoor children’s product photoshoot.
Compare at least three estimates. This is standard, and it’s the only way to get a sense of what’s realistic and required to make your expectations a success.
Keep your expectations reasonable. A normal lifestyle shoot is around 5-10 looks in a day with one model. Think of a look as a scene or setup. If you want an estimate for 100 looks, the quote will increase accordingly.
Pay attention to each photographer’s portfolio. Some beginners might have a few nice photos, but you don’t want to hire someone who is not up to the task. The more you compare, the better you’ll get at spotting good and bad photos.
Hire a studio to photograph your product and then edit it onto a stock photo. An experienced team of photographers and editors will match your product with an existing stock photo for a realistic composite, so you don’t have to spend time and money organizing a lifestyle photoshoot. Look out for all-inclusive pricing, so you don’t have to pay extra to use your photos commercially—when you work with POW, for example, you pay just $150 per image. That’s it. When comparing studios, check for examples with realistic shadows and lighting.
Get creative using social media
If you have a fun lifestyle brand Instagram influencers will love, you might be able to get someone to do it for trade or part-commission-part-trade. When looking for potential collaborations, keep an eye out for influencers who do their own photography in a style that will work for your brand, too.
Do it yourself
If you’re not up for hiring a professional product photographer, you may want to try doing it yourself. The results will probably be similar to a low-production shoot.
There’s nothing wrong with that, and you should go for it. Especially if you have creative or technical experience or have friends, family, or industry colleagues who are glad to assist and can contribute their talents or experience.
An essential thing to look out for is lighting in your setup. Soft lighting works wonders. You can use a large white diffuser to eliminate harsh shadows or bright spots. A solid backdrop is also a good idea, and getting the product in focus is key.
It’s okay if you don’t have the latest photo equipment—the camera on the smartphones released in the past few years will be fine, too. Just remember lighting makes all the difference if you’re going to DIY lifestyle product photography.
The purple sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus ) is a small bird in the sunbird family found mainly in South and Southeast Asia but extending west into parts of the Arabian peninsula. Like other sunbirds they feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. They have a fast and direct flight and can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird but often perch at the base of flowers. The males can appear all black in harsh sunlight but the purple iridescence is visible on closer observation or under good light conditions. Females are olive above and yellowish below.
This small sunbird has a relatively short bill, a dark and short square ended tail with distinctive sexual dimorphism. Less than 10 cm long they have a down-curved bill with brush-tipped tubular tongues that aid in nectar feeding. The male is glossy metallic bluish to purplish black on the upper parts with the wings appearing dark brown. The breeding male also has underparts of the same purplish black, but non-breeding males may show a central streak of black on yellow underparts. (Birds in this eclipse plumage were once designated as a species, C. currucaria.) In the breeding plumage, the male can be confused with the syntopic Loten’s sunbird which has a long bill and a distinctive broad maroon band on the breast. Breeding males will sometimes show their yellow pectoral tufts in displays. There is a patch of bright blue on the shoulder of breeding males. The maroon shine on the feathers of the collar around the neck is visible mainly during the breeding seasons.
Females are olive brown above with a yellowish underside. There is a pale supercilium beyond the eye. There is a darkish eye stripe. The throat and breast are yellow, becoming pale towards the vent. The outer tail feathers are tipped in white both in the male and female. The young are just like females in plumage, however, the males get black feathers as they become adults. They are seen in pairs or small groups and aggregations may be found in gardens with suitable flowers. They feed mainly on nectar but also take fruits and insects. Groups of as many as 40 to 50 individuals have sometimes been noted.
Habits and Lifestyle
These birds are very vociferous and will call and will join to mob owls or other predators. The song is rapid rattle followed by ringing, metallic notes. Other call notes include a “chwit” or “chwing!” notes. The primary breeding season is before the Monsoons, April to June in northern India and January to June in Sri Lanka. While feeding they flick their wings. They rarely hover at flowers and usually perch to forage for nectar. They are important pollinators of some plant species such as Butea monosperma, Acacia, Woodfordia and Dendrophthoe. but they sometimes steal nectar by slitting flowers such as Hamelia patens at the base. They are known to feed on small berries such as those of Salvadora persica and cultivated grapes. Insects are sometimes caught by flycatching.
In courtship displays the male raises his head, fans his tail and flutters with partly open wings that expose the pectoral tufts and sings before the female. The nest is a pouch made of cobwebs, thin strips of vegetation, lichens and bark. The entrance hole on the side is often shaded by an overhanging projection. The nest is built almost entirely by the female. The nest material is not woven and most of it is held together by cobwebs. About five to ten days may be taken in the building of the nest. The inner cavity is expanded by the bird by opening its wing and turning around on the inside. In Sri Lanka and in southern India, it sometimes builds its nest by modifying and lining the cobweb structures formed by colonial or ‘social’ spiders, Stegodyphus sarasinorum (Eresidae). Two eggs are usually laid. The nest is usually suspended from a low branch, often of thorny plants but are sometimes built close to human habitations, attached to wires or other man-made objects and even indoors in an unused toilet. Only the female incubates the eggs which hatch after 15 to 17 days. Males assist in feeding the chicks although females involve themselves to a greater extent, making more trips as the chicks get older.
Sunbirds have been known to live for nearly 22 years in captivity.
The vulturine guineafowl, which gets its name from its bald head like a vulture’s, lives on the dry savannah, in semi-desert areas and the thorny deserts of southern Uganda and Somalia, east Kenya and northeast Tanzania.
They normally live in small groups, spending the whole day on the ground and only go up into the trees to sleep or escape their predators.
NATURAL HABIT
It is distributed in Africa, from south and east Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya to northeast Tanzania, where it prefers arid and semi-arid regions like savannahs.
Appearance
The vulturine guineafowl is a large (61–71 centimetres (24–28 in)) bird with a round body and small head. It has a longer wings, neck, legs and tail than other guineafowl. The adult has a bare blue face and black neck, and although all other guineafowl have unfeathered heads, this species looks particularly like a vulture because of the long bare neck and head.
The slim neck projects from a cape of long, glossy, blue and white hackles. The breast is cobalt blue, and the rest of the body plumage is black, finely spangled with white. The wings are short and rounded, and the tail is longer than others in the family Numididae.
The sexes are similar, although the female is usually slightly smaller than the male and with smaller tarsal spurs. Young birds are mainly grey-brown, with a duller blue breast and short hackles.
Habits and Lifestyle
The vulturine guineafowl is a gregarious species, forming flocks outside the breeding season typically of about 25 birds. This species’ food is seeds and small invertebrates. This guineafowl is terrestrial and will run rather than fly when alarmed. Despite the open habitat, it tends to keep to cover, and roosts in trees. It makes loud chink-chink-chink-chink-chink calls.
It breeds in dry and open habitats with scattered bushes and trees, such as savannah or grassland. It usually lays 4–8 cream-coloured eggs in a well-hidden grass-lined scrape.
Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis): a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East.
There are three members of the Procaviidae or hyrax family: the rock hyrax, tree hyrax, and bush or yellow-spotted hyrax.
Size and Weight:
Hyraxes measure 12 to 23 inches in length and measure 8 to 12 inches in height, at the shoulder. They weigh 4 to 13 pounds.
Appearance:
While the rock hyrax looks like a large guinea pig or a rabbit with rounded, short ears and no tail, it is neither. The rock hyrax shares an ancestor with the elephant and has similar teeth, toes, and skull structure to that of an elephant. It has strong molars, which it uses to eat tough vegetation, and two large incisor teeth that grow out to be tiny tusks, just like an elephant.
The rock hyrax’s coat ranges in color from yellowish to grayish-brown, with a lighter underbelly. On their back, they have a dorsal gland, or sweat gland, which is covered with longer, darker hairs. This gland is used to mark rocks or trees to communicate with other hyraxes. They have short legs and stumpy toes with hoof-like nails. They have longer, claw-like nails, called a grooming claw, on the inner toe of the back foot that is used for grooming and scratching. In comparison to the other two hyrax species, the rock hyrax’s head is more rounded and the nose is blunt.
Diet:
The rock hyrax is diurnal and typically feeds during the daytime. Although they spend only about five percent of their time doing active pursuits like searching for food and spend the rest of their time lounging and doing nothing. Their diet varies depending on the time of year. During the wet season, rock hyraxes eat mostly grass. However, when the grass dries, they switch to fruits and leaves. Their stomachs have three chambers with bacteria, which help them to digest the plants they eat. When they feed, groups form a circle formation with their heads pointing out to keep an eye out for predators.
Habitat:
Their habitat includes the savanna, shrubland, desert, and rocky areas, such as inland cliffs and mountain peaks.
Geography:
All three hyrax species live throughout most of Africa. However, rock hyraxes are also found along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula up to Lebanon.
Breeding:
Within their large colonies, there is typically one male for every five to seven females that patrols a certain territory. Hyraxes have extremely long pregnancies, with a gestation period of seven to eight months. A female gives birth to 1 to 4 pups at a time, usually around the same time once each year. Infants are born with their ears and eyes open and within an hour after birth, they can run and jump. They look like miniature adults with the same luxuriant coat.
Nursery groups are formed within the colony for all the babies, where mothers take turns babysitting the pups. While the pups suckle until they are three months old, they begin to eat vegetation within the first three days of birth. Over the next few months of their lives, the young learn from their mother, siblings, and other group members by watching and then repeating the actions they see. While females stay within the same colony for life, males leave the colony at about two years of age to go live on the outskirts of another colony and perhaps take it over one day.
Social Structure:
Rock hyraxes are social animals that live in colonies of up to 50 individuals. They share sleeping areas and look for food together. The group begins their day by sunbathing for several hours. Once warmed up, they head out for a short period of feeding. If the weather is cold or rainy, they will not leave their rock shelter.
Lifespan:
The rock hyrax median life expectancy is 4.9 years.
Threats:
There are no major threats to this species and are even considered a pest in some areas, competing with farmers by eating their plants. They are hunted for their meat and soft fur, but their population remains stable.
Not a flat. Not an apartment in back. Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s . A house all my own. With my porch and my pillow, my pretty purple petunias. My books and my stories. My two shoes waiting beside the bed.
Nobody to shake a stick at. Nobody’s garbage to pick up after.
Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.
NATURAL HABIT
Autumn 