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Before and after photos are a powerful marketing tool for aesthetic practices because they show potential clients what they can expect from your services. However, these images are only effective if they’re of high quality and portray accurate representations of a person over the course of their treatments at your practice.
Even in this digital age, too many med spas are still missing out on this powerful marketing tool. If you want to stand out from your competition, great before and after photographs are vital.
Why Use Before and After Photos?
Before and after photos help convert leads into actual clients. They’re one of the best ways to showcase your work and communicate with potential clients about what to expect from treatment.
The right before and after images also help attract new clients, as the best photos are high-quality representations of clients across multiple visits. These images will capture attention on your website, across social media channels, or in print ads. Before and after photography is a powerful marketing tool that every med spa can benefit from.
The reason is simple: people trust pictures more than they trust words — especially when it comes to communicating the benefits of a cosmetic procedure.
How to Create Accurate and Effective Before and After Photography
Creating a compelling before and after photo involves several key steps:
1. Use Proper Lighting
Lighting is vital to creating good before and after photographs. It’s important to make sure that you have the same lighting throughout all your photos.
Bright sunlight or bright artificial lights can wash out the skin, apps such as RxPhoto automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast of your photos so that you get consistent lighting.
These added benefits can take your photography to the next level, and make a huge difference in the quality of your photography no matter where your taking pictures, or what the setting is.
Natural light makes for better lighting in photos than artificial light does. If you have a room with good natural light, use it! If not, make sure you’re using photographic lighting equipment when taking your pictures to further enhance the quality of your photos.
2. Staying Consistent Is Key
One thing to keep in mind when taking before and after photos is the importance of consistency. You want to make sure that each person gets their pictures taken in the same place with the same lighting and background for an accurate representation of their results. RxPhoto allows users that ability to remove and replace backgrounds in their photos. This makes it as easy as possible for users to gain consistent and high quality photos.
If you are taking pictures for an online portfolio, the RxPhoto app can help you make sure that each picture is taken at a consistent angle so that viewers can draw easy comparisons between treatments. This is done with ghosting options as well as onscreen guides to ensure you get the sizing, distance, and angles perfect every time.
After your clients have finished their procedures, it’s time to do follow-up evaluations and take their after photos. Always be consistent with your camera settings, lighting conditions, and time of day so that your clients’ results are accurately represented in each set of photos.
3. Choose Consistent Angles
The best way to capture consistent before and after photos is to pick an angle that works for your treatment area.
For example, if you are taking a photo of the treatment zone for body contouring, you want to make sure your camera is parallel to the ground so that it remains consistent from photo to photo. This approach will help ensure that your clients’ results are accurately represented in each picture.
4. Avoid Filters
Don’t use filters in before and after photos. You want to make sure that you’re showing real results. Filters can do a lot for an image, but what looks good on Instagram isn’t always ideal for your med spa’s marketing materials.
5. Be Careful with Security and Privacy
Before taking any photos, make sure you explain to your client that you’d like to use their photo for marketing purposes. Whether it’s for a blog post or an email campaign, you’ll need to obtain written consent from a client before sharing their image online.
If they agree to let you use their image, then have them fill out consent forms in writing. Signing a release form gives them the option of “opting in” or “opting out” of having their before and after photography shared online or on social media.
6. Keep Your Camera Stable
Use a tripod or other stable surface, so there is no camera shake. This stability is especially important if the client is not looking at the camera directly (more on this later).
7. Capture Multiple Shots
When taking before and after photos, make sure that you take plenty of them so that when it comes time to choose the best, you have options. There will always be some shots that turn out better than others, so having more gives you a better chance of picking out something great.
How RxPhoto Can Amplify Your Before and After Photography
With the RxPhoto mobile app, you can quickly capture client photos on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device.
To take a photo using the app, simply select the area of the body you want to capture, adjust camera settings such as flash and brightness, take the picture using the timer feature and save. You can even use the drawing tool to highlight specific areas of concern.
With the ability to highlight specific areas of concern, this feature makes for a powerful consultation tool that can be used to discuss procedure options with your doctor. With the addition of the visualizer tool, you can even get a photoshopped image right in the app that shows you what your potential results may look like.
You can use RxPhoto to store and organize your before and after photos in one place. This cataloging is especially useful if you have multiple practitioners working at your practice.
The software lets you set up user roles with different levels of access to your photos. For example, you might have an admin role that has access to all photos, while another role only has access to specific categories of photos.
RxPhoto also allows you to share your before and after photos with clients online or through text messages. You can also use RxPhoto’s photo editing tools to customize photos for a more professional look.
Complete with PatientNow integration and built-in consent forms, RxPhoto makes it possible for your brand to capture before and after images that highlight your expertise and help your clients see their progress.
To learn more, please speak with our experts about RxPhoto features or schedule a demo to experience our innovative before and after photography software firsthand.