Product Photography

I’m pretty sure you have a latest-generation smartphone, and it has a built-in camera, so probably you don’t even need expensive pro gear to produce some stunning images of your products. As soon as you’ve done it, your customers will be amazed, and your sales will start skyrocket! For every eCommerce store, product photography is vital: 93% of online shoppers consider photographs to be the critical factor in their buying decision. The following product photography tips will transform you from an amateur photographer to almost a PRO.

Between optimising your organic rankings and producing perfect product listings, there is a chance that actually you haven’t got enough time to learn the art of product photography. So we have put together some quick-to-learn product photography tips for very busy people.

Lighting

Let’s start with lighting. Neither your object nor your backdrop will look how they should if you don’t get it right. There are two types of product photography lighting: artificial lighting and ambient lighting. Your budget and general knowledge about photography will help you decide which route to go. Ambient light, however, can work well for perishable items and also people. These natural-looking shots will do very well on social media, like Instagram or Facebook. If you’re shooting indoors, you want to place your product next to the light source such as window to take advantage of the natural light that comes through. If you want to shoot outdoors, do it. If the sun is out, the best times will be early mornings and late afternoons when the shadows are not too harsh, but this will highly depend on the time of year. Overcast days are always better - the light will be more even and a lot softer. For most products, especially if you want to feature every detail of your product, then artificial lighting is preferable.

Tripod

If you are relying on the ambient light tripod is a must! Putting your camera on a tripod will reduce the blur, and significantly improve the quality of your product photos if you are shooting at very slow shutter speed. Believe me; tripods make a massive difference!

Post-production

If you believe that you can take a ton of poor product photographs and use your Photoshop skills, think again. Post-production can make a big difference in the quality of a product shot, but there are some limits to what you can do. Generally, editing is about touching up and enhancing a perfectly lit product photograph. If you need to manipulate the image heavily, that’s a potential problem. In essence, the time you spend in post usually is longer than the time you spend fine-tuning the lighting and positioning your object correctly. Try to get it right in camera! Although retouching should be minimal, it’s a very usuefull skill to have in your product photography arsenal. Few minor edits – like matching the colour and removing the dust and minor scratches will make the final photo to look professional.

Inspiration

Look at your competition for inspiration and see what they are up to. Have a closer look at their digital content and try to visualise how something similar could work for your brand. Reflecting on what you like about your rivals can help you to create powerful content for your own products? The focus of each shot should be on the product. Keep it very simple; every prop should be relevant and within your colour scheme. When someone comes across your product photos and can’t imagine themselves owning it, they won’t buy! Usually, before anyone makes a purchase, they need to be sure that the product they are about to buy will be useful and improve their lives somehow. It makes it very difficult to visualise yourself using a product when they are out of context. For instance, someone who is looking to buy a fishing rod can’t really see himself buying one that’s shown sitting in the middle of a barn, but he is very likely to buy one that’s advertised in a relevant outdoor context.

Specifications

The Internet provides enormous opportunities for e-commerce businesses like yours. However, some platforms might ask you to follow some specific guidelines when it comes to product photography. Keep your product photographs simple, don’t overcrowd the background, so the product you are selling don’t get lost. For background, simple neutral colours like mauve, beige, and grey will work well, but white is always the best option. The white background is a default requirement if you are selling on sites like Amazon or eBay. Also, you might be asked to submit your product photos as TIFFs of JPGs or provide them renamed to match some templates.

Detail

You can create a very straightforward description of your products, but you can never be sure that your prospects will get the message. For some people, a couple of bullet points will do the trick, others need visual examples to help them to understand what your product has to offer. To achieve this, take multiple photos of every angle. For instance, if you are selling wallets, your product photos should showcase every single feature - inner pockets, the texture of the leather, stitching, zipps, etc..

Infographics

This type of product photography will work well if you sell items that have features you can’t clearly demonstrate with a set of standard product shots. Remember, people are not going to purchase unless they fully understand what it is and how it works. Infographic image is a powerful way to demonstrate many different features of your product. Infographic photos are also beneficial if you sell many product variations under the same category.