Check out these great tips and tricks from Spouse-ly vendor Sweetellabella when it comes to product photography!
Product photography is one of the most important aspects of any ECommerce business. Since the customer can’t see the product in person, clear and aesthetically pleasing photography is essential to convincing customers to buy your product. Photography is so important that over 90% of online buyers say photo quality is the most important factor in deciding to purchase.
I hope you enjoy the PowerPoint and video on photography basics. My background is in photography and long before I started making jewelry. I am a freelance lifestyle photographer and specialize in animals and children. I also take macro nature photography that I use for my social media. I go through the exposure triangle, DSLR lenses, Metering modes, white balance, basic composition, image quality of RAW vs JPEG, and basic editing. I will also include a few pointers for product photography below.
1. Lighting
When setting up your area for photography make sure that you have proper lighting. Using a lightbox, next to a very well-lit window, and outside in the natural light are three of the most common product photography set ups. If outside in natural light, avoid direct sunlight because that will cause harsh shadows. Finding a Shaded area or waiting for the light about one hour before sunset which is called the “golden hour” in photography will avoid harsh shadows. Always remember to stick to one light source too, don’t mix artificial light and sunlight together.
2. Photo props
When it comes to product photography props, keep it simple. Your focus is the product itself and you do not want to confuse your potential customer on what is exactly for sale. I always say less is more when it comes to aesthetically pleasing photography. Keep props relevant to what your product is. My jewelry is inspired by nature so having natural plants and flowers makes sense, but if I sold coffee posting flowers everywhere would not
make sense at all unless it is a floral flavored coffee.
3. Take multiple shots from different angles and how to use your product
When you have lots of products it is tempting to just take one to three pictures and call it good. I suggest having 5 to 10 photos on each product. Taking pictures of all angles and sides of your product will show your customer exactly what your product looks like. When your customer gets their product you want them to think that the item they purchased looks exactly like the picture or better; you do not want to hear that the product looks nothing like the picture. Taking lifestyle pictures of your product in use is also a must because it helps the customer see themselves wearing or using your product, this tells the story of how the customer needs your product. Include one picture with something to show the size of your product next to an everyday item such as a ruler or a coin.
4. Make sure you get the details
You can describe your product all you want, but the images will always describe the product more than any written word will. The picture comes first to draw a potential customer in and then if they are interested they start to read your description. Therefore, the photo needs to essentially describe your product as much as your written description. Take pictures of your product’s best features and if there is something about your product that sticks out above the rest, make sure there is a good picture of it.
5. Get it right in camera so very little editing needs to be done
It is so easy to tell yourself that you can just fix that in Lightroom or Photoshop until you get to Lightroom and wish you would have taken the time to get the picture correct in the first place in camera. Editing pictures should be an enhancement of an already great photo and not to fix a bad photo because it is like putting lipstick on a pig and the picture is still going to look bad just edited this time.
Hopefully, I have helped to understand photography just a tad more. Now go out and take pictures understanding how to shoot in manual mode so you can have more control of how your images turn out. Photography is an art, and you can use it to create your brand and have fun doing it.