Do you still think of photography as the disposable wind-up cameras that were used at summer camp when you were a child? Do you believe that your selfie-taking experience is the majority of your photographic skills? You’ve found the right place!
Do not panic if your boss asks you to take “high-quality product photos” to advertise your business online or promote it. With these 14 product photography ideas, tips and techniques, I am confident that you will learn all you need.
Why should I listen to you? Not to boast, but my darkroom skills earned me AP college credits back in the day. In undergrad, I studied studio arts, and photography has been a hobby of mine ever since. It’s not my DSLR or film that I use anymore; it’s my iPhone. (Sad, huh?) How far camera phones have come is amazing. Today, the iPhone has a high-quality, built-in camera. You don’t need to buy expensive equipment.
High-quality product photography is crucial for ecommerce businesses. 93% of consumers strongly>consider visual appearance to be the key deciding factor in a purchasing decision./strong> High-quality product photos are essential for ecommerce businesses. 93% of consumers say that visual appeal is the most important factor when making a purchase decision.
Beginner’s tips on product photography
You may not have time to learn the art of photography. Between optimizing your Google Shopping feed and creating high-converting Amazon product descriptions, you may not have much spare time.
We’ll start with five tips for beginners on product photography.
Lighting is important.
Start with lighting for product photography. Your product and background will not appear as they do in person if you don’t have the right lighting. Tony Northrup, in an article published by the Digital Photography School, says that a white background with no light appears grey in the photograph.
Lighting options for product photography include studio lighting or natural lighting. You’ll need to consider the product you’re going to photograph, the purpose of your photo and the platform you intend to use. Natural lighting is great for pictures of food, people and clothing. These natural-looking photos work well on social media platforms like Instagram.
You’ll want to place your product in front of a window if you’re taking photos inside. This will allow you to capture all the available natural lighting. If you can photograph your product outside, go for it! It is best to photograph your products in the early morning or late afternoon when there is a little sun but not too much. It is also best to choose slightly overcast days. You will get a lot more glare if you take your shoes out at noon when the sun is blazing down.
Artificial lighting is preferred if, on the other hand, your product is used primarily indoors, has small details, or is sold through Amazon and Google Shopping. Knowing a few basic principles and creating a simple setup will help you overcome your fear of lighting.
It may be intimidating to use artificial lighting for product photography, but it’s necessary if you’re advertising on Amazon or Google Shopping. For tips, check out these guides from Light Stalking and this one (a food-specific guide) from Pinch of Yum.
2: Use a tripod
It may seem like an unnecessary, nerdy piece of equipment, but tripods can make a big difference in the quality and clarity of your product photos. They aren’t expensive or hard to use.
Tripods stabilize your camera by stabilizing it from the shakes of your hand. A tripod is essential for reducing blur in your photos.
There are tripods available in different price ranges to suit every camera type. Amazon has a tripod for every camera. Setting up a tripod will make your product photos look better.
Shoot for the Edit
You may have stayed up half-awake to finish a paper, thinking, “I’ll just edit it in the morning.” But, when the morning comes, you find that you need to redo the whole assignment because the first draft was so bad. It takes more time to correct it than to scrap it.
What happens to lazily photographed photos? Think again if you think that you can work Photoshop magic on some sloppy images. Although photography editing can have a significant impact on the quality and appearance of an image, it can only be done so much. Editing is like making minor adjustments to a beautiful work of art. This is a problem if you want to crop out something or change the background completely.
Shoot for the edit when you are taking product photos. This mindset will help you to shoot with the intention of doing minimal editing, which will enhance your photograph without changing it completely. The result will be much more pleasing.
Take a class in basic photo editing.
Although editing is usually minimal, it is still an important skill to know for your product photography. Even small edits, such as adjusting the saturation of your photo or masking minor flaws, can have a big impact on the final product.
It can be overwhelming to try and edit your photos without formal training. You will need to get some basic knowledge before you can edit product photos, especially if you’re using Photoshop.
Don’t worry if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a course in photo editing. You can easily find tutorials on YouTube. You can find many free tutorials on YouTube that teach you how to use the software.
Tips for Product Photography on Instagram
Facebook released insights in February 2019 that showed 83% of Instagram users said the platform helped them discover new products. Plus, 79% said that they sought out more information about a product or service after viewing it on Instagram.
Instagram is a must for ecommerce advertisers. Here are five more tips for product photography.
Inspiration from brands that you love
Inspiration can always be found in others. It’s likely that you already have a few brands in mind. Look at the product photography of these brands and think about how you could use a similar technique or shot for your products.
Imagine, for example, that you run a women’s clothing boutique in your locality. You can find your favourite brands of women’s clothes on Instagram. Please take a look at their product images and decide what you like about them. You may love this post by JCrew. Can you do something similar to highlight your products with the monochromatic colour scheme?
Learn the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is taught in most introductory photography classes and many art classes because it’s a powerful tool. This rule helps you visualize your canvas in nine equal segments.
The rule of thirds is designed to assist artists in creating a balanced composition for each piece. You can also use it to decide where the focal point of your work should be – your product. You want to position your product along the lines and, ideally, at the intersection of two lines.
Darren Rowse, founder of Digital School Photography, says that studies have shown that the eyes of people viewing an image naturally gravitate towards the intersection point rather than the middle of the picture. The rule of thirds is a way to work with the natural way that people view an image rather than against it.
7: Use simple props
Do not be overly ambitious when it comes to props for product photography! Keep in mind that the focus of every product photo should be on the product. Props are welcome to brighten up your photograph and can help you attract viewers.
How do you choose the props? I recommend going light. Keep them simple, in line with the colour scheme, and relevant to your scene or product.
Here’s an example from Erin Clarkson, who I follow on Instagram. She used a white cake stand to display her cake recipe. A container of caramel was also included, as it’s a key ingredient. Fresh flowers were added for a pop of colour. This photo could have been taken without flowers, but the caramel sauce would still be a great prop. But I like how she used these items to enhance her final product.
Take multiple photos from different angles.
It might be tempting to take just one or two shots of each product and then move on. This will not help you with the editing (as we discussed in tip 3!). Take multiple shots of your product from different angles to show your customer exactly how it looks. This will also give you more editing options, so you don’t have to wonder if you should redo the shot.
When I photograph food for my blog, I prefer to take pictures from the top and from different angles.
I have a mental picture of the angle I think will be best, but I am often surprised when I find out that it is not what I thought. It’s great to be able to take multiple shots of your product and then choose the one you like best.
9. Put your product into context
Your prospective customers must be able to visualize themselves using your product. If someone can’t imagine herself using your product when she sees it online, then why would they buy it?
Before anyone with limited income purchases something, they need to be confident that it will improve their lives.
When products are removed from their context, it’s hard to imagine yourself using them. Someone who is looking for a new couch to furnish their apartment probably can’t imagine using the one pictured against a blank backdrop.
As seen here, he could also easily imagine himself sitting on a couch advertised as a part of a house.
Product Photography Tips for Amazon & Google Shopping
10: Use the product photography specifications
Amazon and Google Shopping offer tremendous opportunities to ecommerce marketers like you. You will have to adhere to some rules specific to each platform when it comes time to photograph your products.
Amazon Product Photography Specifications: No variant code; the MAIN variant
- Please submit your product images as either TIFF (.tif/.tiff), JPG files (.jpg/.jpeg), GIF files (.gif), or PNG files (.png).
- The file names for each product photo must be based on this template: the product identifier (e.g. UPC), followed by a space and then the file extension (e.g..jpg). A product photo name might be F000345123.jpg.
- Professional product photos are required. Illustrations are not allowed.
- The photo cannot be augmented with other objects or products.
- If you are selling a book or CD/DVD, your product photo should be the entire cover. All other product images should fill at least 85% of the frame.
- The background must be white. Additional text, graphics or images are not allowed.
Amazon Product Photography Specifications: All Other Products
- The image must be relevant and professional to the product being sold.
- For scale, other products and objects may be allowed.
- Text, images, and graphics that demonstrate the message are permitted.
Google Shopping Product Photography Specifications
- Please submit your product images as either TIFF (.tif/.tiff), JPG files (.jpg/.jpeg), GIF files (.gif), and PNG files (.png) or BMP files (.bmp).
- No stock photos are allowed. No stock photos are permitted.
- Watermarks and borders are not allowed.
- Photos of non-apparel products must have a minimum size of 100 x 100 pixels. Apparel photos must have a minimum size of 250 x250 pixels. You can’t submit a picture larger than 64 megapixels or scale an image up.
- It is highly recommended to use a white, grey or light-coloured background (and in all actuality, it’s required).
- The URL of the photo must link directly to the main photo. It must also be crawlable.
