Product photography has become a mandate these days. Whether you’re selling on your own website or other aggregators, good photos are crucial to sales. Why? That’s because consumers spend a considerable amount of their time online. Therefore, the digital world has become a medium for interaction with the right audience as well as a channel to boost sales.
Given the increased use of these platforms, showcasing the best of your products is vital. This is possible by investing in eCommerce product photography for your business. It is a fact that consumers buy products that are appealing. Since their experience is an online-based one, it removes the tangible aspect of touching and feeling to know more, for them. The thumb-rule to grab attention is to produce high-quality, eye-catching images that will showcase to your potential consumers what they can expect.
If the photos you use are substandard, you are neglecting a very compelling aspect. We’re sharing below our top eCommerce photography tips that will aid in improving your image quality –
1. A good photographer:
“The biggest barrier to high-quality pictures isn’t budget – it is knowledge.” Finding the right photographer for eCommerce products is the first step as the deciding factor in the outcome of your process. These days it is extremely easy to get a photographer known for product photography in a certain industry, within your city. Engaging with the right choice will prove to be beneficial for your business in the long run as they will know the kind of shots to take based on your product thereby, effectively depicting its usage and benefit to the consumer.
2. Lighting:
The quality of the shot is determined by this. To go a bit in-depth, the background for your shoot and the lighting go hand in hand. Different products require different kinds of lighting. For example, a piece of clothing will require something unique as opposed to a piece of chocolate. Most photographers would recommend skipping using flash and would rather opt for diffused lighting to minimize shadows.
3. Camera quality & settings:
Since eCommerce is all about putting the best foot forward (for brands) this criterion is imperative. Using a high-pixel camera will result in better quality images. Nowadays, one can even experiment with their smartphones as they come inbuilt with high-quality cameras. With regards to the settings, being aware of the basics like staying true to your product by not using a wide lens, the importance of selecting the right aperture size and the ideal white balance is necessary.
4. Backdrop:
A busy background would distract the customer from the product. It is of essence that the background used is neutral to avoid the shoppers’ eye from wandering. Here, make sure the focus is on the product to avoid losing the customer. Fill the frame with your product for the best results.
5. Product details:
Now, whilst the product photographer and images are key another element is making sure you have clicked all the angles. Like we have already established, if a consumer is making a choice based on an image – it has to be a spitting image of the actual product and available to view from different angles. This is to make sure you convert the consumer as you have covered the basics of providing them with all the information.
6. Review before pack-up:
Oh, we cannot stress this enough! Always, always go back to the drawing board/brief before you shout, “pack up” at your next shoot. This gives you a chance to view the entire requirement holistically – whether you got what you wanted from the shoot (in images), if it depicts all the right things, view it from the lens of a consumer and always get those extra shots.
Research suggests that whether a consumer is buying earrings or shoes online, the most accurate representation of the product is via images. It is the closest experience to an in-store one and it is amplified with zoom-in options and with the help of different angle representations.
Through photos is how the buyer judges the quality, fit and desirability of the brand and product. The effort you put into product photography is an accurate representation of how much your brand cares and its credibility as a seller.
Consumers spend about 10-20 seconds on average on a particular web page before moving from it. This is exactly the time-frame your brand has to make an impact which is made possible with a clear value proposition depicted using photographs. So go ahead and pick the right photographer and images to display your brand in an otherwise very crowded web-world!
