5 Ecommerce Photography Tips
- Plan- Strategize the photos you need for each product listing.
- Quality - Create a high quality main listing photos.
- Budget - Set aside a budget to hire a professional photographer.
- Consistency - Focus on consistency across all listing photos. Lighting, retouching, position & styling.
- Balance - Balance your straightforward photos with creative lifestyle photos to provide context for your products.
1 Plan
When it comes to optimizing your product photos, it’s important to plan ahead. Before the photos are captured, think about what you’ll need to do to make your product look it’s best. Consider what goals you have for your photography. Create a list of the photos you need of each product in order to achieve these goals.
We recommend creating a big spreadsheet list of every photo you want. For instance, a product may need a close-up image of the information on the label, or a photo of the product disassembled to show its parts. By creating detailed notes, you can strategize your shot and tweek your plans to get just the results you need.
2 Quality
Of course, your main listing photo is the first thing potential buyers see when they scroll past your product; it’s your chance to make a great first impression and get them interested in buying your product. It should be clear, well lit, and have a product that’s well styled and professionally photographed. Out of all of your images, it is most important here to clear away distractions and present a polished and attractive product.
Ecommerce sellers will spend lots of money to create website, design their logo and create their products but for some reason will skimp on the photos of their product. If your photos look cheap, it will make your product, website design and brand feel cheap. Focus on creating quality product photos.
3 Budget
Budget for a professional photo shoot for your website. Clear and professional looking images make customers more likely to trust you and your product. Your photo shoot doesn’t have to break the bank, but it is worthwhile to invest in taking professional photos for your website and listings. These images will be your best asset when it comes to advertising and selling your products and services online. If your budget is tight, start by investing in some solid product photography for one or two of your listings and you may be satisfied to see the return on your investment.
4 Consistency
A good photographer will make sure that your products look great and that your images are consistent. What can consistency do for your images?
Maintaining consistency across all of your products will help give your buyers a subconscious sense that your brand is trustworthy and that the quality of your products is consistent across the board.
Creating similarly lit and angled, reliably clean images removes possible distractions and bolsters professional appearance. This consistency will also help develop your brand identity. The recognition that comes along with this tells your brand’s story and creates an impression for your customers to understand and remember your products and brand.
5 Balance
Balance simple, straight forward, on-white traditional product photos with photos that can lend context to your product. Traditional product photography will show your product clearly and meet the specifications for different ecommerce platforms.
Context photos, however, will give you more freedom to be creative and show off your brand’s character. Add in lifestyle photos, composites, and in-use images of your product that give context to your item and intended demographic, and show your customer how the products can be used or how the product can solve your customers problems.
