We give you 10 Product Photography Tips because good product photos are essential to sell products through your own WooCommerce or Shopify store. When ordering online, the customer can only convey the appearance of a product - all other senses of the shop visitor cannot be used. He does not know how the product feels or handles, how it smells or tastes, whether the size or the proportions really fit and appeal.
But with good product photos you can replace the missing sensory perception for the customer to a certain extent. And - since we humans rely mainly on our eyes - at the same time offer a feast for the eyes that is convincing to buy.
This online lingerie seller isn't the only one who has seen what good product photos can make a difference in sales . Sure, especially with lingerie, the eye is one of the deciding factors - a 90% drop in sales does not have to be the automatic consequence of poorer photos.
But why not give your products the best possible chance to enchant and convince the customer from the outset? Because the higher the image quality, the higher the perceived product quality.
So what exactly do you have to do and pay attention to in order to receive good product photos yourself or even to take them yourself? We want to elaborate on this in the following article.
10 Product Photography Tips For Getting Product Photos That Simply Sell More
WHAT SHOULD BE SEEN?
It is very important that all relevant perspectives of the product are shown.
For some things, the front or the cover is enough; for example with DVDs or books. For other products, more photos are necessary to convince the customer of the quality. Would you buy a suitcase that you only knew what it looked like on the outside without being able to glimpse what is really important - the storage space inside? Rather not.
ANGLED FRONT VIEW
ANGLED REAR VIEW
INNER SPACE
DETAIL VIEW
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| Front View Example |
SHOW THE PRODUCT IN USE
This also compensates for the "missing experience" of the direct examination. How big does the watch actually look on the wrist? Does the evening dress really fall as nicely to the knee as described?
SHOW THE PRODUCT IN A RELEVANT SETTING
So it's best where the customer will use it: the table set in the dining room, the shorts on the man, the laptop on the desk.
SHOW THE DIMENSIONS OF THE PRODUCT
Both points 1 and 2 also help to represent the product in dimension to other, known objects.
SHOW THE IMPORTANT DETAILS
It is best to depict important details such as decorations or the finer points of workmanship in close-up.
SHOW THE PRODUCT PACKAGING
Apple has shown the way: packaging should not be neglected, especially for expensive, exclusive products. Unpacking the product can be part of the user experience.
THE IMAGE QUALITY
As I said, high image quality automatically conveys high product quality to the customer. Therefore, pay attention to your product photos
- high color fastness
- high resolution
- high level of detail
- good lighting.
THE CAMERA
Do not worry! An expensive SLR professional camera is not necessary for good product photos. Most compact cameras are sufficient to take beautiful and meaningful photos with a few tips, tricks and certain camera settings.
The better you know your camera, the easier it will be for you to take good photos. So get to know your camera well; For many, there are instruction books or texts on the Internet that are specially tailored for certain cameras. But here are the values and settings that you should pay attention to beforehand.
RESOLUTION
A resolution of 6-12 megapixels is sufficient to be able to take high-quality product photos. The one big advantage of a larger resolution, i.e. a higher number of pixels, is the possibility of printing out images in large formats or being able to show image sections with still high resolution.
APERTURE SETTING
Similar to the iris in the eye, which adapts vision to the light conditions, camera lenses have a mechanical shutter.
It controls the amount of light that is passed through the lens of the camera and determines the depth of field of the photo (or the depth of field; that's where the experts argue). Depth of field is the area of the photo that is in focus.
The aperture is measured in so-called F-stops, usually from F1 to F22 . The lower the number, the wider the aperture is open. Low F-stops create a shallow depth of the environment. The focus is then on specific details while the rest of the photo is blurred and out of focus around the focal point.
In product photography, the largest possible area in the set should ideally be shown in focus in order to show the entire product in focus. It is therefore best to set the F-stop as high as possible in order to focus on the full product.
Recommendation: Set at least F16 as the aperture value.
IMAGE OUTPUT
If you want to edit your photos afterwards, it is best to save them in RAW format. The photos can be edited in this “raw” format on the computer and, if necessary, converted into any other format ( JPG , PNG , etc.).
FOCAL LENGTH (ZOOM)
The magic word here is “optical zoom”! Don't be seduced by the large digital zoom often advertised by camera manufacturers. The closer you digitally zoom in on an object, the more pixelated the whole thing usually becomes.
A camera with an optical zoom of at least 3 to 5 times is therefore good. In order to depict a product as true to life as possible, a focal length between 50 - 80mm is recommended; that comes very close to the human eye.
However, for a focal length of 50–80mm you sometimes need a lot of spatial space to get the desired image section. As an alternative, wide-angle lenses with a larger focal length, with which the viewing angle becomes larger, are also possible.
WHITE BALANCE ( WB )
White balance helps you correctly reproduce the colors of the product. All cameras have an automatic white balance setting that can sometimes be divided into 'inside' and 'outside'. Unless an accurate representation of your product colors is crucial, that is usually sufficient.
For products such as textiles, for which the color is extremely important, a manual white balance is recommended (if available). To do this, set up your set including the background, lighting, etc. and set your camera to 'manual white balance'. Then hold a white piece of paper or cardboard in the place where the product will stand and match the white.
ISO
The higher the ISO value of your camera, the better the photos will be, even in low light. However, since you (should!) Illuminate your products well when taking the picture, ISO values of up to 800 are usually sufficient.
MACRO
The macro function allows motifs to be enlarged. This allows you to show your product in great detail.
BACKGROUND
Pay special attention to the background when setting up the set. It should clearly differentiate and stand out from the product in order to present the product in the best possible way with great contrast to the background. Simple, neutral, light and monochrome works best; a large gray or white cardboard, cardboard or paper are suitable for this. It is important that the product is clearly recognizable against the chosen background.
A white background is of course not a must; light wood or a simple pattern are also possible. The latter can, for example, also go well with your branding strategy if you always use the same or a similar one, and thus increase your recognition effect. The key is that the color of the background is harmonious with your product.
TRIPOD
A tripod is a simple and wonderful aid to get sharp, steady and perfectly exposed images and especially recommended for product photography.
You can get a Professional Tripod for a price you won't find in stores here from Amazon:
With a tripod, the photos can also be photographed from the same perspective, which benefits the uniform appearance of your shop.
Almost all cameras have a standard mount for tripods on the underside. And as with the cameras: it doesn't have to be the expensive professional device. Usually a small tripod that can be set up on its flexible legs is sufficient .
If you'd like a Gorillapod like the one in this picture. You can get it from Amazon with a price that you won't find in stores:
Alternatively, you can tinker you own tripod, such as a bean bag . Of course, there doesn't have to be beans in there; Rice or peas do too. You can place your camera on the beanbags and tilt it in different directions; the filling keeps you in the position you set.
LIGHTING
The best lighting for your product photos is daylight. It shows your product in the most natural way and costs nothing. But don't worry: if daylight isn't at hand, there are good and inexpensive alternatives to ensure good lighting.
There are many alternatives, from flashlights to desk lamps and ceiling lamps - provided they are used correctly. Above all, this means: stick to one type of lighting!
Using multiple lamps plus daylight sounds tempting, but above all carries a risk: no uniform looking product photos. Different light sources also cast different types of shadows in the photo. For example blue in the sun, but yellow at home without daylight.
So experiment a little at the beginning to find out which type of lighting you like best, and then stick with it. This ensures uniform looking product photos on your website.
To provide shade to avoid can a so-called soft-box one-set-zen. This creates a diffuse light that blurs the shadows. Professionals use large frames covered with translucent material that are placed in front of the lamps. But it doesn't have to be expensive professional equipment here either; You can easily make a diffuser yourself using sandwich paper or a fabric-covered frame in front of a desk lamp.
LIGHTNING
It's actually very simple with the flash: leave it out!
Flash creates very hard shadows and often reproduces unnatural colors, which is of course not at all desirable in product photos.
Instead, pay attention to the uninterrupted daylight lighting described above or the softbox mentioned above.
PERSPECTIVE
In the beginning, in particular, sellers tend to photograph the frontal view of their products, which, however, rarely looks appealing. And, as already mentioned, it is always good to show a product from multiple perspectives.
It is best to experiment with different angles to find the perspective that makes your product look authentic.
Recommendation: An angle of 45 ° is often optimal.
ZOOM
In short: use it! Especially for details or small objects. These are often simply displayed in greater detail by using a zoom.
But, as mentioned above, only use the optical zoom. The digital one quickly becomes too blurred, which is an absolute no-go on a product photo. Then it would be better to do without the zoom and get closer to the product with the camera.
IMAGE EDITING
So, the photos are taken, now comes the finishing touches - the processing. Here you can get a lot out of your photos, for example by using certain filters. Editing can turn average product photos into very good photos.
Good software is necessary for good editing. The best known and one of the most expensive is Photoshop. Alternatively, there is the free Gimp tool for Windows users . Compared to the paid programs, free programs are usually quite simple, but they can still get a lot out of the photos.
Very important: Make sure to keep the minimum distance to the product when taking pictures so that the pictures or the correct details come out sharp. Even the best editing software cannot convert blurry images into the perfect photo.
COMMISSIONING A PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHER
Photograph as an alternative to myself you have always the option to hire a product photographer, such as Katy, Deidre Schlabs or Mohin, these are all professional photographers with years of experience that offer very cheap services with high quality. These often offer different packages, from the use of the company's own photo studio to the full service of taking pictures and editing. All you have to do is send in your product and, after consultation, you will receive the type of photos you want.
FURTHER EDUCATION
My recommendation: Keep learning about product photography , for example on the our RiseZoom blog or photography courses especially for product photos:
Easy Product Photography with iPhone, Smartphone or Camera
If you prefer reading, we recommend this great book by Allison Earnest:
In this way you stay informed about new tips, tricks and trends and improve both your photos and your recording process. Your photos just keep getting better with less and less effort.
As you can see, it is actually not that difficult or expensive to take high-quality product photos yourself with a recognition effect. Once you have found your perfect setup, you can use it again and again quickly and easily - then you will not only generate more sales, but you will also have a lot of fun with it!
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