5 Tips for Improving eCommerce Product Photography

Along with a solid product description, your eCommerce product photography is what sells your product. Poor pictures could be severely hurting your sales. They say people eat with their eyes first, and the same is true about online shopping.

Your customers want to see plenty of product details and envision that product in their own lives. Good product photography can mean the difference when it comes to landing sales and improving your brand. Here are five tips that will help you take better product photography for your eCommerce business.

Lighting is Key

Plenty of light will help your pictures come out clear and high-resolution. You never want your pictures to be blurry or filled with shadows that might hide product details. However, too much harsh light like on a clear sunny day will give you shadows. What you want is plenty of diffuse light, like what you get on a cloudy day. You can achieve this indoors by using lamps with diffusing light shades or by placing a sheer curtain over a window. You can also reflect light where you need it by using white posterboards or foam boards. You can also direct natural light that is shining in through a window. You’ll also want to consider the best time of day when the sun will be shining into your windows.

Use a Good Camera With a Tripod

When taking product photography for online retail, you don’t need an expensive, fancy camera. You’ll want to use a camera with at least 12 megapixels, and most smartphones come standard with an acceptable camera built-in. Just be sure you’re using the camera on the back of the phone, as the forward-facing camera usually has fewer megapixels. You will also want to invest in a tripod, which is typically very affordable. You may think you’ve got a steady hand, but a tripod will definitely give you better results. Some tripods also come with Bluetooth remotes that will connect to your cellphone, making snapping photos and videos even easier.

Include Lifestyle Photos

Lifestyle product photos are photos that let the customer see what that product would look like in real-life situations. For example, if a parent is shopping for a toy, they would like to see how it looks if children are playing with it in settings like a home. This helps them imagine the product in their own lives and helps give the product context. Lifestyle shots are a great complement to still-life photos on your eCommerce platform, but they also are perfect for use on social media platforms and in emails to help advertise your product. Lifestyle photos can include models, or they may just place the products within different real-life settings, like a room in a home.

Take Notes from Professionals

You don’t need to take a photography class to learn from a professional. Simply studying a professional eCommerce product photographer’s work will give you ideas for your own shots. Be sure you look at product photography from highly reputable websites and brands. Consider working with a professional content creation studio to help you discover and/or refine your visual brand identity. When looking at similar products, you’ll get ideas for what angles to use, what details to highlight in close-ups, and you’ll get inspiration for showcasing the product in lifestyle photos.

Take Lots of Photos

Whether shooting live subjects or photographing inanimate objects, professional photographers take lots and lots of photos. A slight change in your angles and lighting can make a big difference in your outcomes. Once you’ve taken all the styles of photos you’ve planned out for your photoshoot, you can choose the very best pictures and edit them on your phone or a computer. You’ll be able to crop and adjust brightness, exposure, shadows, tint, and other options to fine-tune your work.

The better your product photos are, the better your chances are to provoke sales in your customers. Follow our tips, look at works by pros, and take and retake your pictures. Practice will also help you get even better at taking great eCommerce product photos, so get to snapping!