6 Foolproof Ways to Improve your Product Photography

When it comes to selling your products online, very few things influence a shopper’s decision more than product images. Great product photography reassures your customer that they are purchasing a fantastic product (would you trust a blurry, low-quality image?), puts trust in your brand, and complements the professional & attractive look of your ecommerce store.

Think beautiful product photography is only for the pros? Think again. Simply follow our foolproof tips below to create product photographs that will blow your competition out of the water.

It is important to display multiple images of each product on your ecommerce store to give your customers a clear, complete view of the product they’re about to purchase. This is particularly important if there are features of your product that can’t be seen from just one angle. If you offer a range of variations of your product (such as different styles, colours etc) you should always include a photograph of each separate variant available.

Offering your customers high quality close ups or an image enlarger can greatly increase the likelihood of them making a purchase; especially if it is a high-price item. Take close up photographs of any key features, patterns or points of interest that your customers will want to see before they buy your product.

Photographing your products yourself doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the quality of your images - and you don’t have to break the bank trying. If you have a high quality DSLR camera then great! If not, don’t worry; there are lots of more affordable cameras available on the market which will still produce wonderful images - if you own a modern smartphone, you’ll more than likely be able to use the camera on it to get great looking images.

Make sure that your images are all in focus and clear before using them, and retake any that aren’t. High quality images put faith in your business and make your ecommerce store look extremely professional.

We all like seeing a product being used before we jump in and press pay. Customers are significantly more likely to purchase a product if they can see it being used. Showing your product in action lets your customers gain a greater insight into how your product looks and acts when it is being used. A key example of this is showing how an item of clothing fits and looks on a model, rather than just on a hanger.

Showing your products in a candid setting, instead of simply against a white background, helps to create interest and give your products more of a personality. Spend time considering the overall composition of your images and experiment with a variety of different settings before you begin. Try to ensure that your product is always the key focal point of the image and remove any distractions which may draw your customer’s eye away from the product.

To create a professional look for your ecommerce store, it is essential that your product photographs follow a consistent style. Try to use the same lighting across all of your images, and keep the contrast and saturation as similar as possible. Using a single background or setting for all of your product photographs will make your products look more organised and attractive on on category pages, whilst giving your store a high quality look.

Where possible, always try to shoot your photographs in natural light, rather than using your camera’s flash. Not only does flash leave an unattractive glare on your products, but it can also make colours look significantly different to the true colours of your products.

There are many free editing tools online for you to use which will allow you to edit even the finest details of your images. If you choose to edit your images once you’ve taken them, make sure that you don’t over-do it - aim to keep your images as natural as possible to ensure that they give a true representation of your products and reduce the number of returns your store receives.

Stick to these 6 foolproof product photography tips and your ecommerce store will be competing with the big names in no time at all.