An E-Commerce Business Starter Guide: Tips for Better Product Shots

The foundation of any e-Commerce business is a selection of good product and lifestyle imagery. Because photos can make or break a sale, it’s critical to invest in high-quality images that showcase the best aspects of your products. Customers will avoid websites with blurry or poorly lit images, but professionally taken photos can help increase conversion rates and increase your bottom line.

In our previous post, we addressed why it’s critical to first understand the true purpose of product photography before getting started. In this post, we’ll look at how to get started.

Since a potential customer’s initial touch with a brand is through product imagery, it’s critical that this encounter leaves an impression of the brand’s essence. You could be missing out on sales and tarnishing the reputation of your company if you don’t have high-quality, professional photos of your products. So, let’s look at how we can make this connection and build a positive reputation quickly and effectively.

Fortunately, getting started with e-commerce photography does not have to be expensive or difficult. You can create eye-catching product images that will increase sales and promote your business by following a few easy principles.

The Foundation: High-quality Product Photos

When getting started with e-commerce photography, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, Lighting is Key

Make sure your products are well-lit. It is not enough for customers to be able to see all of the details. They should also be able to get a sense of how the product feels in their hands. The texture, shape, and quality of the image should be communicated. We discussed this in the preceding article.

Second, Concentrate on Composition

There isn’t much that can be done with pure catalogue-style e-commerce photos. However, it is critical to capture the most important angles. If you’re selling a bottle of medicine, for example, make sure that all of the important text on the bottle is visible and that nothing is obscured. If you’re photographing a dining table, the top surface texture should be visible, and any stylistic features should be captured in close-up.

You can make a difference by including lifestyle or product-in-use imagery in your e-commerce listing and social media advertising. These photographs should be visually appealing, with good framing and composition. If you don’t have a good sense of framing, your customers will be disappointed and may move on to another product or seller.

Third, Retouching

A lot can, and has, been said about photoshopping images. In general, you will want to show your product in the best possible condition. At the same time, we want the customer to believe that it is a real product, and not something that is fake. Excessive retouching could make a real image look artificial, and leave your customer wondering what they would receive if they were to purchase it. Keep the retouching subtle, and instead spend time preparing, cleaning, and styling the product before taking the photograph.

In short, ensure that your images will stand out, without looking fake. This will help click-throughs to become conversions, and to make sure that your investment in high-quality imagery is paid off with quicker sales of your stock.

Avoid Using Poor Quality Images at All Costs

If you don’t have high-quality images, avoid going live. Instead, wait until you have a set of high-quality images. The damage that you could do to your brand by using low-quality imagery can sometimes be hard to reverse, especially if you are creating paid promotions.

Poor quality photos can dissuade potential customers from buying your products, so it’s important to make sure your photos are clear, accurate, and professional looking.

Connect with us at ColoursAlive to make sure that your product photographs are faithful representatives of your brand, its values, and style. This is one investment that will pay-off quicker than you can imagine.