Create product photos that sell
Whether you're commissioning product photos for your business from a professional photographer or taking it on yourself, it’s about more than creating beautiful imagery for your social media.
Professional product photography helps you to increase conversions. 75% of online shoppers rely on product photos when deciding on a potential purchase. If your images are blurry, not exposed correctly or are poorly styled you could be putting off potential customers who won’t trust the quality of the product based on your lifestyle photos.
Etsy found that the quality of images was the key deciding factor in an online sale for 90% of its users.
In this post I'll share some product photography tips for creating high quality product photos that convert.
Shooting with natural light? How to create product photos with one light.
Firstly, why is it important to have professional product images on your site?
Successful product photography not only looks great, but:
Increases conversions
Shows a sense of scale
Builds a sense of trust in your business
Keeps visitors on your online store for longer
Minimises returns
So, how to create beautiful product photography that converts?
Take multiple angles
A visually compelling brand showcases a product from multiple angles. Highlight specific product features - capture detail shots, elements of the branding, with the lid on and off, being used, in a group.
Master manual mode to create a balanced exposure in your image
If you're capturing your own product photos, it will be really useful to master your camera settings. Whether you're shooting with natural or artificial lighting, get a grasp on shutter speed, ISO and aperture. Understanding how to alter these settings to get the results you want will be so valuable.
Pick props that are relevant to the scene or story you’re telling
When creating fun lifestyle shots, don't overpack the image with too many props. If you're listing your products on a third party platform, make sure the product fills 80% of the image so potential customers can see what it is they're buying. Pick props that are relevant to the story you're telling and in complementary colours.
Choose a complementary background to your subject
Third party platforms like Etsy and NOTHS like light and bright backgrounds for product photography. You can find inexpensive, vinyl backdrops at Club Backdrops which would work well for your website's product images.
Light your products well
Whether using natural or artificial light, make sure your image quality is as high as possible. You don't want your images to be under exposed (too dark) or over exposed (too bright).
Achieve this by utilising your manual camera settings, using white foam as fill light, and increasing or decreasing the highlights and shadows in your image editing software.
Cropping
When shooting your product photos, keep in mind the final crop needed. Does your website have portrait, landscape or square images? For the sake of versatility, create images that are wide enough to be cropped so you can use them on more than one platform.
Take a look at my blog for more educational posts on photo editing, props, workflow and food photography.
Helena is a professional photographer based in Bristol, specialising in product and food photography. She works with ethical and sustainable brands, creating joyful, story-telling product photos.