How to do product photography to increase the sales of your webstore

What are the two most basic things needed to open your online business?

Well you got it right, you need a future ready e-commerce platform with end to end solutions for running your business and you need an awesome store design(link to attractive web  design blog) with stunning product photography of your inventory.

Will you believe it if we say that you have easy, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) options for both these and  we can actually help you in opening an amazing online store in no time? Do you have your business plan drafted out? Great, if you have it else chalk it out and choose from StoreHippo’s affordable plans to get your online store ready and selling.

Now that your store is ready, you need to have quality product images to create a stunning store that engages and converts your visitors into customers. Ideally, the best way to do this is by hiring a professional photographer to spell the visual charm. But for most entrepreneurs working on a tight budget this is a farfetched dream. 

Does this mean that you’ll have to compromise on the quality of your product photography?

Certainly NOT!

You can easily come up with exceptionally sharp and engaging images of your merchandise that increase the credibility of your store. You just need to pick up your camera and follow the handy tips given below:

Focus on lighting

The thumb rule of good photography is to maximize the use of natural light wherever and whenever possible. Ideally go for photo shoot during early noon hours and ensure that there is adequate quantity of light that is uniformly distributed. Product photography lighting basically maximizes soft shadows and minimizes hard shadows to highlight the object. When the size of light source is larger than the subject, soft shadows are created. Diffuse hard shadows by using flash diffuser which helps in distributing light evenly over the object. If you don’t have a flash diffuser make one easily by attaching white plastic bag or tape to the flash of your camera.

Advantage: Diffused lighting highlights every part of the object and helps in capturing sharp images.

White is always Right

When photographing your products go for white backgrounds as it minimizes distraction and keeps the focus on the object. The concept of “Infinity curve” is used in all professional photo shoots and can be easily replicated with a white sheet. To create this, we use a white sheet or paper as the background and bend it to create a curve. Place the product at the center of the background and capture the images. Creating this type of background gives a clean and endless view of the horizon.

Advantage: A white background can be easily edited with the most basic photo editing tools.

Change angles

Experiment with angles to come up with the most unique and attractive images of your inventory. The thumb rule here is to think out of the box and be trigger happy for the shooting of the other kind. Try to create a story of your product by capturing it from different angles, backdrop, close up and whatever you can think of. However, be cautious that you keep the product in focus above anything else. 

Advantage: This type of experiments works especially well for fashion, food and many other categories.

Be natural

Keep your product photography as close to real life as you can. Images of products being used in real life helps your customers create a mental imagery of using the product themselves. This works on the sub conscious level and pushes the customer towards purchase.  For example, it is easier to sell a box of cereal if your product photography captures image of a family enjoying the cereal. Also if you are offering various flavors, go and display all the other boxes of the cereal somewhere in the background.

Advantage: Offering more choices makes the product look richer in the eyes of your customers and helps in boosting sales.

Editing works wonders

Once you are done with your product shoot, give some time to go through all of the images on your computer. Viewing them on a bigger screen, as compared to your camera display helps you evaluate the images better. Once you have selected the best images, go for some quick editing with easy to use photo editing tools. These DIY tools do not require any special skills and simple cropping and color correction can work wonders. Save various copies of same images using slight changes and use them as and when needed.

Advantage: You can use the edited images for various purpose like promotions and social media posts.