The discovery of the contents of a Online Store starts with product photos. An e-commerce product photo must evoke the right emotions in the buyer to prompt a purchase. Most customers make their decisions based on the quality of product photos. However, you should not think that only studio photos can be high-quality.
How to photograph items for an online store so that a website visitor wants to buy a product? Our photography tips will help you take more compelling and sales-oriented photos for your products (item photography doesn't always have to be taken with a super professional camera, keep that in mind). Feel free to check them out if you want to improve the quality of your retail photos.
What are the advantages of a website with product photos?
At a time when Internet users are more inclined to accept visual information than textual information, it is impossible to imagine a site without photos, especially when it comes to, for example, an online clothing store. A professional photo of the product, which presents it from the most advantageous side, will encourage the customer to buy the product more than any inspiring text on all its advantages.
You should not skimp on the quality of such photos. This does not mean that you necessarily need to hire an expensive photographer and studio. High-quality product photos can be taken independently by your store team, you just need to know a few basic rules, how to take product photos.
6 Tips for Taking High-Quality E-Commerce Product Photos
1. Determine what is the best view of the product
From what position does your product look most presentable? This should be the point of view from which most of the product's features are revealed: its size, volume, design features, and other aesthetic details. For heels, for example, the main photo will be the side photo, and for sneakers, the top view.
2. Respect the 3-color rule
It’s good to limit the palette of your frame. Choose three shades that create harmony. Set these colors to a volume ratio of 4:2:1, that is, one color is the base color and use the next one about half as much as the previous one. You can also take inspiration from how the best e-commerce sites do it.
3. Stop worrying about hardware
You may be worried that your camera isn’t powerful enough to take high-quality photos for your online store. Or you may be dismayed that you don’t have a professional camera at all. Of course, best digital cameras will take the highest quality photos, and if you have the opportunity, make sure to use it. However, also remember that many commercial photographers now shoot exclusively on iPhone for websites and e-commerce and the result is often no worse than on a professional camera.
4. Certain backgrounds should be avoided
Frames with e-commerce images arranged against the background of the home environment look very poor quality: wallpaper, window or curtains. If you have little experience in subject photography (photo shooting), practice shooting on simple, single-layer backgrounds. Choose matte textures and natural materials. Avoid white backgrounds and bright prints.
5. Take pictures during the day
Electric light does not decorate the photographs in your online store at all. Under ambient lamps, they turn out to be dull, give off gray or yellow, and it is almost impossible to eliminate these defects in theeditor. Therefore, make sure to take product photos during the day.
6. Post-edit the photo
You have beautiful photos of clothes, why not make them impeccable? Edit the photo. You can use the photo editor. Remove excess shadows, make your background even whiter, and change the color balance for better clarity.
But also be careful: do not overdo it, use minimal photo processing. After all, the object photo should reflect its real appearance as much as possible, convey colors, size, shape, etc. as accurately as possible. Customer reviews will depend a lot on how well the photos correspond to reality.
Moreover, processed photos can be published on social networks. And since video content is invading the media today, make a video with a photo or go simpler and create a slideshow with a free slideshow software.
Put some music on it, add effects and transitions. Trust me, even potential customers will be delighted!
Optimizing photos for e-commerce site
You've come a long way, but let's face it, it's not a difficult way to get a high-quality photo. All that's left is to upload it to the product page, following a few rules, and you're an e-commerce pro:
Your item photo must be named explicitly. Don't leave the auto-generated name like "IMG319548", but name the photo as the product name. This helps the search engine to understand the content of the image.
Adjust the photo size. The original file is too large, which will slow down the page loading. Therefore, it is necessary to compress the photo to acceptable sizes without compromising its quality too much.
Determine the format in which the images should be saved and, if necessary, reformat them to the desired format.
The Effect of Product Photos on Sales
What is one of the most important things to create an online store? When developing sites, focus on the visual component. Develop the maximum image idea for your products, involve all your creativity. On the site, product photos should "haunt" users at every step: on the main page, in the catalog and in product cards. This forces users to pay attention to the products, study them in more detail and, as a result, buy.
Therefore, of course, before organizing a photo shoot, an important moment will be to select the platform that will help you present all your products on the website in the most cost-effective way possible.
Now you understand the importance of quality photos and you know how to take them. Use this knowledge and apply the result to your site.
