A stunning product picture will be worth a thousand website visits if a picture is worth a thousand words.
As times have changed, most businesses are moving online and product images have become our best “salesperson” to sell customers our products.
A photo can trigger a customer’s interest and say a thousand words to them.
To reach your target audience who prefer buying online, especially on marketplaces such as Alibaba.com (For B2B business) and Lazada/Shopee (For B2C business), your product image must be able to give the audience a clear and eye-catching 360-degree view of your product.
In order to present the best set of product photos to your audience, there are a few photography tips you might need to take note of when you take pictures of your product for the marketplace.
Don’t be Afraid to Use a Smartphone Camera
When we talk about shooting product photos, most of us probably think that we need to have a professional photographer to get a set of professional product photos.
And it will be very costly for your business, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Over the past 20 years, we definitely needed a professional photographer to do shoots for our product.
With the development of technology, today, everyone can own a smartphone that can take very nice photos at a low cost.
Most smartphones today allow you to optimize your shots for the different types of lighting, tones and environments you might shoot in.
To make it more convincing, you can consider getting an iPhone to do photoshoots to achieve the naturalness of product photos.
Use a Tripod for Photo Consistency
When your business continues to grow, each of your product photos must stay consistent to have standard product orientation.
Using a tripod makes it easy to stabilize the angles without any shaking and to have a standard orientation with different products.
You can keep shooting your products without adjusting your camera unless you are shooting at different angles.
There are a few tripods you can consider based on your budget and purpose.
- Traditional Tripod – A very common tripod available for both cameras and smartphones
- Flexible Tripod (3-Section Tripod) – It provides more flexibility for the photographer to shoot at different angles.
- Mobile Grip – Easy to get at any mobile accessories shop and allow you to operate the camera controls with the phone screen facing outward and toward you.
Traditional Tripod |
Flexible Tripod |
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*There are also other kinds of tripods on the market. You can choose depending on your purpose.
Use Natural Light or Artificial Light
The light in a shot determines the shadow and outlines and can define the structure and texture of the product.
Never underestimate how certain types of light can improve (or hinder) your product photography.
There are two types of light you can choose as your main light source to make your product stand out.
Natural Light (Soft Light)
Natural light refers to sunlight and you can get it easily.
Your product can be shot in natural light if:
- The product is shot outside
- The product is used by, worn on, or shot with a person
- You want to emphasize the product’s surroundings, rather than specific attributes of the products
Artificial Light (Hard Light)
Artificial light produces a smaller but more focused light surface. Artificial light includes candles, fire, light bulbs, etc.
This light is mainly to highlight products with physical details to impress online shoppers.
Different types of lights work for different purposes.
You can always do A/B testing to find out which types of light attracts more customers.
Set Up the RIGHT Background to Emphasize the Product
Set up the right background to help you to emphasize your product in the image.
Backgrounds should resemble how you want your buyers to perceive your product when viewing it.
You can consider a white plain background or a more dynamic, real-world background.
White Background
For the white background, you need to use a sweep instead of simply placing a table against white drywall.
A sweep is a large bendable piece of paper that functions as a surface beneath your goods and curls up into a white wall behind it.
On camera, the sweep’s curve is invisible, emphasizing key product details and allowing the item to hold website visitors’ attention
Source: https://fstoppers.com/product/portable-and-inexpensive-seamless-background-system-2974
Real-World Background
When shooting products that have a specific use or are being modelled by a person, dynamic, real-world backgrounds are very appealing.
You need to use settings to blur the background so that the context of the product is clear and does not compete against the background.
Shoot a Variety of Images
You need to take more product images from different angles with different combinations as mentioned earlier.
You can do A/B testing with different sets of product images to test out which ones get you enquiries.
Get Started with Product Shooting
Just start with simple equipment to do a product shoot.
Apply all the tips mentioned earlier to make your online store looks more presentable.
You will find it very fun when you start working with it.
Good Luck and Happy Selling!
*Part of the information in this blog post is retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/product-photography-tips
