If there’s one thing that can seriously turn off an eCommerce customer, it’s poor photography.
After all, they’re relying on you to show them exactly what they’re buying and to help them get a good mental image of what a product would look like and feel like in real life. From clothing to tools, housewares, electronics and jewelry, good images are one of the most vital means of communicating this information to your shoppers.
The Basics of Good Photography
When you’re sharing the image of a product for sale, you’re telling a story to your audience. These people want to know how the product would function in a three-dimensional space — and that’s the trickiest part. Many online retailers use models or familiar objects to help visitors get a sense of size of a product. You should always post the dimensions of anything you have for sale, but following up with photos showing the relative size are great for those visual people who are checking out your site.
Of course, it’s never as simple as just taking a bunch of photos and throwing them up on the web.
When you’re doing product photography, keep these points in mind:
Clear, high resolution photos are a must. It might be ok to post blurry snapshots for your friends on social media, but when you’re photographing your products, the pictures need to be crystal-clear. Today’s smartphones often have high enough quality cameras to be used for the job — provided that also use a tripod. The higher the resolution setting, the better. Your ISO should be set as low as possible. Ambient lighting tends to render the best photographs without too many harsh shadows.
Use a neutral background. White is the best color to use for a background if you’re photographing small, colorful items, but it doesn’t always work well for lighter-colored products. A large freestanding background for bulkier items like clothing can be cumbersome to work with — but you can always choose a neutral backdrop like a plain wall. Contrasting colors help an item to pop up off the screen, just make sure there isn’t anything in the image’s background to distract your shopper.
Shoot from lots of angles. Capturing your product from a variety of angles will give your visitors more information about the product than you might imagine and can help reduce merchandise returns. After all, a selective buyer may not like the way the back of the item looks, or how it might fit based on the location of the buttons. The more angles the better, but aim for at least four views of each product so customers can get a very good mental picture of how the item will integrate into their homes or closets.
When you’re photographing your products, clarity is the key. Always use a tripod and set the scene with good lighting and uncluttered backgrounds. Once your photo shoot is over, you may be able to enhance the images further with a photo editing suite — if you don’t feel like you’re capable of doing it yourself, experts like Mister Clipping are available to help even the smallest eCommerce company on a budget.
