As product photography gains popularity, many people are starting to try it out. Therefore, in this article, we have included a few tips for product photography for beginners.

Using the proper equipment:

Let’s clear a myth first. If you are a beginner at product photography, you do not need a professional DSLR. Unlike what others might say, a phone with a good camera like the iPhone 7 or the Samsung Galaxy S4 has cameras of 12 and 13 MP work just perfectly. Moreover, all the temperature settings, modes, grids, etc., present in your phone help you take a better picture.

The second point is that it would be best to use a tripod, whether shooting with your phone or a professional camera. When you are holding the device in your hands, the photo is more at risk of coming out shaky and unstable. Since you are not shooting a moving object, it makes more sense to keep your camera stable by using a tripod stand. This will protect your photos from turning out blurry and maintain a good focus, making your image look a lot better and professional.

The proper lighting:

The proper lighting will make your photo and the product captured visible to everyone and aesthetically pleasing. The sun works as a great natural light. You can set your product outside or near a window according to the sun’s angle and brightness.

Or you can use artificial lighting. In artificial lighting, you will have to make sure your product is well lit, so you will need to use studio lights pointing at every side of the product. Simple room lights won’t do the trick. With light shining at every part of the product, you get rid of shadows too.

You will also need to see if the shooting product looks better under artificial light or natural light. If your product is used outside or is being modeled by a person, it is better to shoot it under natural light. Suppose you are capturing the spring essence of a floral maxi dress. In this case, photographing the floral maxi dress, worn by a model, in artificial light would make it look dull, monotonous, and unappealing to the eye.

Edit to touch up and enhance, not change:

If you need to edit everything about your photo, it means your photo wasn’t good enough. Instead of sitting hours on your PC, playing around with Adobe photoshop, take a new picture. And this time, make sure the background, colors, and portrayal are according to your liking.

Always go for smart editing. That means you only need to touch up your photos, to enhance something you have already captured beautifully.

If you don’t know how to use a basic editing app like photoshop, you can take tutorial classes on youtube. Even though editing is a skill you shouldn’t have to use regularly, it’s a skill you should know if you are beginning photography.

The right backdrop and portrayal:

To capture the gist of your product correctly, you need the right backdrop and surroundings. You need to portray your product the right way.

As discussed above, you should see if your product looks better in natural or artificial light. You also need to observe if your product is meant to be used indoors or outdoors. If the product is a clothing accessory or a clothing item, it is best to capture it on a model. E.g., you can photograph a watch on the wrist of a model.

You can use a sweep for a better background. Professional made sweeps are also available, but you can clip a white craft sheet in a sweeping manner somewhere if they are out of your budget. The purpose is that your floor and background both are the same shade of white. White works best as it removes focus from the surroundings and amplifies the concentration on the product.

Placing your product on the sweep does the trick. However, you can further improve the background by adding a few items in the picture that contrast with your actual product. For example, if you are photographing a cake, you can arrange many flowers around it to amplify its beauty. Nature works as an excellent background for some products. Flowers, trees, grass, sand, water all make your product look classier.

Click several photos:

You cannot get the perfect shot in one go. It would be best if you put in the effort, take several pictures, and choose from them. You will need to change the lighting, backdrop, and angles at various times to get a correctly portrayed photograph. Then you should do a whole selection process to select the perfect photo.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, the product photography is simple once you get the hang of it. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on professional equipment or professional camera for beginners. As is stated above, you can use a smartphone camera with good quality too. All you need to spend money on is a tripod stand and some studio lights if you plan on shooting in artificial light. You will have to put in a lot of effort to get the perfect shot. Never forget, practice will make you perfect!

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Push Your Profits with Professional Product Photography and Videography

When your listing has professional product photography, it communicates to shoppers that your merchandise has value. It inspires trust in your brand and gives your potential customers a little push to purchase. Research shows that your eCommerce success is tied to the quality of the photos and videos on your listings.

The Value of Product Photography

You don’t become a company like Zappos without amazing product photos. Not only do the visual images of their merchandise attract more people to their site, but the quality of their photos has also successfully stimulated more engagement by their customers. Apparently, Zappos shoppers want to see the Simple Circle Crossbody bag inside, outside and displayed on a live model. And site visitors who view all seven pictures of the Noa Waterproof Boots (plus the professional product video) decide they just have to own them.

Some brick-and-mortar stores have learned how to master the process too. For instance, online sales for Best Buy went up 14.5% in the first quarter this year, says DigitalCommerce360.com. That total came to $1.31 billion, versus $1.02 in 2018.

Winners in the marketplace know the benefit of getting the best product photography to attract and retain customers online. The goal is higher sales numbers, so while random traffic isn’t a bad thing, motivating them to put the item in the cart is what you really want.

For the purpose of eCommerce, there’s a psychological advantage to using the best product photos money can buy, says a blog by web hosting giant GoDaddy. The use of high-quality product photography sends the message that your company wants to give its customers the most comprehensive information available before they put their dollars down. It subconsciously tells them you care.

But your investment goes further – it builds expectations. As they enter a relationship with your brand, they assume your policies will be streamlined and your staff will be organized and informative. They expect quality merchandise and stellar customer service. Website visitors get to see what interacting with you and your staff members will entail.

How to Get the Best Product Photos

The quality of iPhone photography is impressive when it’s splayed across freeway billboards. And if you’re a small company, it’s understandable you’d consider snapping images yourself. But it can turn away customers and ruin the hard work you put into your brand. The resolution you get from a DSLR camera can’t be denied.

Update your old product photos – hire a professional product photographer and look for results in your online traffic. It adds credibility to your company and boosts you to a level with your big-box competitors.

Choose a seasoned corporate photographer who knows how to feature merchandise in the best light. To get the quality of images that give you an edge over your competitors you need someone who has sophisticated equipment and knows lighting and editing software, among other things. The equipment that a product photography professional uses is designed to manipulate details such as depth of field.

Product photographers can create customized shots using specific angles and they know the backgrounds and sets that maximize the effectiveness of the shot. For instance, they may use a lightbox to create diffused lighting and provide more complete coverage that eliminates shadows. A pro is capable of determining whether or not studio lighting is a better choice than natural light for a product photoshoot and making other decisions related to outcome.

Wholesale and retail business owners aren’t typically skilled enough to create the kinds of product photos that maximize sales. The close-up your potential eCommerce customers see is a proxy for a brick-and-mortar experience, where they can pick up merchandise to touch and view it closely. That’s why your website images have to be as close to reality as possible.

Product Videography

When it comes to getting in front of customers, the only thing that may eclipse the success of outstanding product photography is professional product videography. For an Amazon seller, it’s a decision that can have noticeable consequences.

It’s imperative that you have an effective method for getting the attention of targeted shoppers, and nothing gets immediate results like moving images. And there’s a secondary effect that comes from the level of expertise your product videographer demonstrates. The quality of product videography has an impact on the way shoppers view your merchandise, so your company’s reputation is on the line.

Some industries need product videos more than others. There are specific categories of merchandise that need a skilled product videographer to produce the visual images that get results on eCommerce platforms such as Amazon.

You’re more likely to benefit from an instructional video when selling such items as:
• Power tools
• Make-up
• Fashion
• New technology
• Toys
• Furniture requiring assembly
• Appliances

Not only do instructional videos inform the viewer how to operate or set up your merchandise, but it also gives you the chance to convert web surfers into more than shoppers – the goal is to turn them into buyers. Calls to action are certainly not limited to marketing in the written text format.

A blog by the sales platform BigCommerce says that consumers are up to 85% more likely to buy a product after seeing the product video. For engaging shoppers and serving customers, it’s professional product videos that can add value to what you provide.

There’s a multi-channel complexity in the world of online sales. Mobile users have had a big impact on the marketplace. We know that a huge percentage of shoppers consult such sites as YouTube before buying, and at least half of those potential customers view the merchandise on their phones. If you want a piece of that market, you have to hire a corporate videographer who can shoot, edit and encode it for you.
Sellers reach out to them by staying in the game with content that engages, explains and persuades. Media users today often hinge their choices on the testimonies of others, and a product video package can accomplish all of the above.

It’s a little like real estate. A product photographer provides the furnishings for “staging” your site, and product videography lets the online shopper “tour” the place. They can see what they’re getting and imagine themselves owning it. It’s the way decisions are made: first, you grab their attention; then you persuade them with compelling product photography; next, you demonstrate and validate through product videography. The customer gets to make the next move.

The emotional response your video elicits may mean the difference between leaving your potential buyer without a decision versus pulling the trigger and putting it in their cart. Your customers can’t touch and feel your merchandise like they can in a physical store. You have the pressure of filling their other senses with accurate representations of your items.

The only way to do that is visual – through product videos and professional product photography.[/fusion_text]

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