Create Your Own eCommerce Photography
Whether you are selling products online as a new company or expanding with new products, you need product photography. If you don’t have the budget to hire a professional, then your success often boils down to the efficiency of your workflow. How fast can you photograph products, retough the images, update your ecommerce website, and ultimately sell?
There are five components of an efficient workflow: Organization, Preparation, Equipment, Shooting, and Post-production.
If you want to take a deep dive into these steps, then give us a call.
If you want to go for it “on your own” here are some pro tips to set you up for success with eCommerce photography:
1. Organization: Go through your images, sort them into file folders and manually rename them (or batch rename) into catalogs
2. Preparation: Select a location, gather your props, and prepare your products to be clean and presentable (if necessary, select your model(s) or talent). Make sure there are no loose specks, fibers, dust, or other contaminants in the shot. Prepare items in advance to ensure they are clean, smudge and dirt free
3. Equipment: Get an LDSR camera (such as Cannon, Nikon) or high-tech smartphone. Plus, lighting, backdrop, tripod, and reflectors. When setting your lights, remember that one soft shadow is okay although harsh shadows or reflections are not desirable
4. Shooting: Shoot at eye-level of the product, not above it like a tall person looking down. There are exceptions, but generally speaking, that’s the angle you want. Straight-on is desirable unless it has a lot of side detail and depth (like a shoe or sunglasses) and you want to consistently shoot 1/4 front, side, 3/4 rear angles. In those cases shoot and angle, front, and side. When shooting an angle, use no more than a 45° angle offset.
The subject should take up 85% of the shot then crop around it to make a consistent square. Shoot with the gridlines in your camera so that your shots are level or use a tripod for consistency. Get the hero product shot(s) first, then, expand with variations for depth of field exploration, accessories, lifestyle, or other artsy photos.
5. Post-Production: This is important for color correction, vibrancy, saturation, crop, balance, rotation, etc. Try to get as close to perfect in the camera to reduce time in post-production. Plan to spend at least twice as long in post-production as you do in production. It’s important to go through each one and make sure they are perfect.
Both Amazon and Shopify are popular eCommerce platforms, and each has their own required specifics for product photos - they’re nearly identical. The only notable difference is in the uploading and naming conventions. You’re invited to learn more at these links:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202073580
https://www.shopify.com/blog/12206313-the-ultimate-diy-guide-to-beautiful-product-photography