5 simple ways to improve your product photography
As a new or small business, we can’t always afford to pay a professional to photograph our products, but we need professional looking photographs to help sell our products. So, what can we do?
Why is product photography so important?
Product photography is essential for showcasing your products to potential customers. It allows them to see your products in more detail and understand the features and benefits, giving them a better understanding of what they are buying.
Good photography will also help to establish your brand image by presenting your products in a consistent and professional way. This creates a feeling of trust and reliability, which is essential for turning potential customers into customers.
Finally, making your products visually appealing will help you stand out against your competitors. If there are other businesses selling similar products to yours, your photography is going to be the thing that sets you apart.
The importance of good photography for your website
First impressions matter. The photographs on your website are the first thing visitors will see, and they can make a big impression. Your website can be the most beautiful, well built website on the planet, but if your product photography is lacking, then it’s never going to look as professional as it should and it’s never going to entice customers to buy from you.
Good quality, visually appealing images create a positive impression and encourage visitors to stay on your website for longer. They are also more likely to click through and explore your site.
Good photography will enhance the user experience by providing visual cues and making it easier for visitors to understand your products. This will reduce confusion and increase the likelihood of conversions.
Finally, good photography can help to create a consistent brand image across your website and other marketing materials. Again, this builds trust and recognition, which is really important.
5 simple ways to improve your product photography
There’s no need to purchase a special camera. Assuming you have a fairly recent mobile phone, you can achieve great results with the built in camera. Follow the steps below to level up your product photography:
Clean the lens on your camera
It’s surprising how many people overlook this. Your phone picks up so much dirt and grease and a lot of it sits on your camera lens, resulting it dirty, slightly blurry looking photographs. So before you start shooting, give the lens a good wipe.
Shoot in natural light
Don’t try and photograph your products underneath the kitchen light. The photographs will look yellow and there will be heavy shadows around your products. Instead, position your products in front of a large window or open door, somewhere where there is a lot of natural light. The end result will be a nice, soft light across your images will minimal shadows. If it’s a really bright sunny day, you will need to move out of the direct sunlight to avoid beams of light across your images (unless that’s the look you want, of course!).
Use a reflector
If you want to even out the lighting even more, use a reflector to bounce the light back onto your products. This doesn’t need to be anything fancy, an A4 or A3 sheet of white card will do the trick. Position it behind your product so that it’s reflecting the natural light back down onto the subject area. Play around with the positioning a little bit and find out where it works best. You can use it to soften shadows and brighten up darker areas.
Use a back drop
A backdrop is a large sheet that you position your products on for photographing. They are perfect for creating a clean, cohesive look across your images and the overall look is far more professional than photographing your products against the kitchen table or hallway floor. Plus, they can be moved around, so there’s no excuses for not using that natural light. Most craft shops sell sheets of coloured A3 card and these work perfectly. Experiment with different colours and see what works best. You might also want to try textured and patterned backdrops. I invested in one from Club Backdrops and it makes all the difference!
Add props
Adding props to your product photographs will help bring them to life and add a little context to what you’re selling. They are a nice way to give customers an idea of size too. Don’t choose anything that will overshadow your product, that still needs to do the talking. Instead go for small items such as pens, pencils, flowers, mugs, leaves, paper clips, and scissors. Experiment with different items and see what works best with your products.
If you need any help with your small business website, get in touch today and I’d love to help you create the website your amazing business deserves.