Oh Snap! Tips for Better Product Photographs

Have you ever wondered about the value of product photography? It’s a subset of your product data and may be more important to the buying decision than you realize!

According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. Think photographs, animations, illustrations, charts, graphs, etc. So, while sharing the right verbiage about your product is essential to sales success, it’s equally important to include dynamic images that improve a customer’s odds of buying.

To shed some light, Justuno found that 93% of customers consider visual appearance as a key factor in decision making. And, to go a step beyond, they also studied the effects of video – where a larger 96% of potential customers find video helpful when making online purchase decisions.

That said, capitalize on the human need for visuals with our handy tips for taking better photographs.

More megapixels aren’t necessarily better.

Yes, you want to create a dense, rich image that’s easy to size and manipulate. That’s a given! So, when choosing size, set parameters between 8 and 16 so you can crop your images without sacrificing image integrity – while maintaining fast loading speeds for your website. If you have a set of images with a count that's too high, look for a minifying tool to help you reduce the size.

Go for contrast.

As a home décor professional, you understand the importance of contrasting colors. Go for something in the light or medium range – as it typically shows better than black. However, there are exceptions to the rule. Don’t be afraid to play with your backgrounds to find out what really makes your products pop.

Choose a theme for your series.

For an alternate to the solid color background, you might want to select a theme to showcase different products in your line. For example: Nature. You can shoot against wood, grass or stone to create a different mood for your pieces. Or, Shine – which may prove trickier for beginners. Shoot against mirrors, metals, plexiglass and so on. Just watch out for unwanted reflections in your “shiny” materials.

Lighten up!

You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating . . . natural light is best for photographs. Your ideal light source is natural light that comes from behind the photographer and above the phone or camera. If your light source is overhead, watch out for shadows and the color changing effects of flash.

Retouch.

You don’t have to be a Photoshop pro to edit your images. Use a free photo editor, like Pixar, Canva, SnapSeed or Pixc to make sure your shot looks great before sharing it with the world.

If you’re on a small budget, these quick tips for photography success get you started quickly and (somewhat) inexpensively. Just be sure to use your imagination, don’t be afraid to play with the backgrounds to get the best possible shot and don’t give up. Remember that professional photographers take hundreds of photographs for one perfect shot. Then, they edit it afterwards. There’s a reason photography is considered an art.

To up your DIY game, invest in a small tripod and a light kit for your phone. This is completely optional but helps ensure that you don’t blur the image by moving the camera when you snap the picture.

Do any of these tips serve you? How do you capture better imagery for your products? Share a tip in the comments section below. We’re interested to know how you add high-quality images to your product data sets.