Good Pictures = Sales
The quality of product pictures should never be overlooked. Pictures are one of the few visual aids for customers to rely on. Of course, there are also video product reviews but that's a subject for another time. However, if you compare product pictures to videos, pictures are undeniably more convenient in terms of accessibility and viewing experience.
This renders product pictures as one of the, if not, the most important primary factor in getting better conversions and influencing customer behavior for e-commerce as well as just information websites and mediums.
Here are some useful tips in taking great product pictures
A Good Product Picture Means Getting A Good Camera
It's important to stress that the term ‘good’ is a relative term that differs across photography instruments and product types. Some products look absolutely fantastic with just a 50mm lens, but for products that have small and fine details, then a 105mm telescopic lens that can zoom in close is the preferred choice. Since you're just taking a photo of a static object under a controlled environment, you obviously don’t need to blow an enormous budget on camera equipment.
But, that also doesn't mean a smartphone can suffice your product photography needs. A smartphone can never match the technical features of a DSLR. Having a DSLR is crucial in product photography since it gives you total control of your capture settings such as adjusting the depth of field, aperture, and ISO settings. In short, you definitely need a specialized photography instrument, particularly a DSLR, to give you high-equality photos.
Setup
Even though a good camera is an important aspect of product photography, it should not be mistaken as the only essential criteria to allocate most of your funds to. A well-structured setup is equally important in product photography. The things that go into a proper setup is lighting, background, and product orientation – each having their own set of benefits and challenges.
- Lighting – An optimal lighting exposure for a product is when the product is properly illuminated but not over-exposed as a way of preserving the product's colors. Make sure to invest in a good quality diffuser that scatters light evenly. You can certainly use natural lighting but you need to be extremely thorough in using sunlight since there are loads of factors that affect the quality of natural lighting such as clouds, tint of the windows, and the time of the day. The benefits of using natural lighting is that it exhibits an organic sense of aesthetic in your pictures and can heighten the visual marketability of a product, but it does take some practice to get it right
- Background – A recommended color for the background is white as it allows the product to stand out and claim its own space. However, if you want a more daring and creative approach, you can also adopt a natural background such as positioning your product behind appropriate furniture or even sand or gravel. You have free reign to choose any natural background and props you want, but make sure it’s within the appropriate theme and character of the product.
- Product orientation – How you orient and place your product relative to its background also is a skill on its own. Should you take a picture of your product sideways? At a slight angle? Or even a bird’s eye-view? Examine and study your product and find which angle permits your product to exhibit its entirety.
Why Is Product Photography Important?
As a business owner and/or e-commerce merchant, you can assure yourself that the product you're exhibiting is genuine. However, how can you successfully transcribe such an abstract thought as a marketable concept? A picture assumes not only about a product's aesthetic features, but also its quality. That might seem to be a little unfair and illogical to mainly judge the quality of a product by its photos, but that's simply the nature of visual aids. A bad product picture discourages its audience but an outstanding product picture can greatly increase it’s marketability and its overall success.
