How to Take Your Own Product Photos
Let’s say you’ve got a product and you’re ready to list it online but now comes the daunting task of taking a picture of your product. You’re not a photographer and can’t quite afford to hire one yet which means you’ve gotta do it yourself. Whether these photos end up on your Shopify storefront, Instagram, Amazon, Etsy, or other - product photography can be boiled down to a few simple guidelines. Follow these steps to take eye catching product photos that will help your buyers add to cart.
You don’t need a fancy camera. Modern phone cameras are packed with megapixels and plenty of features to help you take a great picture. I’ll have a blog up soon on how to take better pictures with your phone.
Use a large window as your light source. A large window will do a few things for you. One, illuminate your scene, and two, provide soft even lighting. Soft lighting is great for product photography, especially for listing photos because a viewer gets a good scene of the shape, size, color, and overall look and feel of your product. Shadows can be fun and flashy, but can also end up being distracting. We want to reduce product confusion and soft lighting can help with that. Try setting up your shooting table next to a window and if there’s a lot of sun, try pulling over some shear curtains to diffuse the light.
Keep it simple. At it’s core, a listing photo should really only feature the product. If your product is a packaged good, like say a granola bar, it may not be a bad idea to style your main packaged granola with some pieces outside of the package. Adding a platform or block can also be interesting. There is a time and place for heavily styled and busy imagery but keeping a scene simple will help your product pop and keep the main thing the main thing.
When in doubt, shoot on white. There is a reason why websites like Amazon and Shopify require your main listing image to be shot on white. A white backdrop allows just about any product to pop and is the most non-distracting background you can shoot on. Shooting on white also allows you to add other supporting elements to your product photo - like say a cinnamon stick to your warmly scented holiday candle. This is my go to white backdrop.
Keep your product front and centered. If you’re a photo enthusiast, you may have heard of composition terms like “rule of thirds,” “leading lines,” “golden ratio,” etc… 90% of product photography feature the product front and centered. This keeps your product as the main focus by maximizing visual real estate. Product photos that break this rule generally are more styled, or are collection shots, or heavily account for copy and design in the final image.
Lower your shooting angle. Perhaps the easiest tip I can give to make your product go from “meh” to “wow” is to shoot your product at it’s “eye” level. Products look bigger the lower you shoot from. If you’re shooting say a can on a tabletop, don’t be afraid to bring your camera level to the surface of the table. This tip doesn’t really apply if you’re shooting from an overhead angle.
Keep your labels centered. Similar to tip #5, be mindful of how your labels, or the front of your product is oriented. This small detail helps keep your image clean and polished. A crooked label sticks out like a sore thumb and screams lack of attention to detail. Your customer may ask, “if there’s such a lack of attention to detail on just the photo, how much lack of attention is there in other areas of this brand/business?” If your product doesn’t have a label or a clear “front” like say a ceramic bowl, play around to find an angle that works best to showcase your product as a whole. In the instance where your product actually doesn’t look it’s best straight on at the front, say like a shoe, consider rotating the product 45 degrees and shooting from a 3/4 angle. Cars and shoes are a few examples.
Your main logo/product needs to be in focus. This seems like a no brainer but the amount of times I see an amateur photographer give their go at product photography where so much of the image is out of focus, including most of the product, is alarming. Logos need to be tack sharp and especially if you’re shooting for a listing photo, keep most of your product in focus. Lay off on portrait mode when it comes to product photography.
Try introducing a human element. Plenty of studies show that consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they see some sort of human element in the creative. This can be as simple as a hand reaching for your candle or someone wearing your hand-knit hat. This may not be your hero listing photo but can certainly be included in your listing imagery and can also double up as fun photos for social/email/ads. Monkey see monkey do (and monkey buy).
Place your product in a lifestyle environment. This is for you extra credit folks. Go the extra mile and capture your product in an environment where it makes sense for your consumer to use your product. All the other rules above can apply but seeing your product in context not only helps position your brand, but guides your buyer. When your buyer can visualize how they would use your product or where it would be in the context of their life - it increases the likelihood of purchase. Try placing your energy protein bar on a padded gym floor with a gym bag, and some weights. Or maybe it’s your skin care product on your bathroom countertop. You get the point and similar to #9, while it may not be your hero listing image, this type of content would do especially well on socials/email/ads as well as say image 3-4 on your product listing.
That’s plenty to get started with! Product photography doesn’t need to be complicated - in fact, the more simple a product photo, the better it often is. There may come a time where you no longer have the bandwidth to take pictures of your own products and will have to hire a pro. Here are 5 red flags of what to look out for when looking for a professional photographer.
If you’d like to hire Jeremy Lee Photography to capture your product photos, fill out this form - I’d love to chat.