Product photography can be defined as a type of commercial photography that has the main goal of accurately and attractively representing a product.
We come across various product catalogues brochures, with a large proportion of images of the product being used in advertising, and this is the principal application of product photography. Good product photography takes into consideration of proper lighting, background props used, sharp focus with the necessary depth of field, advantageous camera angles, and cautious editing.
Professional e-commerce photography not only benefits the customers to choose better between the rival products but also gives them an insight into the quality of the product.
Thus, sellers of products of various types are thereby advised to utilize their professional product at a greater commercial scale by doing product photography as it’ll give them an added advantage over others competing in the marketplace. This is aptly utilized by PixelsPune a Maharashtra based organization that excels in product photography.
The challenges that product photography face today are :
1)To represent the product without distortion or deformation.
2)To represent the product in proper lighting, so that only soft shadows are identifiable and no reflections
3) Representing a group of products with the same light and shadows by taking photographs constantly.
Importance of product photography
Humans rely heavily on the sense of vision in making very important decisions such as buying a product online.
A product that looks more aesthetically pleasing will help you convince customers that your product is the one they want to purchases and also it increases satisfaction when the product arrives, which will curb returns and reduce time wasted and expense, as well as the frustration of customers.
Images of the product and the content write up of the product go hand in hand and helps the product to grow as a whole and don’t bore the audience to tears.
One should always include images as part of your e-commerce branding and marketing strategy as this will boost your efforts.
But all of this can only be possible if the product photography is done properly, which means you need higher resolution photographs, close up images, and multiple angles which will give a better insight to the viewer.
Few more points to throw light on the importance of product photography
- Grabs the mood of the customer
You cannot take the potential of your product by taking your customer to the camping place and show how good your backpacking kit is but you can convey it through worthy and quality images. Perfectly captured and useful images of the product can draw your attention within no time. Thus increasing sales of the product.
2. Growth of the Brand
A picture is not a short time solution but a long term investment that will portray your company as a market leader. Product photography can communicate to your customer that your company has:
a) Professional approach
b) Values quality
c) Diverse and innovative in nature
3. Promotes Communication Skills
Images speak louder than words when it comes to brands that believe in less chit chat and more work ethic. People passing through online websites have less time and patience to read about the product so they prefer to get an informative image of the product.
4. Making the best marketing strategies
Good product photography can do much more than sell products, it’ll represent your brand in the commercial sphere. It can help you to expand your reach and bring in more audiences. In addition, all of these good compelling images will be shared more and gives you the opportunity to boost awareness of the brand and help the sales. The amount of increase in the audience will be beneficial to the growth of the product without any prior expenses.
How is product photography done?
Product photography is just not as simple as pointing and shooting, even the most basic products need the proper equipment, lighting, and ample space to produce eye-pleasing images that sell shoppers right from the page of purchase and this drastically increases the number of website visits.
Clothes Photography
When you photograph clothing for your company, you certainly want to get it proper. It can be a fine line of difference between closing that sale or the potential customer bouncing going off the page. Clothing isn’t tough as photographing jewellery as you’re not dealing with small, shiny, and intricate pieces but you still need to get your set up right and capture all the details.
Steps on how clothes photography is done:
- Step 1: Decide how you want to photograph the clothes with the underlining theme you’ve prepared.
- Step 2: Then we have to prepare all the necessary camera equipment, with extra lighting instruments.
- Step 3: The clothes are been ironed and prepared for the photoshoot.
- Step 4: Then pictures are being taken off the clothes depending on the background of the clothes whether it’s flat lay or another type.
- Step 5: Lastly images taken are been edited before uploading on the e-commerce sites.
Accessory Photography
It is another form of photography where various accessories are photographed so that it can help the sales and marketing of the product. Here we will deal with shoe photography which is a type of accessory photography. People don’t like buying products that are aesthetically not pleasing to one’s eye. Unlike the retail market, people do not get to see the product, touch it, inspect so the only decisive factor for the customers is the images of the products.
Brief steps on how shoe photography is done:
- Step 1: Research and plan about the shoe you’re going to photograph with paying heed to all necessary details
- Step 2: Another important aspect of shoe photography is to pay keen attention to details this is however overlooked by many but it’s very important so always keep a keen eye on details.
- Step 3: Always avoid using busy backgrounds and chose backgrounds that will complement the colour of the shoe. The white background is most used for shoe photography. A busy background can take away the real attention from the product that needs to be at the time.
- Step 4: Focus on the right spot and try experimenting with angles and after taking the pictures, edit in such way the basic idea of the shoe standing out gets heightened.
Jewellery photography
When it comes to jewellery photography, commerce stores are overawed by how small and intricate it is. However, photographing jewellery is a lot easier than taking photos of large items because setting up the studio is fairly easy.
Brief step on how it is done:
- Step 1: We require a good camera and a tripod.
- Step 2: Blu-Tack, glue dots or double-sided tape is been used to put the jewellery still in a position.
- Step 3: To take a proper photo macro lens is used. Light your jewellery evenly and thoroughly by using artificial light. Select the correct aperture and make sure everything is in focus and off you go.
- Step 4: After taking pictures, it is edited by Adobe Lightroom.
Product photography serves as a modern marketing tool as social media platforms are very important pathways for effective marketing. The dire need to produce visually appealing and satisfying content is very important since that’s what moves the generation of today.
The photographer’s job is not limited to the please the eye of the audience nowadays but to be to understand current trends and churn out quality content that can be featured on all social media platforms which will help in the sales of the product.
