Five top tips for improving your product photographs
If you’re trying to sell products online, then you’ll know the importance of getting your product photographs right. Potential clients get their first glance at what you have to offer via your product photographs so it’s vital that the products look classy and inviting. Here are a few tips to get you started on improving your product photography.
1.Know the limitations of using a camera phone for product photographs
Phones are great and the cameras on them have massively improved over the years. You can get a reasonable photo on a phone if you’re just wanting to use them on Ebay, Facebook, Twitter etc. The problem with camera phone photographs is that they’re designed for viewing on phones. When you want to use the photos on a website where they need to be larger, the poor quality of the image would be obvious. This is because phones often use cheap plastic lenses which can’t produce high quality photos at larger sizes. If you use the pinch option on phone photos, you will see that using the optical zoom destroys the image if you try to make it bigger. So use your camera phone photos only for social media etc.
Taken by a professional using professional product photography equipment
Taken using an iPhone
2. Get the lighting right
Make sure your product is very well lit. This may mean using several lights to enhance all areas of the product and make sure all the detail shows up. Experiment with putting the lights in different places to see how this affects the image quality.
3. Invest in a DSLR Camera
To make your product photographs stand out from the rest, you need to be able to focus on the product alone and blur out aspects of the background which might distract from the product. This isn’t possible with a camera phone. A basic DSLR camera doesn’t have to cost a fortune but does give you more control over getting the quality of image you require. Your product photographs can be then used confidently where larger sized photos are needed.
4. Learn the basics of photo editing
Photoshop and other editing software can be used to improve and enhance your product photographs. There are lots of video tutorials out there for basic photo editing skills and a small monthly subscription can be paid to Adobe, for example, giving you the complete software package needed to work on your product photographs.
5. If in doubt, use a professional!
The quality of your product photography is directly related to the quality of your sales. Have a look around at some corporate websites for large companies. Ask yourself whether your images match up to theirs. There’s a reason why these companies use professional product photographs and that’s because they don’t want to take a chance with their image. It’s like your shop window! If you don’t feel that you can achieve this quality of image, then invest in a professional to do it for you. It’s not as expensive as you might think and can massively improve your corporate image and yours!
Can you really afford the time to spend hours learning how to get your product photographs right? One of our recent clients said she’d spent hours trying to get the kind of image she wanted. When she came to us, we had achieved what she wanted in minutes, due to a studio set up, the correct equipment, knowledge and experience. Have a look at our Product Photography page. Contact us for further details if you would like a quote for providing quality product photographs. If you would like to chat about your requirements, please give us a ring on 01925 747780 during office hours.
