Product Photography: What Is It? Importance & Best Tips
Product photography is an important field of photography, especially in online businesses or e-commerce. It's not as simple as placing items on the table and pressing the shutter button. Even the most advanced cameras cannot produce beautiful photos if the product is not properly set up and post-processed.
The following article will help readers better understand what product photography is, how to define goals before a shoot, and the effective styles used by professionals.
What is Product Photography?
Product photography is a type of commercial photography that involves taking pictures of products for commercial use.
They showcase the product's features in detail, complementing the written copy and product description. They give potential buyers a complete impression of the product.
The resulting images can be used in a catalog, brochure, or on a website. Whenever you open an advertisement, such as the weekly ad from your local grocery store, or visit a website where items are sold, you will see examples of product photography.
In other words, the value of the product must be built into the photos. To create images that help sell products, photographers often use specialized tools, including props, models, and backgrounds.
In some cases, product photography can also include renders. These are 3D graphics that look so realistic that they can almost be translated into a real photo. You'll often see these on sites like Amazon or eBay. For example, a furniture brand will often create 3D renders of a model of a house.
However, for those who are picky about sharpness, renders usually don't count, and only images taken with a real camera of a real object are classified as product photography.
Product photography is used in many different fields, including:
E-commerce: Online stores use product images to introduce their products to customers.
Advertising: Advertising companies use product images to promote their products in various media, such as newspapers, magazines, television, the Internet, etc.
Marketing: Businesses use product images to market their products to potential customers.
Graphic design: Graphic designers use product images to create marketing materials, such as catalogs, brochures, flyers, etc.
Product photography is a job that requires creativity, skill, and experience. Product photographers need to have knowledge of lighting, composition, equipment, and photo-processing techniques to create professional photos.
What is the Difference between Product Photography and Other Photography?
The ultimate goal of product photography is to capture a realistic image of the product. This allows potential buyers to understand what the product is like. It is especially important for those who prefer to buy online because they will not have the opportunity to examine the item. So the job of the product photographer is to convey the look as well as the feel of the item through the lens and camera.
In traditional photography, the photographer has more creative leeway. The subject does not have to be portrayed realistically or even attractively. The goals of photography can be varied: artistic expression, emotional response, realism, or something else. Additionally, in other photography, the subject can be anything: people, landscapes, property, animals, or a product.
What is the Importance of Product Image?
Before we get into the details of what you should do to take great product photos, let’s discuss the importance of doing so. This will help you better understand why these techniques are essential to your success.
Consistent Look and Style of Brand
Inconsistency in the way you shoot your product photos can be distracting to the shopper.
Consistency is key to making your products and sales pages look professional. Taking photos with a cohesive look gives the impression that you are maintaining high standards for your products.
Of course, creativity and breaking the mold are always necessary. But even those photos should have a consistent style. For example, high-end fashion brands always come up with unique concepts, but do not lose the luxury, sophistication, and class that the brand must aim for.
Describe Your Products Accurately
You always need to describe your products accurately, so that customers can understand exactly the color, size, and details of the items.
To achieve this accuracy, the photographer must ensure 3 basic factors: using appropriate lighting (to display colors accurately), appropriate angles (to display proportions), and high resolution (to preserve details).
All product photos must be high resolution so customers can zoom in to see clearly, but some products will need higher resolution than others. An example would be clothing or other fabric items that customers may want to zoom in on to check stitching, texture, or other details. Fashion items that involve fabric often focus on detail in the image to show small aspects of the overall product.
Highlight Your Product
Your photography needs to show the advantages of the product to make it more appealing. Of course, the quality of the product must go hand in hand with the image. Otherwise, your photos will become a ploy to hide the real value.
You can highlight your product by creating a dedicated space that is well-lit and aesthetically pleasing. This can only be achieved if you have complete product knowledge, set the scene, and continuously cultivate valuable ideas.
Encourage Customers to Make Decisions
Communicating products through images not only provides an accurate picture of the product but also helps customers make their purchasing decisions. This type of photography appeals to the practical needs of customers rather than simply displaying photos.
For example, a pair of high heels placed on a white background will remind one less of the need than when photographed on the feet of a model, combined with a matching dress. Customers will immediately visualize whether the product is suitable for their needs or not and make a decision more easily.
Types Of Product Photography
Here are the main types of product photography commonly used by professionals and brands to showcase their products effectively:
Using White Background/Removing Background
Popular examples of white background photos are photos you see on e-commerce marketplaces. They are usually individual product photos and are considered the most popular photo style. In fact, through analyzing product photos from leading fashion brands, you can see that 95% of them have white background photos.
The continuity and lack of background distinction make it easy for buyers to distinguish between products. It also makes it easy to introduce different color variations of a particular product. This is the most cost-effective way to showcase your products.
Setting by Use Product Context
Setting shots showcase products that are increasingly being used. These types of shots are great because they show shoppers how the product will be used in their lives, and they also give them a sense of closeness. People can imagine themselves using the product when looking at these types of shots.
Settings of a specific living room, for example, help furniture shoppers visualize what the item will look like in their own home.
Showcasing Lifestyle for Product Photography
There is a lot of overlap between context and lifestyle product photography. However, there is one key difference: lifestyle photography includes and often focuses on real people. Some context sets lack people.
This is a great way to convey your brand identity and also helps create an emotional connection with the product. You can also use these images across all your marketing platforms, like Facebook or Instagram. It tells a story and helps communicate the values, interests, and aspirations of your potential customers, or it can be related to a particular culture. It is an engaging way to showcase your products. Lifestyle product photography is often used in high-value or luxury items.
Take Photos in Proportion
Scale photography is a product shot that provides a frame of reference for people to visualize how large a product is. While product specifications and dimensions are descriptive, sometimes shoppers need an image to see how large or small it is compared to common objects.
The photo below shows a small-sized product, along with someone holding it to give you a sense of how small the item is compared to their hands and fingers.
Getting into the Details
Detailed product shots show small elements that are hard to visualize in a standard product photo. You'll often see this type of shot with clothing, shoes, and accessories, especially if you're into luxury categories.
This tactic also applies to other industries and products like cosmetics or skincare. Using detailed shots to show what their products look like on real people's faces.
Take Photos by Product Type
Group shots in product photography are used when there are multiple products in a product line, such as a skincare line. Taking photos by product type is also used when there is a relationship between the items. For example, in a promotion where a consumer gets one product if they buy another.
Moreover, skin care products often come in sets with different functions, so they should be photographed in groups to fully demonstrate a skincare routine.
Flatlay Style
Flatlay product photos have their own niche on social media, especially Instagram. Flatlays are taken from a bird's-eye view. Layouts rely on creative ways to arrange your products. So it’s a great way to add variety to your product images. Plus, this style is especially appealing on social media.
Flatlays give shoppers a positive visual impression because they can see how many items they’ll be getting.
Focus on Product Packaging
This type is an image of the box, bag, label, or any packaging that contains your goods. These photos are important because they directly appeal to shoppers. However, there’s a problem with whether the packaging design represents the product, which is something you often see with food and beauty products.
You can even incorporate product packaging into your other photos. This adds dimension and creates brand recognition for people who interact with you both online and offline.
Beautiful, colorful packaging can be a great prop to use alongside your product to elevate your photos.
Take Advantage of User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) includes product photos taken by anyone other than your brand or employees. These photos are often shared on social media, so you can repost or feature the content on your own website as a form of social proof. UGC product photography isn’t as ideal as your main photos, but it’s a great addition to your product pages.
UGC has become extremely popular recently in consumer feedback sections. Choosing the right UGC photos can help build trust in your brand and product.
What Equipment is Needed for Product Photography?
When taking professional photos, you cannot do without supporting equipment to create a perfect photo. Specifically, below are some basic tools for you to take professional product photos.
Camera
A camera is an indispensable tool in professional product photography. There are many different types of cameras today. Therefore, if you want to have a beautiful, sharp photo, you should use a specialized camera.
Specialized cameras will have very special focusing and shooting capabilities. Or you can use a phone or a compact travel camera to take photos if conditions do not allow.
Lighting for Photography
What is needed for professional product photography? The next indispensable tool when taking photos is lighting. When there is a lack of light or too much light, the photo will not be clear and beautiful. When there is enough lighting, taking photos will become much softer and more harmonious.
Note that you should install the lighting in a position where the product stands out the most. You can use 2 or 3 lights to get the best photo.
Tripod
A tripod is a tool that helps fix the camera and the shooting angle when taking photos. This tool will ensure consistent photo quality and help the photographer work conveniently and leisurely.
Background
When taking professional product photos, a background is indispensable. A beautiful background will affect the content of the photo. Furthermore, it is part of the soul of the photo.
Background materials are very diverse, made of fabric or cardboard with a variety of designs and colors. Therefore, depending on the photography style and product type, you should choose the most suitable background.
Decorative Accessories
To make the photo have content and connection, decorative accessories are very necessary. Accessories such as flowers, leaves, fruits, etc., will help the photo become more vivid and outstanding.
Note that the accessories you choose should support the main product to be photographed. The accessories need to create harmony for the overall photo, helping to convey the message through the photo.
Product Photography Box
The product photography box is also a must-have tool when taking professional product photos. This tool is convenient and provides adequate lighting when taking product photos. The box is designed with an LED light system and can be easily adjusted according to your purpose. On the other hand, the box size is quite small, so users can carry it anywhere they want.
In short, the above tools will contribute to creating beautiful product photos. Therefore, we need to fully prepare the necessary items before intending to take photos.
7 Tips for Better Product Photography
To own a quality product photo requires skilled staff. In addition, photographers need to have the following useful experiences to get beautiful photos:
Take advantage of natural light sources when taking photos
There are two different light sources for product photography: natural light and artificial light. Natural light from the sun should be taken advantage of because it brings beautiful effects. In addition, photographers need to note that the most suitable time to take advantage of natural light sources is from 8-10 am or 3-5 pm.
Take many different angles to choose from
The next tip in product photography is to take many angles to choose the right angle. Each angle will bring unique features for product photos. There are popular product shooting angles, such as frontal horizontal angle, vertical angle, close-up, and random angle.
Use the background to highlight the product
Each product group will be compatible with different types of backgrounds. Therefore, according to product photography experience, it is best to choose a solid color, monochrome background such as white for product photography.
In addition, you can also use natural backgrounds such as walls, flower gardens, fences, streets, etc. The advantage of monochrome backgrounds is that you can freely change without fear of confusion or color overlap.
Use many different concepts
There are many different product photography concepts for you to choose from. Each concept has its own highlights, suitable for each product group. For example, taking photos with backgrounds, taking photos with context, taking 3D photos, and creative photography.
Get inspiration for product photography
When inspired to take photos, product photos become more soulful and lively. You should try to learn and refer to different product photography styles from famous brands.
This helps the photographer to promote their thinking ability and creativity to create beautiful, professional photos.
Do not be greedy in using accessories
Taking photos according to concepts often uses accessories to increase liveliness and highlight the product. However, we should not use too many accessories in the frame. Because too many accessories will make the photo confusing and distract customers.
Ideally, according to experience in product photography, you should only put fewer than 5 accessories in a photo. In addition, you should pay attention to choosing accessories that are in harmony with the product to avoid making the product look dull.
Invest in editing product photos
There will definitely be many shortcomings, and some photos are not really perfect. Therefore, it is very necessary for you to invest in learning how to edit product photos. Mosyne, Photoshop, Lightroom will help solve problems with product photos.
Conclusion
Product photography can start as a hobby or become a career for your photography. Either way, it plays an important role in e-commerce, just as it has traditionally played in print media. Whatever the future holds, there will always be a need for quality product photography.