Having the right eCommerce photography for your brand can make a big difference to your bottom line.

It’s important that the imagery you use on your site to advertise your products really showcases them. You need to make sure you are giving your customers a sense for what you are selling. There are so many ways to shoot eCommerce photography, so make sure your images are high quality and impactful. They also need to represent your product authentically and give your customer the confidence to purchase.

eCommerce photography and product photography, what’s the difference?

It’s important to understand the difference between product photography and eCommerce photography. And a lot of people don’t get it right.

Product photography is images that help to advertise the existence of your product. It’s often found on your social channels, print advertising and website prior to the point of purchase.

Product images may also feature your product within a scene that is relevant to the use of the product. For example, if you are selling items for a running brand, you’d find your items being worn by models in the gym, running on a track, running in a park with their running club, etc.

eCommerce photography is a little different. eCommerce images are found at the point of purchase. By this stage, the customer is actively looking at making a purchase and will be looking at the images to ensure the quality of the product fits their criteria. This falls into a classic marketing funnel, and making sure you have content available for every stage of the buyers journey will help improve your ecommerce website performance

Using the running brand example again, when it comes to eCommerce photography, we may see the products being worn once again by a model, but they will be on a neutral background and posing in such a way that compliments the item.

For example, a model in front of a white background may be wearing a pair of running trainers, posing in a sprint position to show the flexibility of the material. Alternatively, the item may be photographed by itself, from different angles and distances, to show the entire product, its quality and detail. The emphasis of these photos is to pull the customer’s focus on the product. Theres loads of ways to do it, but it’s important you do it the right way.

Getting ‘That’ Shot

So, now that you know the difference, let’s get down to our top tips for getting those cracking eComm snaps…

Tips prior to the shoot

Background: Find a neutral, solid background that won’t distract from the product. While white is a good go-to colour, you could also go for black or another neutral colour that compliments your product or brand.
Lighting: While natural lighting can offer a more natural look, it is incredibly inconsistent from one picture to the next (not ideal when we are looking for consistency). Studio lighting is the way to go for eCommerce photography. Treat the light like a paintbrush and paint light onto the product to show off its qualities and features.
Camera: If you want sharp, crisp in-focus images, investing in a sturdy tripod is a must and will avoid a huge headache when editing. We’d also recommend using a remote shutter for your camera, it will greatly reduce the chance of blur from pressing the shutter release button on your camera, particularly useful if your product is small, as long focal lengths and zooming in emphasises any camera shake.
Top Tip: Shoot your images in RAW: This will allow you greater flexibility when editing the images

During the shoot

Shoot all sides of the product: Customers want to see every aspect of the product, so make sure you capture every angle.
Check your angles: Shooting at eye level might not be enough to capture the real essence of what you’re selling. Don’t be afraid to use high, low or slanted angles to get all the detail.
Zoom in: Highlight the quality, features and USPs of your product by getting in close

After the shoot

Ensure consistency: Even if you’ve kept everything consistent during the shoot, the nature of all light is that there may be some images that are slightly off from the rest. Use editing software to put these into line.
Enhance the features: Use post-processing to highlight your products’ features, this can be through light, colour and even texture.
Get the correct export settings: Ensure that you know the size, dimension and file type needed when exporting the image. If these aren’t correct, all your hard work will be wasted when the images don’t look the part.

eCommerce photography tips – get that shot!