Product pho­to­graphy: taking your own pro­fes­sion­al photos

Product photos are the lifeblood of online retailers, as images can make or break online sales. This is es­pe­cially true for newer products that browsing customers have yet to encounter ‘live and in 3D’. In­di­vidu­al and cre­at­ively conceived photos have the potential of sep­ar­at­ing your products from the con­ven­tion­al e-commerce com­pet­i­tion. And with the right equipment and proper pre­par­a­tion, anyone can produce unique product photos.

In our digital guide article on product pho­to­graphy, we laid out how images can affect an online retailer’s sales and what things are par­tic­u­larly important to pay attention to during the con­cep­tion and com­pos­i­tion phases of a shoot. Sep­ar­at­ing yourself from the herd with unique ideas is key for this process. Nowhere is this made clearer than on the Google Shopping page. Stock photos provided by man­u­fac­tures are an all-too-common sight here and do little to attract the customer’s attention. Unique and attention-grabbing photos separate you from the com­pet­i­tion and give customers a reason to return to your site.

We have compiled a list of the most important tips on how to take pro­fes­sion­al-grade photos yourself.

It should come as no surprise that your camera is the most important tool for product pho­to­graphy. But don’t reach for the Has­sel­blad just yet. Mid-range cameras often offer more than enough capacity for high-quality shots. The most important aspect is that you as the pho­to­graph­er know what you’re doing.

Perhaps even more important than the quality of the camera is knowing how to use the right settings. There are es­sen­tially four relevant factors to take into account when dealing with a photo’s exposure: the aperture value, the exposure time, the ISO value, and the white balance.

• Aperture value: among other things, the aperture allows you to adjust the depth of field. This function plays an es­pe­cially important role for product pho­to­graphy. Here are the basic rules of how it works:
  
  
  • smaller values = a large aperture opening = blurry back­ground
  • larger values = a small aperture opening = focused back­ground

• Exposure time: this is where the length of exposure, or how long the aperture stays open, is adjusted. Many cameras have good automatic settings (manually adjusting the aperture requires trying out many different settings). Too short of an exposure time leads to un­der­ex­pos­ure, while too long of an exposure time leads to over­ex­pos­ure.

• ISO: ISO values let you determine how light sensitive the camera’s image sensor is. It’s best to select a high ISO value when working under poor lighting con­di­tions. Given the generally excellent lighting of product pho­to­graphy objects (see next paragraph), this setting plays a less important role for this task. The value should generally be kept as low as possible (max. 800). This helps ensure that no losses of quality occur.

• White balance (WB): a white balance should be carried out before the first photo is taken. This setting affects colour tem­per­at­ure. White balancing allows white to truly be depicted without a blue cast or yellow cast appearing in the photo. Modern digital cameras feature an automatic white balance, and ex­per­i­enced pho­to­graph­ers should be able to adjust these setting manually.

Products can only truly come into their own when cast under the right lighting. Many hobby pho­to­graph­ers prefer shooting under natural lighting. But when it comes to product pho­to­graphy, most experts recommend ar­ti­fi­cial lighting. No matter what time you wish to shoot photos for your online store, such lighting con­di­tions are easier to control and reproduce.

The ideal lighting en­vir­on­ment can be set up by using the resources mentioned above.

Before you upload the photos to your site, there’s one final step: editing. Digitally op­tim­ising photos isn’t easy, but with a little bit of practice, even novices equipped with photo software can work wonders on their product photos. The most popular software on the market is Photoshop, but there are also many af­ford­able Photoshop al­tern­at­ives that are more suitable for beginners. These include names like: GIMP, Krita and Pho­to­Scape. Steps for the finishing touches:

• Adjusting picture detail
• Adjusting picture ori­ent­a­tion and per­spect­ive
• Op­tim­ising colour and bright­ness  
• Contrast settings
• Re­touch­ing smaller picture elements

Following the tips from above can help you achieve your goal of producing pro­fes­sion­al product photos. Just remember: putting your product in the limelight has to start with a well-devised concept. Sometimes it helps to look for in­spir­a­tion in advance. Take a look online to see what other online retailers are doing with high-quality photos or use Google’s image search for brain­storm­ing ideas. And if it’s the cost of equipment you’re worried about, then renting always remains a viable option.