Product photography is crucial for ecommerce brands and manufacturers looking to highlight their products online. High-quality product images grab attention, spark desire, and drive sales conversions better than any other type of content.
This ultimate guide will teach you how to execute professional-level product shoots and equip you with resources to hire talented photographers to take your product photos to the next level.
What is Product Photography?
Product photography refers to capturing images of products against clean backgrounds to showcase features, appeal, quality and uses. The goal is to inspire consumers to purchase the product.
Unlike lifestyle or commercial photography, product photos focus on the product itself rather than models, environments or conceptual ideas.
Well-executed product photography makes products look appealing, helps them stand out online, and gives customers visual assurances of value. For ecommerce stores especially, product images are critical conversion factors.
Why Invest in Professional Product Photography?
Great product photos provide tremendous value for brands and stores selling physical goods. Here‘s why it pays to invest in pro photographers:
Boosts Conversions
High-quality product images better communicate what a product looks like and what it can do for customers. This builds trust in products and inspires more add-to-cart actions.
Saves Money
While hiring photographers costs money upfront, it leads to increased sales that improve ROI over time. Great product images practically pay for themselves.
Creates Shareable Content
Visually appealing product photos tend to get shared more on social media. This expands brand reach and awareness organically.
Improves SEO
Optimize images with keywords in filenames, alt text and other metadata to improve site SEO and traffic.
Communicates Brand Image
Clean, consistent product photography reinforces a brand‘s identity and quality perception.
For these reasons and more, manufacturers and ecommerce entrepreneurs should view product photography as a high-return investment rather than a disposable expense.
How to Execute Product Shoots
Capturing sale-driving product photography requires strategic setup and execution. Follow these tips for professional-grade results:
Choose Appropriate Backdrops
Seamless paper, fabric and other backdrops should be free from distracting textures. Solid whites and grays work best for highlighting most products.
Use Direction Light Sources
Position lights at 45 degree angles to cast dimension-adding shadows and highlights. Front lighting tends to look flat and boring.
Shoot Multiple Angles
Capture each product from multiple sides, views and angles. Showcase features customers will care about.
Zoom in on Important Details
Move the camera in close or swap lenses to showcase fine details, textures and intricacies consumers want to see.
Keep Things Simple
Avoid busy compositions and stick to clean, simple arrangements that put all focus on the product itself.
Optimize Image Settings
Shoot high-res images with DSLR cameras on the highest quality settings. Leave room to crop images as needed.
Use Props and Lifestyle Contexts Judiciously
While alternate backdrops, props and settings can help communicate product uses, keep extraneous elements simple.
Perfect Exposure and White Balance
Proper exposure and white balance ensures true-to-life colors that look natural. Overexposed highlights and altered hues damage credibility.
Post Process Meticulously
Use photo editing software like Lightroom and Photoshop to polish images to perfection via cropping, corrections and subtle enhancements.
Equipment Needed
While studio setups and lighting kits tailor-made for product photography can run upwards of several thousand dollars, you can pull off pro-level product shots on a modest budget.
Here is quality starter equipment available for under $300:
Entry-Level DSLR Camera – $400-600
Canon Rebel, Nikon D3500, etc.
50mm or 85mm Prime Lens – $100-200
Sharp optics for close-up detail shots
Basic Lighting Kit with Stands – $70-150
Continuous lights or flashes plus stands, mounts and modifiers
Seamless Backdrop Paper – $12-25
Roll of white/gray paper for smooth, non-distracting backgrounds
Small Tabletop Shooting Tent – $10-20
Portable tent for controlling lighting environments
Clear Acrylic Product Stands – $15-30
Posable stands to hold products at specific angles/heights
Laptop + Editing Software – $ Free programs up to full Creative Cloud $600/year
For post-processing final images
With around $300 worth of starter equipment, you can set up DIY product shoots that yield high-quality images.
Down the road, upgrading to pro-grade gear like studio strobes, interchangeable backdrops and macro lenses can level up results. But start simple and scale up over time.
Hiring Professional Photographers
While shooting products in-house allows unlimited attempts and total control, professional photographers bring skills and efficiency no amateur can match. Their expertise directly translates to sales-driving end results.
Here are top resources for hiring skilled product shooters for one-time projects or ongoing ecommerce photography needs:
Product Photography Specialists
Specialized product photography services cater to ecommerce brands, makers and manufacturers. Full-service options make getting pro images easy:
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Thrive Product Studio – Dedicated ecommerce product photography studio. Ship products to them and receive gorgeous pack shots on any backdrop. Great for apparel, gear, accessories, crafts, decor and other products.
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Squareshot – Choose images types/angles online then ship products to their California studio. Receive professionally shot pack shots in under a week. Integrates with ecommerce platforms.
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ProductPhoto – Full-service product photography tailored to ecommerce needs. Clients include major retailers like Wayfair, Nike and Calphalon. High-volume capable.
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Pro Photo Studio State-of-the-art LA studio equipped for high-detail product and packaging photography for brands.
While hiring full-scale product photography studios costs more upfront, the images consistently perform better across ecommerce contexts. Pack shots, alternate angles and model lifestyle photography can be achieved in coordinated shoots.
Staff Photographers
Hire experienced still life, commercial and studio photographers who offer product photography as a core service:
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Upwork – Globals freelancer network listing skilled photographers by specialty and client reviews. Ideal for contracting long-term.
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Fiverr – Digital services marketplace with product photographers offering single images from $5 or multi-image packages. Fast turnaround but more basic.
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Toptal – Specialized matching service for qualifying and hiring elite-level freelance photographers of all genres.
The above networks make finding photographers with examples of product photo work quick and easy. You can browse portfolios, communicate needs in requests forms or messages, and pay for services on their platforms.
Double check client reviews and samples to choose photographers whose aesthetic and ecommerce photo style fits your brand and products.
Local Photography Studios
General portrait and media studios may also offer commercial product photography alongside their other services. Search Google Maps and ask around locally to find established studios open to freelance product shoots.
Some may allow you to rent out their studio space plus equipment at hourly rates for DIY use. Structured coaching sessions can also help improve self-shot images.
Product Mockup Generators
If hiring photographers seems over-budget, use free product mockup generators like PlaceIt and SmartMockups to create mock product images from item images, logos and textures. The resulting visuals simulate real photographs with shadows, surfaces and contexts.
While mockup generators shortcut professional shoots, results tend to look overly perfect and flat. Use judiciously alongside some authentic photos.
10 Tips for Getting Great Results
Follow these pro tips for product photographs that make items irresistible:
1. Shoot Against White – Pure white backdrops make products pop while looking clean and professional.
2. Capture Multiple Angles – Show all sides and user perspectives to tell the whole story.
3. Zoom In on Details – Close-ups show special features and high product quality.
4. Use Cross Lighting – Light from both left and right reveals textures best.
5. Keep Shadows Subtle – Too much contrast looks unnatural. Keep fills bright.
6. Mind the Background – Ensure no textures or corners show.
7. Check for Blown Highlights – Adjust lighting so bright hot spots don‘t lack detail.
8. Pick Complementary Props – Enhance context without distracting.
9. Shoot High Resolution – Leave room to crop images as needed to fill various uses.
10. Perfect in Post – Refine tonality, colors, sharpness and presentation in editing.
Applying these photography fundamentals consistently will ensure product images always look crisply professional.
Common Product Photography Mistakes
Also beware these gaffs that downgrade perceived product quality:
Distracting Backgrounds – Messy backgrounds clutter compositions and pull attention. Shoot products against solid white/gray seamless backdrops only.
Harsh Lighting – Hard undiffused lighting creates ugly shadows and hot spots rather than appealing dimension. Soften studio strobes with modifiers.
Under Exposure – Dark muddy images hide product details. Properly expose for bright, vibrant and accurate colors.
Lack of Angles – Only shooting one flat forward angle leaves much to be desired. Capture multiple interesting perspectives.
Out of Focus Elements – Blurry details from poor camera focus/depth of field screams unprofessionalism. Confirm sharpness at common print sizes while shooting.
Cluttered Framing – Keep negative space tight around products so they shine rather than visual noise.
Boring Angles – Unique visual perspectives better inspire than straight-on centered compositions. Get creative.
Over-Posing – While lifestyle contexts can help, overly manipulated posing looks obvious. Keep products looking natural.
Lack of Post-Production – Skipping image adjustments like level corrections, cropping and retouching leaves photos looking rough and inconsistent.
Apply the tips in this guide to avoid common product photo fails.
Conclusion
There is no greater sales asset for physical goods brands than captivating photography presenting products at their very best.
While DIY product photography has a place for new and budget-conscious businesses, hiring professional photographers pays tangible dividends across ecommerce contexts – from driving impulse purchases to reassuring buyers during research.
Hopefully this ultimate guide covered all aspects of elevating product images using pro techniques, equipment and resources. Distill the key points down to:
- Product photography inspires purchases more than any other content
- Great lighting, angles and detail shots highlight products
- Specialized services make pro photography attainable
- Hiring photographers grants skills and perspectives no amateur can match
Now you have all the tools to launch products looking irresistible enough to fly off shelves, real or digital. Just remember quality product photography ranks among the highest ROI marketing investments around.
