When running an ecommerce business, good photographs are vital for the success of your shop. When we go into a physical store, we can actually see, feel and smell the product we are going to buy. However, with an online store we just have images to go off and as a customer, these tend to be our first impressions of the product.
In terms of equipment, you don't need any fancy tech like a DSLR camera or fancy lighting. All you will need is a good phone camera and some basic photography skills.
Not confident with the camera? Well, you're in the right place!! I am going to talk you through a few tips and tricks to help you improve your photography skills and ultimately boost your sales!
Oh, and I did study photography at uni, so I'd like to think I have a little knowledge in the subject. 😅
Use natural daylight
Nope, no need for fancy lights that cost a bomb! Natural daylight is the most effective for creating beautifully crisp and bright images. You may need to try and take your product images at the same time of day to avoid the images looking different colours when side by side in your online store. I have found the best time to take pictures this time of year is about 2 in the afternoon, when the sun isn't super bright, but it's still light enough to take stunning images.
Non cluttered images.
I have fell into this trap before.... I added lots of flowers around my jewellery when taking the images, as I thought it made my jewellery look more enticing. However, if you choose to add props to the images, make sure to not draw the attention away from the actual product and cause the image to look messy and stressful. I'm absolutely not saying don't add props because I, for one, still add flowers but just plain white ones and not as many. I also recommend a plain background, such as a white plate or just plain paper. Sometimes less can be more.
Add a natural filter to every image
I like to add a very subtle and natural filter to my images. I use a brighter filter so that my images match my shop's feel and aesthetic, and so that they all look cohesive together. This is the only editing I do, other than cropping the images if they need it. I make sure my images are true to how the product looks in real life. If you try to make the products look better or different to what they look like in real life, it just misleads the customer and could lead to complaints and returns, so I would avoid doing that.
Add a range of product pictures.
Make sure to upload at least 5 or 6 images to your shop, including different angles, how the product looks on a model or mannequin and size proportions. I always include a few images of the jewellery piece from different angles, Size of the piece compared to my hand and the piece on a mannequin neck. This is a great way to make sure the customer knows exactly what they're getting and can make sure the piece is right for them. Only having one image can turn potential customers away as it leads to unanswered questions, and sometimes it can leave us feeling reluctant to trust the brand/product.
Add text to your images.
I'll be completely honest, this is a tip I have yet to try. However, I have read about some good results from just adding important information to product images. Instead of ruining all your beautiful images with text overlaying them, I would personally create one plain page at the end with any important information on it, such as dimensions, shipping information etc.
When people are looking at a product on your shop on their phone, it may be the case that they don't scroll down enough to find the description, and so they miss the important information. This way, at least they can just scroll through the images and see the information they need. This may lead to better a conversion rate in your shop.
I hope you found this useful! (Let me know by liking this post below!).
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