Excellent Product Photography Tips for Your E-commerce Site

Forget ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’; a picture could be worth one thousand pounds if you’re retailing online.

All too often we see perfectly good e-commerce sites undermined by poor stock photography, and given that the customer’s online retail experience is ‘look but don’t touch’, customers are going to need a very good look before they put their hands in their pockets.

That’s why we’ve put together this short list of do’s and don’ts: product photography tips that will help you to choose a style that encourages people to buy.

• DO use a neutral background – a simple white or grey background, matt or shaded, is all you need to display your product tastefully; other colours could be distracting.
• DON'T be ‘arty’ – now’s not the time to show off your Photoshop skills, customers just want to see the product in all its fine detail, not on top of a mountain or on a surfboard, so...
• DO offer multiple perspectives and zooms – this will help shoppers check the finer details and ensure they are fully satisfied with the product before they order.
• DON'T use low resolution photographs – low resolution photographs have trouble with zooming, becoming grainy and blurred, which obviously reflects very poorly on your brand; use a DSLR camera to get the most detailed pixels for your product photography.
• DO use natural lighting – represent the item’s true colour by emulating ‘sunlight on a cloudy day’ conditions (these avoid creating harsh shadows or bleaching the colours) or you can expect people to start returning orders, dissatisfied that you set their expectations incorrectly.

High-quality photography is no longer a bonus of a good web site: it is a requirement for reputable, trust-inspiring and respected e-commerce operations. Follow the above guidelines to ensure your products are displayed in their best light and tempt shoppers to dive in with the credit card.