You may have a great product to sell online to targeted customers, yet you’re perhaps still in the dark about how to best tackle product photography for Amazon and other ecommerce sites. The important thing about taking photos of products is to prepare as much as possible before a photo session takes place. Working with a professional photographer is best, though you should work with them to create a shot list.
If you’re unsure of what this is, it’s a list of all the images you want to capture of your products. This also compiles the techniques you’ll use to achieve these photos. The list is going to detail which of your products you’ll photograph, the angles you need, the product details you’ll highlight in the photo, and things you’ll want to pair with the product.
What Kind of Products Do You Plan to Photograph?
With an extensive inventory, which products do you plan to sell online first? You may have a set of products that require more extensive photographs than others, especially with detailed parts.
What would translate the best on film compared to others? When it comes to apparel, you may have to create a shot list entailing how to properly capture models wearing the clothing. You’ll need a professional photographer to help you with this, especially if they have experience working with models.
Other products may require specialized lighting or approaches to make them look more attractive. For instance, edible products may need more photographic details to present proper texture. Should you photograph an edible product in its packaging, or should you take it out and present the item at multiple angles?
This is just the beginning of your shot list. Next, you’ll want to look at angles for the best product presentation. Those of you selling on Amazon need to take this seriously to uphold their photography rules.
What Kind of Angles Should You Use?
If you’re just now starting to sell on Amazon, you’ll need to supply a minimum of nine photos for your product. With this in mind, you’ll have to think about which angles work best to fill this allotted space.
So what kind of photographic angles would work best with your items? For food products, angle options are numerous, and it all depends on context. Think of food products as people where you have to search for the best side.
It may require some experimenting to find whether you should shoot straight-on, from above, with tilts, or using close-ups.
What Kind of Details Should You Highlight?
To highlight details in your product photography, you’ll have to pay more attention to lighting as one solution. Using a lightbox is a good method to highlight details in your products, something professional photographers are going to know well.
Using a macro lens is important to gain the best details at close range. The higher the pixel rate on the camera used, the stronger the factor in how much texture you’ll capture.
In some cases, you may not want to capture extensive detail without exposing too many flaws you can’t fix in the photo. Since Amazon requires you to use real photography and no Photoshopping, you’ll want to get it right the first time.
Work with your photographer to ask how much detail you want to capture and whether it helps the product or hinders.
Finding Items to Pair With Your Product
Perhaps your product isn’t physically attractive enough without having something else to complement it in a photo. As the last thing on your shot list, work with finding items you can pair up with your product to add more interest to the photo.
Keep in mind you’ll need caution here because you don’t want anything distracting from the product. Adding other items might mean something simple like flowers, or a table. Whatever the item is, make sure it aids in helping someone visualize what the product is going to look like when worn or used.
Keep reading us at Visionair Photography to read more about product photography tips for those of you selling on Amazon.
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