9 Cost-effective e-Commerce Photography Hacks to Boost the Sales
Contrary to the saying that goes ‘More than what meets the eye’, human beings are more convinced with what meets the eye. 75% of online buyers base their decisions on how appealing a product looks in the photograph. That is when e-commerce photography comes into play. To be able to increase your product sales and let your target audience know about your product, a good photograph of the same is very important and we can’t stress enough!
Studies by Bain and Company have shown that a customer spends an average of 9.5 minutes on an online shopping website, and a few seconds on each product. Only 1 in 22 shoppers look at the product description and details, while others base their decisions mainly on how it looks. Good product photography can increase your conversion rates by a whopping 30%!
Good photography may bring the question of expenses. From lessons all over the world, anything good is expensive. If your pocket is ticking with the thought of spending heavy, we are here to help you with 10 e-commerce photography hacks that will bring about just the quality of photography you’re looking for, in about half the expenditure!
Bring out the phone!
Still adoring those pet, family, food and nature photos that you clicked using your phone? Time to use its excellence to photograph your product! If DSLR cameras are not in your budget, cameras in latest smartphones do just the work. The back camera of a smartphone has more resolution and can click high resolution, clear photos than the front camera. Investing in smartphones with good quality cameras costs less than professional cameras, and goes a long way. Smartphones by Samsung, Google Pixel, iPhone, One Plus, and Oppo are known to have the best cameras.
Background is the backbone of your photography.
Your product has to be the star of the photos, and background can help a great deal to bring it to focus. Any kind of distraction or mess in the background holds the power to distract the customer, thereby affecting their purchase decision. Make sure your background is clear or matches your product. Try to use solid colours in the background. Too many colours would again get distractive. Nature can also play the perfect background for your photography. Capture your product with clouds, leaves, sunshine and other things that nature has to provide, to beautify your photograph with the aesthetics! Other elements suitable to use as a background would be silky or textured clothes, colored chart papers, curtains, textured papers, or some flower vases.
Use natural lighting.
Good lighting means a good impression. While bringing professional lights can increase your expenses, making use of natural lighting can be as effective and work wonders! Use appropriate placement of your products against the lighting, to bring out its best features to the highlights. Most model photography that takes place outdoors, uses natural lighting. If you’ve seen your favourite social media influencers glow their best in the Golden Hour lighting, it is proof to the power of natural lighting in good photography. Too harsh lighting can be made subtle using white clothing in the light’s path near the product, or use different colored clothes to have a colourful lighting effect for your e-commerce shoot!
Artificial Lighting.
This does not mean using the professional shoot lights. It means making use of lighting available at your convenience to bring out the best of your products. Using lamps, candles, fairy lights, and fluorescent lights can prove good light sources for your e-commerce shoot. It is also important to pay attention to how the light is falling on your product, and to adjust the placements accordingly. Photographs with bad lighting can kill the vibe that you intend to create.
Use props.
Props are the best way to add aesthetics to your photographs. While having a clear background is important, adding a minimal amount of props next to your product can add to the beauty of the photograph. It is important to note that the props must not dominate the photo, but merely complement your product. Adding props of subtle colors (say, white, beige, light yellow), ones that relate to your product or the context of time you are advertising your products helps in numerous ways.
For example, if you’re looking to photograph a fragrance soap, add in some flowers with it, perhaps placed on water, to add the effect to your customer’s visualisation!
Make your photos stable with a Tripod.
Worried about not being able to hold your camera stably, which consequently results in blurry and unclear photos? A tripod can be one of the most cost-effective ways to invest in your e-commerce photography. The price range for tripods starts at around INR 300. A tripod can help you have stable photos, stable placement of the product, allow timer for shoots that require posing by yourself, and shoot your products by yourself in the long run.
Location.
To shoot at a posh location or something that matches your product’s vibe can be expensive most of the time. Instead, you can create a location type beat at your convenience, sometimes cost-free! Use public parks or gardens at less frequented hours to have a hassle-free model shoot or other shoots that need such location. Use DIY hacks including artificial lights and props to create your own location at the lowest possible cost. A location that is relevant to your product and the time of advertisement also plays an important role for the customers to relate to it.
Some DIY hacks.
Using some stationary or home goods for your photography can turn your photos to look professionally clicked. Use a tea strainer against the light on the product, to produce a web-like, dramatic, or bokeh effect. Using reflective paper for your product can help the photograph look like it is placed on clear, still water. Unable to find the right lighting or effects to place in the background? Open images on your laptop screen and place your product in the foreground to get the same effect! Use a glass-top table to create an interesting frame.
Use design softwares for added effects.
Sometimes, finding the right lighting, props, and location may not work according to our expectations. Easy to use design softwares like Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Adobe Illustrator etc. can add the desired effects to your photos and even enhance your existing photos. While some of these softwares require subscription, they even work with a one-month free subscription scheme, and you can choose to continue with the softwares accordingly. Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Sketch, Lunacy, Mega Creator, Affinity Designer are some of the most used softwares for designing.
While finding the perfect requirements for your e-commerce shoot may prove to be expensive, these hacks will help you bring out the best in your product photography. Apart from these hacks, however, it is also important for you to have some basic knowledge in photography, make use of customer reviews to buy your best prop/lighting/smartphone.
Once you’ve earned enough to hire professional photographers for your product photography, it can change the quality of your photos and sales exponentially. Many leading companies are best known for product shoots as well as e-commerce photography. Production houses like The Yellow Shutter provide fastest and flexible photography services for your e-commerce photography at affordable prices, best quality components for photoshoots, and inputs from industry professionals to enhance how your product looks online!
