If you’re a business that sells products, you’re familiar – to a certain degree – with product photos. If you’re not, product photos are straightforward – they’re photographs of your products. Product photos can be used for eCommerce websites and physical catalogs, or various other uses. 

In this post, I’m going to talk about how to take good product photos. Continue reading to learn about: 

• Different types of product photos
• The importance of professional product photos 
• Tips for shooting DIY product photos

Types of Product Photos 

When you think of product photos, you might first think of an image from an eCommerce listing. While that is correct, multiple different types of photos can be used to promote products. 

Different types of product photos include: 

• Individual shots
• Scale shots 
• Detailed shots
• Packaging shots 
• Group portraits 
• Lifestyle and advertising photos 

I’ll break down each type of shot in greater detail in the following subsections.

Individual shots

Individual product shots are photos that contain a single item in frame. Typically, the item is the product in its entirety. Individual shots are one of the most common types of product photos and often serve as the main image of a product listing. 

This type of product photo gives consumers an all-encompassing look at the product. 

Scale shots

Scale shots are images where the product is staged next to another commonly used everyday item for size comparison. Because consumers can’t physically view the item, it’s difficult to gauge how large the product is with no reference. 

Even if a product listing contains dimension measurements, it can be difficult for consumers to visualize them. Scale shots put the size of a product into perspective for consumers. 

 Detailed shots

Detailed shots consist of multiple close-up images highlighting specific details, features, and intricacies of a product. Like scale shots, detailed shots help consumers analyze products at a granular level without physically holding and viewing them. 

Detailed shots often require professional photography and lighting equipment to capture products with depth and clarity. 

Packaging shots

Packaging shots are images of a product in or with its packaging. Consumers care about the entire product experience. That includes packaging. 

Another reason to include packaging shots is for branding purposes. If you have branding incorporated into your packaging, you certainly want to highlight that for brand recognition. 

Group portraits

When it comes to product photography, group portraits capture multiple products together in one shot. This can be used for various purposes including: 

• Combo product listings 
• Kits
• Various sizes 
• Product line group shots 
• Other instances 

Lifestyle and Advertising photos

Lifestyle and advertising photos are part of product photography if they exemplify your products in action, or the experience of your product in a real-world setting. 

Lifestyle and advertising photos can be used for additional visuals on eCommerce product pages, website imagery, online marketing content, and more. It’s a combination of commercial lifestyle and advertising photography with a product. 

Why Invest in Product Photos?

If you’re a business that sells products, you benefit from product photos. High-quality product photos are the backbone of any eCommerce business. Even if you only do in-store sales, if you have any form of advertising – physical, digital, or both – product photography is important. 

A few reasons why you should invest in product photos include: 

• Improve marketing: High-quality product photos can be used across all of your marketing, promotional, advertising, and branding efforts. Images are especially important in visually marketing your products. 
• Create a trustworthy, reliable brand: Authentic, accurate images (and in robust quantities) of your products help consumers feel comfortable that you’ve built a trustworthy brand. A professional business branding photographer ties your visual brand into product photos, doubling down on your branding strategy efforts. 
• Reduce returns: Quality visuals with granular details give consumers a complete representation of your product, resulting in fewer returns due to discrepancies in product photos. 
• Increase sales: Along with fewer returns, having enough high-quality, descriptive images makes consumers feel more confident in purchasing your products. 

Should I Hire A Professional Photographer For My Product Photos?

Before we get into tips on how to take DIY product photos, you should seriously consider hiring a professional. Even if you buy a professional-grade camera, you’re not going to have the experience and knowledge of a professionally trained commercial photographer. 

Think of a professional photographer as a wise investment, not an additional expense. Professional framing and expertise create better product photos. Better product photos create more enticing product listings and ads. More enticing product listings and ads mean more sales. 

If you need anything other than basic individual product photos, hiring a professional is your best bet. And don’t just hire anybody, find the right professional photographer for your business. 

Tips & Tricks: How To Take Professional Product Photos

If you’re a business on a budget, you can opt for DIY product photos. I have a few tips and tricks to help make them look more professional. 

• Use a naturally lit room
• Have a background setup 
• Invest in a quality camera 
• Setup and frame products 
• Use a tripod 
• Diffuse lighting 
• Capture multiple images of each shot 
• Learn basic photo editing 

In the following subsections, I’ll expand upon each of these tips in greater detail so you have a clear understanding of what to do. 

Use A Naturally Lit Room

Great product photos start with great lighting. Sometimes, the best light is natural. You can get strong lighting for product photos with natural light. 

It may be tempting to purchase a cheap lighting kit off Amazon but you don’t need it! Cheap kits can worsen a DIY product photo with harsh effects and inconsistent quality. Instead, stick to natural light. 

When using natural light, you should capture all product images in a similar setting. If you shoot early in the morning on a sunny day, you should shoot all of your future product photos in similar conditions so they remain consistent. The only time to go against this advice is if you want to set a different vibe for each product (maybe a specific product warrants overcast, darker lighting). 

Have A Background Setup

You don’t want to pick a random, messy corner of your office to shoot product photos. A professional background isn’t hard to find. You can either purchase or create a background setup that helps create clean product photos.

Ideally, you want a white or light-colored background. This ensures that the focus of every image remains on your product. 

There are background kits you can purchase online, or you can create your own homemade set up with a background and shooting table.

Invest In A Quality Camera (Hint: Your Smartphone Counts) 

You can’t shoot product photos on an outdated digital camera and expect to compete in your market. If you’re going to shoot DIY, you need a quality camera. 

iPhone cameras, along with other smartphones, shoot professional-grade photos. But you can’t just point and shoot. You should learn the very basics of smartphone photography before attempting to shoot. I have an entire blog for additional tips and tricks for iPhone Photography that you can use to help. 

If you want to invest in a true professional camera – DSLR, mirrorless, or any other – you can. Just make sure to consider the price of the camera, any other accessories, time investment to learn how to use the equipment, and any other “costs” that come. If you compare all of that, you might find it’s just better to use your iPhone or invest in a professional photographer.

Setup and Frame Products

As with your backdrop, the actual presentation of your product is important to consider. You have to find the right angle, lighting, and position to present your product. 

To start, make sure it’s carefully placed in the center of the frame and doesn’t alter your backdrop. If you’re not careful, you could ruffle or negatively move the backdrop so it’s more noticeable and takes away from the product. 

If you have a product like a shirt, hat, or jewelry, you might want to use a bust or mannequin to model it. 

Use A Tripod

Think you have steady hands? Newsflash – you don’t. At least not as steady as you think or need for product photography. Plain and simple, get a tripod. They aren’t expensive and they are 100% more reliable than your arms. 

A tripod enables you to set the shot exactly how you want and get consistent images across all products. Again, even the steadiest of hands can shake or move when taking a photo. Movement of any type can lead to unclear images or poor framing. 

Diffuse Lighting 

Back to lighting. Another way to enhance your lighting is by softening your natural lighting source with diffusion. Diffused lighting gives a softer feel, reduces harsh shadows, and provides more complete lighting. 

You can purchase a reflector to soften shadows or use a curtain on your window to diffuse the natural lighting source. 

Capture Multiple Images Of Each Shot

This is less of a technical tip and more advice for how to approach your DIY photoshoot. You should take numerous images for each type of shot to ensure you have a batch of options to choose from. 

On the off chance your camera went out of focus or any other error occurred, capturing multiple takes provides you reassurance there is a usable shot somewhere. 

To get the most complete, comprehensive visual overview of your product, capture it from different angles and distances. The more images in your product listing, the better. 

 Learn Basic Photo Editing

You don’t have to edit product photos. While it’s not necessary, you may stumble upon an instance where your initial shot wasn’t as great as you thought. If you end up needing to edit or enhance product photos, you’ll need to learn basic photo editing principles. 

Software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom gives you everything you need to touch up your product photos. There are free alternatives you can explore through an online search. 

Avoid The Headache And Work With Casey Templeton For Professional Product Photography

If you didn’t before, now you know the various types of product photos and why they’re important to any business selling products. At the top of the priority list for product photos is quality and professionalism. 

Casey Templeton Photography offers professional advertising and product photography services in the Nashville, Tennessee area and beyond. Casey brings years of technical practice behind the lens and experience in business branding across various industries and business sizes. To learn more about Casey’s product photography or to get started on a project, fill out our contact form.