In e-commerce, photographs can make or break a sale. Online buyers rely on photographs to assess whether they should buy a product or not. And since they can’t see the product in real life before they order it, e-commerce photographs undergo more scrutiny than actual products at the store.
With that in mind, all e-commerce businesses must treat product photography as a top priority, and this comes with avoiding the mistakes that can ruin their e-commerce photos in the first place.
- Not putting enough effort into retouching
Retouching makes photos cleaner, sharper, and more attractive than raw images. It can also correct colors and make the final photos truer to how the actual products look like. Hence, any and all online businesses should retouch their photos before posting them on their websites.
Therefore, if you have, for example, a jewelry business, have a jewelry photo retouching company post-process your raw images before posting them on your website. Yes, this may incur additional costs on your part, but what you’re getting in return are high-quality photos that are edited to fit the standards of the majority of online shopper; hence, more sales.
- Having limited angles
As we’ve said before, customers rely on pictures to decide if they want to buy a product or not. And if you don’t have enough pictures from multiple angles, customers aren’t getting enough information to form their decision, and become less likely to place an order.
Customers want pictures from multiple angles (as long as they make sense), close-ups, and even extreme close-ups. They want to be able to picture what the product will look like in real life, and they want to see the product’s texture up close. With this in mind, a good rule of thumb is to have at least four to six pictures from different angles, as well as extreme close-ups when necessary (to show product textures or minute details).
- Taking photos in poor lighting
Poor lighting can decrease a picture’s quality tenfold, and having limited resources is no longer a valid excuse. You can take relatively high-quality photos with a smartphone and natural light. And you can take even better photos with DSLRs, tripods, and photography lights–all worthy investments if you’re planning to take your own product photos from here on out.
- Having busy backgrounds
White, empty backgrounds are the standard for product photos. Customers want to be able to see a product clearly without getting distracted by things in the background. Product photos taken with irrelevant objects in the background look tacky and amateurish. Inversely, product photos in front of plain, clean backgrounds look professional, high-quality, and sophisticated. It’s also an industry standard and a default setting for Amazon and Shopify.
However, white backgrounds are not always the norm for all e-commerce shops. If you want to be a little more creative, you can design backgrounds with elements that complement the product–but without distracting the viewer from it. Having aslightlybusy background can make the picture more interesting, but it shouldn’t be too busy that it takes attention away from the product itself.
- Uploading low-res photos
Obviously, you shouldn’t upload low-resolution photos, but some business owners still do this for the sake of saving time. As a result, products look cheap and tacky regardless of their price, which, in turn, can drive down sales and make negative lasting impressions on viewers.
Don’t make the same mistake. The minimum resolution with which you should upload photos is 1200px by 1200px. To save time and minimize file sizes, be sure to use the Export For Web option on Photoshop or whatever photo editing program you’re using.
- Not preparing products for photoshoots
If you’re shooting clothing, iron them. If you’re shooting jewelry, polish them. If you’re shooting beauty products, be sure that the containers are free from dust or stains. The bottom line is: whatever type of product you’re shooting, make sure that they are photo-ready–don’t rely too much on post-processing, even if it can remove any flaws from the photo. In this way, editing will be much more of a breeze, and there will be fewer chances of missing a flaw while post-processing.
However, this can be difficult to do if you’re shooting multiple products. Nevertheless, you can make it easier by preparing the products in advance.
Product photography is not that difficult to master. In fact, many business owners can take high-quality product photos themselves and with minimal equipment. But if you want to take your photography to new heights, be sure to avoid these sales-killing mistakes at all costs.
