Top Tips For Better Shopify Product Photography

When it comes to increasing online sales and boosting your ecommerce revenue, few things are more important than your ability to capture customer attention. 

A stunning website, and strong marketing campaigns engage your audience, but if you really want to stand out, you need to ensure your Shopify product pages are packed with the right content. Most importantly, you’ll need to master the art of Shopify product photography.

More than anything else, it’s the images of your products that show customers what they can expect to receive from your company. In a world where people can’t pick up your items and examine them in-person, amazing photographs are essential. 

The right photography won’t just draw attention to the values and benefits of your products, it will also improve your brand’s reputation, and help customers trust you. 

So, how do you create amazing Shopify product photos?

7 Tips for Better Shopify Product Photography

Every page on your website can benefit from amazing visuals. Compelling photographs attract customer attention, increase your chances of sales, and even support your SEO efforts.

While not every company will have the budget to pay for a professional photographer to shoot stunning images, you don’t necessarily need to be a photography pro to upgrade your Shopify product pages. Here are some quick tips anyone can use to make their product photos more appealing.

1. Use the Right Equipment

These days, you don’t necessarily need an incredibly expensive camera to shoot attractive Shopify product photos. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest in the right equipment. If your phone has a good enough camera, you can use that to take high-resolution photos.

If not, you might want to consider investing in a high-end DSLR camera, which can give you more control over the quality of your images. The right equipment will ensure your images look clean and crisp, like they do on the “Blockwatches” product pages here:

https://resources.storetasker.com/shopify-examples/blok-pdp 

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Alongside the right camera, you’ll also need to invest in:

• Lighting sources to help enhance any natural lighting
• A tripod to avoid motion blur
• A lens to help with zooming in on products
• A white box or background 

2. Find the Ideal Camera Settings

First, and foremost, you’ll need to ensure you’re making the most of your camera. 

Whether you use a high-quality smartphone for product photography, or a professional camera, getting your settings right is essential. Make sure you take the time to experiment with configurations to find out what works best for you and your brand. Playing with things like aperture, ISO and shutter speed can transform the quality of your images. 

Remember, your ISO regulates how sensitive your camera is to light, while the aperture controls the amount of light that gets through. Depending on the tools you’re using, and your environment, you may need to adjust your settings a number of times to get the most attractive results.

3. Position Your Product Correctly

Mastering Shopify product photography doesn’t just mean knowing how to set up your camera. You also need to think about how you’re positioning your product. One of the best ways to really grab customer attention, is to take pictures of someone actually using your item. 

An image of a person wearing a new smartwatch or dress is more appealing than an item laid flat on a table. Take a look at this example from Maap.com 

https://resources.storetasker.com/shopify-examples/maap-pdp 

Think about the best setting for your photography. Do you want to position items in front of a  white background to preserve a professional image?

Consider how different parts of the product are exposed to the camera. Do you want the label to show clearly at the front, or do you want to focus on a specific product feature? It might even be worth taking pictures from multiple different angles, or creating a 360-degree video showcasing your product in full detail. 

4. Remember the Lighting

When you’re creating the best setting for your Shopify product photography, various factors will influence how attractive your item looks. Perhaps the most important factor of all is the lighting. A slight change in lighting can be enough to cast shadows on your item, or damage image quality.

Often, using natural light is the best way to get started, just make sure the sunlight isn’t too harsh, or reflecting heavily off your product. Depending on your set, you might need to enhance the lighting with extra artificial light. 

In this case, make sure the lighting is even around the product, and think about things like “light temperature”. Warm lights can be appealing in certain industries, but they can affect the colors of your item, and make some products look drained.

5. Think About the Backdrop

As mentioned above, when positioning your products for photographs, it’s important to think about the environment. If you’ve visited Shopify product pages before, you’ll notice different companies take their own unique approach to backdrops. 

A clean white background is the most common option for many retailers, as it makes it easy to position your product on virtually any product page without worrying about clashing colors. However, depending on your brand image, you may choose to experiment. 

If you sell outdoor products, you might want to choose a natural outdoor setting for your product photography. If you’re selling bathroom products, you might choose to take photos of your products in front of bathroom tiles, like Flakes.com does here:

https://resources.storetasker.com/shopify-examples/flake-bundle-pdp 

6. Edit your Shopify Product Photos

No matter how amazing your product photos might look when you first take them, they can usually benefit from a little basic editing. In fact, in most cases, business owners spend more time editing images than they spend actually taking photographs. 

Editing will allow you to ensure that all of your photos maintain the same consistent aesthetic, creating a more attractive product or collection page. It also means you can get rid of any issues, like smudges or glare within your photos. 

While using a comprehensive tool like Photoshop might be difficult for a beginner, there are plenty of free editing tools that can help you enhance the quality of your images too. You can even upload photos to sites like Canva to make basic adjustments to contrast, saturation, and other factors.

7. Optimize your Images for your Website

Finally, once you’ve taken amazing photos of your products, and you’ve edited them to perfection, the next step is making sure they look fantastic on your website. First, remember that large images can quickly slow down the loading speed of your site. With that in mind, it’s worth resizing your image for the pages you’re going to use. 

You can use image resizing tools and compression tools online to ensure your photos don’t add too much extra weight to your store. Other ways to optimize your images include:

• Adding descriptions: Don’t rely on your photos to do all of the talking for you. Write informative descriptions highlighting your product’s best features and benefits. This will help to inform customers, and boost your SEO potential. 
• Use alt text: Using alt text can help to make your site more accessible, by assisting those with vision impairment issues. It’s also a great way to boost your SEO potential, giving you more opportunities to add keywords to your site. 
• Maintain consistency: Try to ensure you create a consistent aesthetic with all of your product photos and pages. This will add credibility to your brand. 

Check out this great example of a product page from DrinkGhia.com for inspiration:

https://resources.storetasker.com/shopify-examples/ghia-pdp 

Make the Most of your Product Photos

While there are various factors that can influence the success of your Shopify store, few things are more valuable to your customers than exceptional product photography. The right photos will make it easy for customers to recognize the value of whatever item you’re selling.

Plus, good product photography enhances your brand’s reputation, and helps your consumers to visualize themselves using your solutions. 

If you’re still struggling to make your product pages stand out after following the tips above, consider reaching out to a Shopify expert for help. At Storetasker, our Shopify experts can help with everything from designing your website, to optimizing your pages for SEO.