E-commerce Photography: How to Take Product Photos That’ll Wow Shoppers

Introduction

What's the first thing people see when they visit your store? Product photos. E-commerce product photography is an essential component of online sales. Whether you're hiring a professional photographer, setting up a DIY studio, or using virtual tools like Stylized, the goal is to showcase your products in the best possible light. In this post we'll explore the different options, how much they might cost, and what the results look like.

Professional Product Photography

Hiring a professional photographer is expensive, and doesn’t come without overhead. Here are the most common steps in the lifecycle of a seller hiring professional photographers:

1. You’ll have to write up a set list of product images that you want to take, the poses you’re looking for, and what you want to highlight in your product.
2. Professional photographers use advanced cameras and lighting equipment to capture detailed images that highlight the unique features and qualities of your products. Afterward, they will also postprocess the images using Photoshop and other editing tools.
3. Hiring a professional to take a set of photos for your products will cost roughly $50 per image, and you should expect a couple of back-and-forth exchanges and edits over the course of 2 to 4 weeks.
4. You’ll end up with photos that you’re happy with and hopefully an experience that wasn’t too stressful! If you need any changes past this point, or if you realize that your set list was missing a photo, then you’re mostly out of luck. The only way to make things consistent is usually to go back to the same photography studio and pay for more changes and more shots.

It’s expensive and time-consuming, but nevertheless, investing in professional product photography can pay off in the long run by attracting more customers and increasing sales.

DIY Photography

DIY product photography is a cost-effective option for those who want to take control of their product images. It’s not easy and has a high learning curve, all the while taking valuable time away from your products and store experience. If you choose to go this route, know that it requires some upfront investment and that you’ll likely end up with amateur product photos until you get quite good at it!

1. With a few pieces of equipment and some know-how, you can take your own product photos and save money in the process. All you need is a camera, a tripod, a solid background, and good lighting.
2. Additionally, it’s important to have good lighting so that your products are well-lit and the details are easily visible.
3. To further enhance your images, you can use photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop to crop, adjust color, and add text and graphics.

Of these, the lighting and creative staging of products tends to be the most difficult. You can spend hours trying to capture the perfect shot, but if you don’t have a good sense of your visual branding, your results will look off. For cheaper options, sellers generally purchase a lightbox from Amazon and different rolls of seamless paper to create various backgrounds.

Stylized.ai offers professional photos in seconds

We’re building Stylized.ai, a new way for sellers to get professional-looking product photos in a matter of seconds, without the need to hire a professional photographer or spend hours in a DIY setup.

1. With Stylized, sellers simply upload their product photos from their phone or desktop and edit them directly in our virtual product staging setup.
2. This environment renders your product in 3D and gives you access to studio lighting, dozens of realistic textures for varied backgrounds, as well as state-of-the-art AI tools that empower sellers to ditch Photoshop for good.
3. Unlike hiring a professional photographer or using basic photo editing software, Stylized.ai eliminates the need for back-and-forth exchanges and revisions, so you can spend the extra time and energy on your business.
4. Best of all, it’s free - so give it a spin and see for yourself just how easy it can be to get amazing photos for your store.

From silo photography to seamless brand color backgrounds to infinite unique editorials, Stylized can create anything you can imagine in seconds! Check out some of the assets that past sellers have created:

Figure 2: Olaplex creative Figure 2: Silo photography from Celsius Figure 2: Lively brand photography

We know how important product photos are to sellers, and we believe Stylized stands out from other options in that it leverages the latest advancements in artificial intelligence and computer vision to create product images that are consistent, high-quality, and optimized for e-commerce. For many sellers, Stylized.ai is the best option for achieving professional-looking product photos quickly and affordably, helping you build your brand and driving increases in sales.

Summary

I hope this post was helpful! Product images are so important that selecting the right route for you will likely save you thousands of dollars and dozens of hours. To recap, we covered:

• Professional Product Photography: Expensive, but generally produces high quality results that make your brand shine.
• DIY Product Photography: Either with a tripod and natural light setup or a lightbox with different paper backgrounds, this can save money but requires skill and a learning curve in order to get good results.
• Stylized.ai: A virtual tool that uses AI to transform your phone photos into professionally lighted product images in seconds, which is both cost-effective and time-efficient.

Good luck, and always feel free to contact us at support@stylized.ai for any e-commerce questions or feedback!