6 Must-Know Types of Product Photography for Your Ecommerce Business

Product photography is now an essential part of selling products. Be it on websites, outdoor adverts, or magazines, you’re bound to see different types of product photography. Ultimately, this makes bright and high-quality product photographs significant and vital for supporting your brand and sales.

In eCommerce product sales, the product photograph is everything. A buyer can only rely on quality images you upload as they are probably miles away from you. This is in stark contrast to a buyer visiting a physical store where it’s possible to examine the item closely.

For an online store, the only possible ways buyers can get a view of the product, its specification and features are through the product's images. Ultimately, this situation emphasizes the essence of photography and images.

However, there are numerous types of product photography for an online business. The same technique that works for a particular product may not work for the other. As a result, you should be deliberate about choosing the best method to take photographs of your products.

Here, we’ve put together the top list of different types of product photography and product photography tips to help you scale your businesses.

Types of Product Photography

There are several different types of product photography for eCommerce images. You can choose simple studio product photographs to products in action, product packaging, lifestyle approach, group photos of a product line, and more.

Simple Studio Product Shots

Simple studio shots fulfil all of the requirements for great, clean, product photography. This is especially crucial in the internet shopping universe, where a huge number of items are on sale on the web.

Various kinds of product photography will require various approaches to showcase a specific product. For instance, a bottle of perfume will require an alternate lighting approach than product packaging. 

For internet retailers who sell a variety of products, efficiency and speed are fundamental. This is as regards making product pictures that will sell the product. 

In other words, you will need to have a studio arrangement that doesn't move. All products will be shot with a similar static arrangement. This is what simple studio shots are all about.

An excellent studio product photograph should help the customer identify what the item is made of and what it resembles. This includes views from all sides. It should show all sides and ensure your customers get enough information about the product.

Related Article: How to Photograph Beauty Products for Your Business

The White Background Magic

A white background is a popular element of product photography. In fact, there are many eCommerce marketplaces out there that insist on retailers using white backgrounds for all product images.

The reason for this is the level of consistency on offer with white background images. Furthermore, a white background offers a simple professional finish while contrasting beautifully with the colour of your products. 

This type of product photography may be difficult for untrained persons. For one, you may have to deal with shadows and sharp angles compromising your product photos. Here, most experts will advise the use of a photography tent. Similarly, a curved backdrop can help reduce the influence of shadows on white backgrounds. 

Showing the Product Size With Scale

Making a scale is a type of product photography approach that characterizes for the watcher, how small or big an item is. Additionally, it allows the customer to see how the item looks and is utilized.

Usually, when the product size corresponds to the size of the background, it gives the customer a clear view of the item’s size. It’s a view that also includes the proportion of the particular item. In doing so, it becomes easier for online shoppers to determine whether the product will fit their requirements or not. 

For instance, say an online shopper wants to buy a printer from an online store. The best product image to give such a viewer is a full-size image with good proportion to the background. 

With professional product photography, you can avoid any zoom-like look or appearance, the viewer will also able to decode if the printer will fit in the little space left in their apartment or office.

Grouping Your Product

One of the top types of product photography is product grouping. Generally, group product photographs are a way to showcase options to your prospective buyer. 

For instance, group product photography can be a great way to show a set of women’s make-up products with different varieties. Usually, this type of product photography is best for similar products that come in different varieties. 

An example is a collection of a hat with different colours. Showcasing such items online will require you to show the different colours available to potential customers. When you group products according to type, size or colour, you’re making it easier for customers to buy from you. As such, your product photographs are doing the hard work of converting your customers.

Lifestyle Action Shots

Generally, lifestyle shots are a type of product photography that shows the item utilized in a way they were intended for. For instance, imagine a lady wearing a yoga outfit for a yoga clothing catalogue doing a photoshoot. The best product image will be capturing her performing yoga in a park, exhibiting how the items fit her. 

For such a product, your prospective customers already have a view of how the outfit looks like in reality. Going for such a product will not be an issue for a viewer who wants something like that and wants to practice yoga. 

Non-Traditional Product Photographs

The last on our list of types of product photography to consider is the non-traditional style. Once in a while, there is a requirement for photographs that don't feature a product for sale. These types of shots are set up, lit, and arranged much the same way as taking a regular product photograph.

This kind of product photography doesn’t sell an item but instead, sells a thought. An example is a wrapped present with beautiful decoration. There is no item explicitly available to be purchased. However, online stores can utilize this picture to advance their holiday deals and run paid ads.

You can decide to make a photoshoot of a beautiful product package from your store to wish your customers a happy holiday. 

Another inclusion is advert promotions. You can make a photoshoot of nice boxes or designs to announce a new promo sale or discount on your website. All of this falls under the category of non-traditional product photographs.

Related Article: How to Hire a Product Photographer

Take the Right Kind of Product Shot

Generally, there are different tips on how to take product photographs. However, understanding that there are different types of product photos is the first step to taking better product images.

If you have been with us from the beginning of this article, you’d now know the different product photography techniques that can boost your online store. However, you don’t have to do everything yourself, especially if you’re not too good at photography

Well, most people can shoot great photos in a single light environment, or with the simple studio product shots explained earlier. Still, to bring your products to more viewers with quality photography, a multi-light studio setup may be helpful.

Here at Style Photos CA, we can help you plug this gap. We have multiple years of experience taking images of different types of products for online retailers across the GTA. With our product photos, we can guarantee at least a 24% increase in online sales percentages!

Alternatively, we can also discuss renting our camera equipment so you can take product shots yourself. Contact us today to learn more!