Top tips on product photography
Well-shot, high quality images are hugely important
Strong product imagery can...
Attract shoppers: Across most marketing channels, your images are the first thing your potential customers will see. A strong, clear, inspiring image that captures your brand’s essence is more likely to encourage shoppers to click through to visit the website and find out more about your products.
Generate sales: Once a shopper lands on the website, the images are one of the best ways for them to discover what they need to know about the product. We have seen a strong correlation between excellent product imagery and strong conversions to purchase for our artisans.
Get you featured: Our marketeers and editors love to feature our artisans in our magazines, as well as digital and social content. Across our brands and wider media, small businesses are far more likely to be considered for features if they have beautiful images of their products that can be included in the content.
Improve customer satisfaction: When a customer buys your product, what they receive should reflect what they saw in the original images that encouraged them to buy it. Small businesses with clear, accurate product photographs are likely to see lower customer complaints and return rates.
Top tips for product imagery on the Marketplace
The main image:
For your main image, choose a lifestyle image of your product. This means a photograph of the product taken “in situ” with a natural background, rather than a cutout.
The best lifestyle images are those which feel natural to the customer and give them an idea of how they could use the product. For example, a piece of art could be hung on a wall or a mug could be on a kitchen surface, but the product should still be the focus.
Additional images:
We suggest including up to five further images, ideally with a mix of cutout product images, further lifestyle images at different angles, and close-ups to show the detail of the product.
Image specs:
- Square dimensions
- No borders, frames, or text
- Minimum pixels 1024x1024
- Maximum file size 5MB
- Format PNG or JPEG
How to take great product photos
1. Inspire your customers
Make your photographs feel aspirational and inspiring. When you are choosing a background for your photograph and styling the product, consider how customers will want to use the product. For example, for dinnerware, can you style it on a beautiful tablescape?
2. Portray your brand’s ethos
The setting and styling of your photographs is a great way to present your brand. Consider the props, decorations, backgrounds and colours in your photographs and how they represent your brand’s identity. The images below are brilliant examples.
3. Make the product the focus
Whilst beautiful styling is important, steer away from cluttering the photograph. We recommend choosing a clean background which allows the product to shine. To ensure the product takes centre-stage, put it in the centre of the photo!
4. Consider your lighting
Often, the best choice is to find an area with good natural lighting – near a window or even outdoors (dependent on your product)! If you don’t have great lighting, you could invest in an affordable LED light such as a ring light.
5. Focus, exposure & image quality
If you’re shooting on your phone, tap on the subject of your photo (your product) to ensure it is in focus and properly exposed. Most phone cameras allow you to adjust focus and exposure by scrolling up or down on the screen. Ensure your lens is clean!