There’s a reason people hire professional product photographers and that’s because the difference between good-quality and poor-quality photos can make or break the customer journey. When selling online, your photography is the best avenue you can take to show off the quality of your products and beautiful styling will show your audience exactly what your brand is made of and display your core values to exquisite effect. It’s also an effective way to communicate real value and encourage your target audience to believe in your brand and choose it above the competitors.

Get the Right Tools

High quality tools will set things off on the right foot. A good camera and strong tripod are sufficient to get you started but you may also wish to invest in a white sweep or white background if this is your style of choice (as opposed to lifestyle-type shots).

Choose your Location Wisely

The location, i.e. where you shoot, is just as important as how you shoot because good lighting can transform your photographs. Some brands prefer to shoot outside in natural light to best reflect their products and/or fit with their brand identity.

If you choose to shoot inside, we recommend using a professional studio space to attain all the best effects. If budget is a concern, a room with big (ideally north-facing) windows and plenty of natural light is the next best thing – shoot closer to the window for a softer, more diffused light and further away for a more even effect with more well-defined shadows.

Create a Themed Setting

The best product photos will provide an authentic sensory experience where customers can imagine how it would feel to touch/taste/wear/smell/feel your products. Identify the most appealing elements of your collections (e.g. the super-soft feel of cashmere, the organic elements of handmade wooden furnishings) and then create a themed lifestyle setting around their best qualities.

Experiment with different types of materials, backgrounds and surfaces to communicate these qualities – for example, an aged, rustic style for organic brands and bright, strong colours or a monochrome palette for more modern brands. We also love the many opportunities available with textured backdrops.

Once you’ve chosen your style and materials, you can break it down further and really get creative. This might be stripping down real wood to show off the finer details or displaying elegant marble tiles with a mosaic effect to emphasise the impact that they would make in a real-life home.

Utilising Props

Props and accessories are also a valuable part of photo styling. Some brands like to use their lifestyle product photos to take their audience behind the scenes – for example, a painter showing off his brushes and pots as a striking way to complement the juxtaposed final product. Look around your studio or the space where you create your products and you’ll likely find many on-brand accessories to complement your images.

We hope you have enjoyed our handpicked tips and techniques for top-quality photo styling. We spend every day businesses in our packshot studio and are passionate about creating high-quality images for businesses. Contact our professional product photographers today for further details.