You should know that it is possible to photograph a large quantity of products in a short period of time. To succeed in this project, you will have to advocate a well-structured working method from the start. This will help you save a lot of time while getting the results you really want.

My name is Joseph Brouillard and I am a photographer for Mister eCommerce. In this article, I will give

you some essential tips for a successful shooting.

Evaluate locations and required installation

Here are the questions you’ll have to ask yourself to get started:

Will the external light sources harm my work?
Will I have enough space to work?
What background should I use, retro-lit or white background?

As far as the background is concerned, the Retro-lit background will be very useful when you are clipping with Adobe Lightroom. On the other hand, if you want to keep a shadow, then the white background will be recommended!

Turning on your device

When your camera is turned on, you must make sure that when you open it, the pictures will be taken in the best quality and format! Even today, it is a mistake that I happen to make from time to time. A small oversight that can have unfortunate consequences on the quality of the finished product. By developing this habit, you will be sure to start your photo session the right way!

Which operating mode to choose?

For the product photography, the manual mode is recommended. Since the shooting is done in the studio and there are multiple light sources to manage, I recommend that you set the aperture and shutter speed manually. Thus, you remain master of your device! Your images will be much sharper, which will add value to your site.

White Balance

You might be tempted by the automatic mode, AWB. It is simpler, faster and requires no adjustment. However, I advise against it; You need to know that the different light sources (halogen light, sun, neon, etc.) do not all have the same color temperature. By choosing the automatic option in these situations, your camera will mislead you with all these different color temperatures. You may get a finished product with a pink complexion.

When working under projector, the custom mode is indicated.

Here are 5 steps to perform a effective white balance:

1.Take a photo of a blank sheet
2.Enable Custom White Balance
3.Select the photo containing the blank sheet and validate
4.Choose the “Custom White Balance” setting by pressing “WB” on your device
5.You are ready to take pictures!
By following these steps, you will avoid unpleasant surprises and you will have the right colors.

Which angle should you use?

Each product is different, so it is possible that you need to use different shots for certain products. You

have to find the ideal position, the one that highlights your product.

It is with experimentation that you will find your answer. So you need to test different angles and different approaches with the zoom, while trying somethings with the product until you find the best position.

For those who have several types of products to shoot, keep in mind that your photos must be homogeneous, so they must all be taken at the same angles. Your website will benefit greatly!

Using a Tripod

Just a little destabilization or a slight involuntary movement, and now your images have lost quality. Do not take any chances, you can avoid unpleasant mistakes using a tripod. This one will assure your pictures stable. You will be able to use the zoom without losing resolution and your photos will have the brightness sought. In addition, it will greatly help for the homogeneity of your pictures.

The photographer’s kit

When it comes to photographing all sorts of different products (shapes, sizes, colors, textures and materials), there are different must have tools that a photographer will need :

White cardboard: very useful when external light creates a shadow or an unwanted reflection
Blue gum, sticky tape, glue etc. : Useful, when there is a corner roll up
Rope, always practical to hold a product up,
Gray or black cardboard, to bring out the color of the product when it is white.
Etc.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea of the ingenuity you need to photograph products.

Sometimes you’ll need ingenuity in order to photograph products of all formats from different angles and conditions that change from one photoshoot to another. Having a good game plan and good working methods is essential, but you also need to know how to improvise to adapt to circumstances and unforeseen circumstances, you’ll come upon them, believe me!

In conclusion, taking your time to settle down is the key. Once you are properly set up, your camera’s settings are adjust to your needs and the light is well adjusted, lean towards the sensor and take a look at it. Look at the product and tell him “You do not move anymore and smile …” click !!!

Questions, comments or objections?

The post 7 tips on product photography appeared first on Mr eCommerce.

The potential client just started an e-commerce site. Besides, her project is really cool!

The concept: a site where you can buy really unusual camping products.

I thought it was really a good idea!

The first trouble

She said to herself, “Well, it’s going to cost me a lot, I have to take pictures and write descriptions, all that while trying to minimize costs. ”

I gave her some tricks to minimize the costs at first and to try to sell faster too. … Basically, her starting point was to find her pictures on the internet, she started by searching on her supplier’s website to find the pictures. She looked on sites like Alibaba and others, and the pictures were not in a very good resolution. She did not realize it right away. In the end, it took her nearly 6 hours to get her pictures.

And then, the result wasn’t ideal … So she asked if we could photoshop them … However, Photoshopping low resolution pictures is not ideal.

I offered her our services of course, but she could also do business with any photographer.

The common error?

Following my offer, she told me: “For each product, I would like to take a picture of the product packed in its box and the product unpacked. Then I would like to take the front, side, top and back of the product. After, I would like to open the product and say that I have my product in different formats, I would like to take pictures of my products in each size and in each color available, I would like to have a picture for each color. ”

And then I told him, I think you’re going way too far to begin …

How to save on your product photography?

Honestly, what I suggest, if you want to sell on the internet, check out the websites of your competitors, check out Amazon for similar products, what kind of pictures are they taking? You do not need many pictures per product, otherwise it’s going to cost you a lot of money and if you do it yourself, it’s going to take a lot of time. You will see, it is very long to take pictures of products.

There are many situations where only one view per product is sufficient. Even for clothes, when do we need to see the back of the T-shirt? The bottom of the cup? Unless there is something special, but when is it absolutely necessary to have that view? Rarely!

Honestly, what you should do is minimize the number of views per product, it is much longer and much more expensive to take multiple shot …

Usually, the goal is to sell on the internet as fast as possible, at the cheapest price. If you take several pictures, it will take you either time or it will be expensive. Take a picture, maximum two pictures per product and go sell your product on the internet right away!

If you sell millions of copies, it will be worth investing, it will be worth making more photos. But, you do not know if you’re going to sell it, so why invest the maximum amount of money now, perhaps to waste that investment? It is not worth it!

Go step by step!

Start with short descriptions, I think it may not even be worthwhile to translate Shopify e-mails into French, if you take Shopify or whatever platform you are taking.

Once the site is launched

The reality is that if you are not very much good in digital marketing, well you are going to launch your ecommerce site and there will possibly be no visitor. And that’s really sad … Fortunately a few articles in our blog can help you generate traffic on your e-commerce!

On the other hand, if you want to test your product properly, test the pricing, what I suggest you do is go to Ebay or Amazon. It’s still easy to sell on these two platforms.

Put the products you know or you think there is a demand, test them. Test to see if you have the right price, you will immediately sell if it works and you will know that it is worth investing.

When you are going to ship the product to customers, do not forget to put a business card with possibly a discount so that people buy on your website the next time.

In summary

What you want is to sell online as fast as possible and for the cheapest. I suggest you take one or two views per product, maximum.

Start with a shot if you are able, if you absolutely need a second one, then you use it. The fewest pictures and the least text possible and let’s go, you’re selling! When it starts to create trafic, you put more products.

I hope this article will help you save you on your product photography!

The post How to save on your product photography? appeared first on Mr eCommerce.