In this article I will be sharing with you my top tips on how to make your listing photos look high-quality and professional without needing to use expensive photography equipment. If you are just starting your e-commerce store, ensuring quality across the board can feel difficult, especially if you don’t have the budget for cameras and lighting, but it doesn’t have to be! As you will read, creating great photography for your websites and apps has never been easier…
1. Preparing your lighting arrangement
If you have an additional light such as a ring light or studio light, etc, make sure to utilise it because they offer even lighting and allow you to take your photographs at any time. Standard lighting and bulbs aren’t typically sufficient because they don’t have enough scope, and many offer a yellowy-orange hue which doesn’t look good and misrepresents your products. If you do not have additional lighting don’t worry, you still have options!
If you don’t have the budget for additional lighting equipment (which can be expensive), always take your photographs during the day and by natural light coming through windows, doorways, skylights. Try raising blinds and opening doors to allow more natural light to flood in and illuminate your item.
2. Choosing your equipment
Depending on your budget, you can choose either a specialised photography camera, or to simply use your smartphone. If camera equipment is outside of your budget for now, find yourself a phone with a good quality camera (mine was an iPhone 7 Plus). Most smartphones now come with fantastic cameras that can make your photographs look great with very little additional editing software assistance. If you’re interested in investing in editing software however, Adobe Lightroom has a package starting from £10 per month which is an affordable option for businesses on a budget.
3. Choosing your backdrop
Always try to take your pictures on a white/plain background for good results rather than a busy background. White backgrounds are idea because they bounce light, brightening your products and photos which makes them pop and acts as an alternative to studio lighting. If you don’t have an available white background, you can buy backdrops from Amazon relatively inexpensively, but a simple plain background will suffice – just be aware that colour on walls etc. bounces onto whatever product they are near, which may need rectifying in editing.
The white background looks more professional, and will be easier to edit in the next step…
4. Your editing software
The next step is to remove your background from your images which can be done in a few different ways. If you have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud App Suite, you can do this step quite simply in Photoshop. Creative Cloud is expensive (starting from £50 per month) so there are alternatives on the market which may be more in your budget. I used an app called Bazaart which is available on IOS and Android and is far more affordable.
Once you download the app, you will be offered a free trial. After that trial period you will pay only £5.99 per month, making it a real contender against Photoshop. When you start the app up, it will give you an explanation on how to use it automatically; taking you through its functions and tools.
5. Editing your photo
The next step is to add a picture, which is where taking photos on your phone comes in very handy as they’re all on the same device. Once you’ve chosen the photo you want to edit, then click on “Magic” which will remove the background by itself. After this process, you can then refine the photo’s cut (e.g., remove the sleeves, mannequin etc). Finally, select to add your newly edited photo to a white background.
6. Uploading your photo to JustSell
Once you have saved your image, it’s now time to upload it to the JustSell app! This process is easy; simply open the JustSell app and upload however many photos you would like for each product or service that you list.
Hopefully you will enjoy these tips and find them useful for your business – we look forward to helping you with your e-commerce ambitions soon! If you need any assistance please email us at [email protected] and we will get back to you ASAP! Alternatively, visit our website: www.uptivity.co.uk for more information.
