Preparing for a product photography shoot for your e-commerce website can take a a little extra time, but the rewards for your business will be priceless. Let’s run through our three points that will ensure a successful photographic product shoot.
Create a product photography shot list
This may seem like unnecessary admin work, however creating a shot list will help you determine the photos that are required for each product. Work back from how you see the product should be presented on your website. Start by writing down the views that your customer will be able see of each product.
Will it be just one photo per product or a couple of photos showing the product at different angles?
Will the product page show how your product works through a series of images?
All of these photos need to be outlined for the photography shoot whether it is in house or not. Visualise, and even do rough drawings, of the shots required. The more information that is put in the shot list, the less questions the photographer will have and the more likely you will get the outcome you intended.
Ensure products are correctly assembled and ready
The amount of time I have seen wasted by assistants on photo shoots trying to put products together, or a photographer’s face turning red in frustration because a product has been sent that requires assembly but with no instructions included. This will only mean that the photographer will spend more time on putting your product together and less time on photographing it. All of this measn that you will either end up with poorer quality product images or higher product photography costs for your business.
Use clean and undamaged products
Although last, this point is the easiest way to keep your product photography costs down. It is very common for businesses to send samples and demo products, this way they are potentially not losing usable stock. However, these items are more likely to be dirty or damaged, which will mean that your product images will have to be cleaned up in post production.
This will not only add to your costs, but also increase the turnaround time for product images. Ensuring all staff from the warehouse to the marketing department are aware that all products must be clean before being sent to the shoot will save you money and time.
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