In the competitive e-commerce business, product photography is an essential part of online presence. To be better than the competition, it is likely to leave no stone unturned to make the image stand out.
But unexpectedly, busy or clasing backgrounds, taking the light lightly, not using a tripod, and unprepared products are the most frequent mistakes that you may encounter in product photography.
But that is not all! Product photography is not as easy as pointing the camera and sending the images, reality is far more different! There are some more mistakes that you must avoid in product photography. That’s why, here we have covered almost 11 mistakes so that you can know.
Let’s Explore The Most Common Product Photography Mistakes In Detail
Product photography is a very crucial part of any e-commerce business. But what will happen if you make any mistakes here? Obviously, it will influence overall marketing effectiveness!
So, what are those common product photography mistakes that can’t be committed? Let’s see in detail here.
#1- Busy Or Clashing Background
In shooting still-life product images, the mistake that can occur most at that time is choosing the wrong background.
Having a busy or clashing background in the still life images makes the background more eye catchy and talks more than the product. It can cause confusion among customers.
In the product images, an understanding of harmony between the product and its background serves just right.
So, to take product photos like a pro, the background should be chosen in that harmony so that it does not steal the main focus of the image or also not provide too much contrast.
#2- Taking Light Lightly
In product photography, lighting is just like alcohol in a successful party, too much or too little, both can make things go wrong.
Similarly, one of the biggest mistakes that people can make in product photography is using bad lighting. Here both using too much or too little light are severe.
Let us tell you how!
Using too much light makes the subject appearance washed out and unattractive whereas too little light makes it hard to see.
Moreover, low light temperature makes the product image yellowish, making its appearance dull.
Alternative to the low light temperature, highlight temperature makes the image appear bluish and the product color wash out.
The most typical mistake is to mix both natural light and artificial light. Instead of making the product image beautiful and attractive, it brings unnecessary hurdles to the image.
#3- Avoid Using Of Tripod
Next to the common mistake list is- not using the tripod. It is because it can cause a backfire in product photography!
In e-commerce product photography, photographers often need to take photographs of a series of items.
It requires placing the items in the same spot and taking an image from the same distance.
In this case, when the tripod is not used, it is of course, low the product quality in the image.
Because even a slight movement while taking the images makes the image blurry, and it can’t be corrected in the product photo retouching or in the post-processing stage.
So, as a result, you may end up taking the product image again.
#4- Being Too Creative, Ignoring Impressive Features Of Products
Yeah, we all are well aware being creative can make the product image stand out in the product photography world.
But just being too creative can distract the customers from the whole motive of the product image.
Any extra creativity in the product positioning and angles usually looks bizarre and causes inconsistency in the entire series.
Moreover, you need to understand the products’ most impressive side to attract customers to buy the product just by looking at it.
Ignoring this most crucial thing is the hinder to making the product a unique material.
#5- Unprepared Products
Now let us move ahead to another mistake that one should avoid in product photography- unprepared products or lack thereof.
In product photography, the product should be clean, with no fingerprints on the glossy items or no creases on the clothes because it will be captured easily by the light in the camera.
If you have unprepared product photography, the customer will think that the product is of poor quality.
#6- Lack Of Consistency Or Uniformity
The other common mistake that sticks with the photographer in product photography is the lack of consistency.
Consistency in product photography refers to the process that gives a consistent appearance to the product images.
We often notice, in online stores, some products are photographed against the same white background whereas some the gray or on a completely contrasting background.
Whatever your setting and style, you should display all the products uniformly.
That means you should alter your shooting styles, otherwise, all the product images will look alike, so confusing!
#7- Using Low-Resolution Image
High-resolution images are more appealing and eye-catchy. That is why, it keeps another level of value in product photography.
So, the other mistake that you must be careful of or will avoid is low-resolution images or the blurry ones.
Not to have low res images, you can use a tripod.
You can also increase the aperture of the camera as it will focus on the details of the product images.
That is why, you can change it to F/5.6, or F/11.
You should test between the apertures and can find out which one is working just fine for your targeted product in the photography.
#8- Off White Balance
In photography, white balance is the setting that maintains the accurate colors in the image by maintaining a yellowish or reddish tint and a bluish tint. The white balancing is also often referred to as color temperature.
So, when your product images are too yellow or warm or too bluish or cold, that means you are mistaking the white balance.
The white balance is determined by the lighting of your setup. You know LED lighting and fluorescent lighting create cooler images whereas normal and natural lights create warm product images.
That is why, you should not mix natural light and artificial light in your product image to create an off-white balance.
It will confuse the camera and the results will be undesiring.
#9- Too Much Or Too Little Exposure
You can say the mistake is like a deadly sin in product photography!
Whether you are a rookie or a beginner the point is something that you must grasp in product photography.
Over-exposed or under-exposed product images are both severe as they will not be able to deliver the correct message to the customer through product images.
As a consequence, one can expect that there will be a downfall in online products sales.
#10- Being Content With Too Few Pictures
In the e-commerce business, it is the product images that sell. Hence, in product photography, contenting with too few images is one of the biggest mistakes.
So, to make the audience trust your product, you need more images from different angles.
That is why, it is better to take many images from every angle as you can delete the unused ones later.
But if you miss taking the image from an angle and want to take it later, of course, it will be a hassle and will give you a hard time.
#11- Ignoring Post-Processing Stage
Regardless of how excellent a shot of the product is, it needs post-processing before delivering to the clients or being used online.
Any little imperfection or irritants can be solved here and can uplift the mediocre image.
But as the stage needs time and knowledge, most of the time it is ignored but that should not be.
As the customers will analyze every detail of the product image, so obviously it is not a spot for savings!
