How to photograph product packs for your e-commerce store
Get the right e-commerce shots and don’t forget about social media.
Equipment used: Styleshoots Eclipse
Learn more about the Photo Machine
When it comes to e-commerce, the more accurately you can show your product online, the more likely you are to decrease your return rates. As much as 22% of e-commerce returns result from receiving a product that looked different online than in real life. That can be detrimental to your revenue.
In this tutorial, we’ll share how to shoot beauty product packs for e-commerce and how to get a bit more creative with them for your social media posts.
In this post we cover:
- How to create an Establishing Shot of the Box
- How to create an Angled Shot of the Box
- How to Position The Product
- How To Get Creative for Social Media
How to Create an Establishing
Shot of the Box
The first shot that we’re after is that establishing shot of your product so the customer knows exactly what they’re buying.
When creating the establishing shot of your beauty product pack, make sure to watch out for reflection in the plastic covering the front of the box because it will not look aesthetically pleasing and it won’t show your product well.
Try to spread the light evenly when setting up and don’t put too much light in the front before you start shooting. Otherwise, that will result in a bad reflection on the plastic front.
Instead, have your light come in form the side (preferably you’ve placed your product on a white background) so it doesn’t reflect problematically on the product. That way you will nicely showcase what you are selling in a more subtle, yet much more powerful manner.
How to Create an
Angled Shot of the Box
The reason you absolutely need an angled shot is because you need to show customers how big your product is in scale (show the product in depth). Shooting from a different angle will create the necessary perspective so your customer can get a good idea of how big the package is.
Put your reflector on the set. Reduce the light on the side so you end up with something much softer light-wise. That way you won’t end up with a harsh light in the important places that will ruin the purpose of the image.
Also, make the environment a bit brighter, especially the front. By doing this, you will avoid harsh reflection in this area.
On top of that, if you add a reflective surface on the bottom, it will make your product look more luxurious and expensive. That makes for a different, more appealing packshot photo, mainly because the little bit of reflection adds to the desired look.
How to Position The Product
When arranging your products for the shots, make sure that they’re not overlapping with one another.
Work towards the right perspective – that way you can have some more, yet smaller products in the front and you can have the bigger products standing out in the back. Visually, that will make it easier for the viewer to quickly understand what you’re offering and where they should focus their attention towards.
Light your products directly
Make sure that you’ve got a nice highlight running down the side of the bottle just to show that the product is glossy, shiny. Take your lights from both sides and reduce the light in the back – just check to see that you’re not losing any detail.
Check your exposure
You don’t want your set to be too light or too dark. With your camera, focus on the right point. A good rule of thumb is to focus in the middle of the shot so you can show the product that’s not too far away and not too close to the camera. That way you hit the midpoint of the depth of field.
Once you’re done with all these shots, you will have your 3 main images that are essential for showcasing your product. You will have the main one with the product in the box. You’ve got the side shots so you can see how big the product is in size and then you’ve got the one with the full collection within the box so you can see what’s inside.
All those images already give the customer enough information so they can decide whether they want to buy the product or not.
How To Get Creative for Social Media
While doing your e-commerce shoot, make the most out of it and spend some time on more creative shots that you can use for your marketing.
Those should generally involve a bit more thought and can be a bit more creative than the typical e-commerce shots you just finished.
Play with materials
Use different props to put out more visually interesting content. You can easily make a ‘homemade marble board’ to start with. This is an inexpensive way to create some stunning product shots and the best part is, you can make it yourself at home.
All you need to do is order some “sticky” paper (like the marble one we show in the video above e.g.) and then put it on a cardboard you already have. Just make sure to smooth out any wrinkles and carefully stick it to the board when you’re doing it – rushing will not do you any favors.
Aim for a good arrangement
Keep in mind that when creating visuals for social media, the arrangements of your products can and in some cases, should, look different than the ones for your webstore.
Also, keep in mind that the aspect ratio will be different – so far, for your e-commerce website you were probably shooting in 2:3 and now for social media what you will most probably need is square or 4:5.
Don’t forget about the exposure
Make sure to check your exposure and that you are zoomed in enough before you start shooting. You can adjust your light in such a way that it comes only from one side so it will appear as if it’s coming from a window. That will make it look much more natural.