Let's be honest, images are powerful. They have the power of persuasion, the power to tell a story, the power to visually communicate text people don't want to read or you have yet to explicitly tell them.
When it comes to e-commerce stores, images are not optional. You have to make up for the 4 to 5-senses people would otherwise be able to use when inspecting a product. Since they cannot manipulate or interact with it you have to visually show them everything they might want to know.
When it comes to photography in general, you have three options
For product photography specifically you have three options as well
We all know how bad stock photography can be and that it can take countless hours to find the right image for your project. Free image data bases tend to not have as many images as paid services and their quality tends to be hit or miss. Here are some of the free resources that I use and tend to come back to when starting a project:
There are a number of paid stock photography resources out there with a few stand outs, simply based on their vast library of images and the number of filter options they have to help you zero in on what you need:
The perceived value of your products, your brand, and how trustworthy you are is often judged by your visual presentation. This means that having high-quality, beautiful images and product photography can go a LONG way. We know that not everyones budget can afford a professional photographer and studio, especially at the beginning. However, this doesn't mean you can't take compelling photos and present your brand and product in a way you are proud of.
You'll Need:
Things You'll Need To Focus On:
I could go into great detail about each of these and Jeff Delacruz of Products on White Photography wrote a great blog article with Shopify that covers all of this in great detail.
Check It Out: The Definitive DIY Guide to Beautiful Product Photography
If you've reached the limit of what you can do (or want to keep doing) with product photography there are lots of resources online that can help you by taking your products (that you ship them), photographing them for you, and then returning them (by shipping them back to you).
Expect to pay:
