Let’s dive into a key element of your Shopify website: your photography. Photography and videos can make a huge impact on our product business. It’s easy to see why. When you’re selling something online, your potential buyers are missing out on the tactile experience of interacting with your product. 

Your product photos can help fill that gap and make your customers feel like they can’t wait to get their hands on it.

So how do you go from blah photos to gimme, gimme more, gimme more? (Side note: we listen to so much Britney in this house)

First you need to get clear on how you want your brand to show up in the first place. For my 1:1 clients, I often use moodboards so we can have a shared defined guide. You can also just save images on Pinterest and start to notice the common threads. 

Here’s an example:

Here are some things you want to be clear on:

• Cool or warm
• Color themes
• Lighting
• Focus
• Backgrounds

The goal is to start to build a consistent look for your photos so they become recognizable as part of your brand.

Here’s an example from my client Luna & Jade, whose new Shopify site just launched this summer (woohoo!)

Her photos have consistent lighting, soft backgrounds and are close enough to see fine details. The photos align with her brand story: handmade, high-quality and feminine. 

These pieces are special and sentimental and are made to treasure and that shows in her photography and videos. Luna & Jade works with a professional photographer for her shoots. But if you’re DIYing you can (and should) apply this same advice.

Consider this: How can your photography further the mission and values of your brand? How can your photos tell the story?

Now you have both the visual inspiration and the brand message behind your photos, what’s next?

Time to plan your photoshoots. 

I’ve talked before about what type of photos you need for your product page specifically, and I’ll include them again right here too:

• Your product on a white or simple background
• Lifestyle shots – your product in use in a setting that makes sense
• Scale shots – your product in a hand or next to something that will give size context 
• Multiple angles of your product 
• Close up: the texture of your product 
• Videos: I don’t see this often but love a very short video of someone interacting with your product in some way
• Reviews: I also don’t see this often, but you can share a review/testimonial graphic in your product carousel 

Your homepage and about page are another great place for lifestyle photos. You want to entice  customers so they can picture their life with your products. Behind-the-scenes photos and videos work really well too: where are your products made, how are they made, who designs them? Yes, you can talk about these things, but show them too.

I’ll leave you with some more resources to help you create fantastic photos for your brand:

My friend Chaitra has a course that teaches you how to create beautiful product photos with your phone! Check out Product Photography School to learn more. (Note: this is my affiliate link)

And a Shop Schooler (hi Darcy!) introduced me to Soona. It’s a service that can produce photos and video content for you. It’s quite cool! Here’s a link to their Shopify app in the app store.