Did you know that you can produce high-quality product images just by using your smartphone?
If you are owning an e-commerce store, meal restaurant, bake shop, clothing company, computer shop, resort, or any relevant business, and looking for a budget- and user-friendly product shoot, mobile photography is a good option.
You don't need to spend money on DSLR cameras or photographers to capture your business products. All you need is a working mobile phone, right camera and photo editing apps and a little bit effort.
With today's technological advances, taking gorgeous photos is very possible since most of the mobile devices are now equipped with advanced camera features. In this blog, you will learn practical tips on how do you take amazing product photos using your smartphone.
Getting Started
1. Prepare your smartphone and photography equipments.
Before you begin, make sure you have your smartphone and the necessary equipments.
•Test your phones available camera features
Every phone has its own camera features so it is a good idea if you could check your phone's camera mods.
Make sure you turn off the timestamp and flash features as it ruins the details of the photo. You may also enable the auto-focus setting on your phone if you have. Self-timer is not good advice because it is time-consuming so disable this one. Turn on HDR and adjust the picture size to its highest quality. Don't forget to choose "Normal" as the scene of the camera shoot.
•Tripod
This is very helpful equipment especially if your hands are shaking. It is used to stabilize your device when capturing your product. If you have one, you may use it. A stand or tripod use is optional but it is best for people who got blurry images when taking photos using their hands.
•Lighting Setup
If you have a budget, there are a lot of options for lighting, but the most eco-friendly and easy to use is the natural window's light.
Set up your studio near the large windows. Natural light makes your products alive-looking and visually appealing.
If you have difficulties in finding natural lights, try using larger lamps.
•Backdrop
It is advisable to remove any background in the photo. Failure to remove such thing could mislead the customers.
Try to put backdrops on your studio. Use a white or light gray backdrop behind the product. It eliminates distractions and promotes a clean and consistent look of your product image.
You can also use a white bond paper, plain white cloth or any plain backdrop as long as it does not blend with the color of your product.
•Table
Utilizing your table is a good idea when taking pictures of your foods, small accessories, school supplies, or any stuff that fits with your table.
Using your table is also great if you want to steady your phone.
2. Download a reliable mobile camera app(s).
Downloading alternative camera apps is good to consider if you are not satisfied with the results of using your default smartphone camera. Before you download other apps, make sure that these are reliable, compatible with your phone's OS version, and has good ratings. Try consulting professional photographers about this matter.
If you want to search for the best free high-quality camera apps of 2019, you may click this link.
If you are not good at editing photos, you may want to consider downloading the "Product Camera" app. It is designed for e-commerce in which it creates photos of objects on white backdrops. It lets you easily take your product images by automatically masking out the distractions/backgrounds behind your product. It is available for Android and iOS.
3. Check your phone's available storage.
Before you start, make sure you would not run out of storage. Remember doing this since you are going to take pictures of your products as many as possible.
4. Choose your shooting location.
As mentioned earlier, the best place to do this is near the windows.
As entrepreneurs, you should be resourceful when it comes to the setup of your product shooting. Choose the location that would highlight the details of your product.
5. Set up your studio.
When all are ready, it is time to set up your studio. Arrange the setup by putting the table, backdrop, product(s), the lightings, and your camera phone on your desired location. Just make sure that you are comfortable in doing this. You can ask assistance from someone if you feel like the task requires more people.
Shooting Stage
6. Stabilize and position your smartphone.
When all are set, put your phone on the tripod and make it stable.
7. Turn the flash off.
Don't forget to turn off the flash of your phone before doing the photography. Flashes leave details on the image making it annoying or confusing to the eyes.
8. Adjust your camera settings.
Remember to modify your camera settings and set it to its highest quality like what you did on your preparation stage. You may turn on the auto-focus or manual focus if you want. Make sure that product fits inside the frame.
9. Take a look at every detail.
Do a double check before you begin. You might forget to remove the price tags, covers, or dirt on your product. Do this for you to have the best results.
10. Capture every product angles.
When all are ready, begin your task. Be careful about doing this and relax your hands to avoid blurry or bad images. Capture every angle of the products. Most customers prefer to see every angle and detail of the product. Don't focus much on the minor angles. Just find the perfect one.
11. Don't zoom in.
Customers want to see the whole size of the product for it gives them the idea of what you are selling. Even if the product is just small, try to capture its whole details as long as it is relevant.
12. Save your images.
Remember to save what you have done. It is frustrating in the end in knowing that you failed to save your photos after doing it many times. Good thing that most of the camera phones nowadays have autosave features so you don't need to worry but it is still best to check if you have saved your work.
Selection of product images
13. Select the best shot.
After your shooting, select the best image that you think would be eye-catching. Choose the photo that looks fresh and high quality to the eyes. Choose at least five best shots of each product for you to have more options.
Editing Photos
If you want to further modify the photos and make it more attractive, consider doing the following steps. Otherwise, if you are contented enough with the results, you may start printing or uploading your photos to your website or social media.
14. Download the best photo editing app(s).
There are a lot of apps that allow editing your photos to your desired quality and almost all of them are free to use. Download the most reliable and high rated app that is compatible with your phone. Some of the best recommended photo editing apps for Android and iOS according to users are Adobe Photoshop Express, Snapseed, VSCO, GLIMP, Flickr, Darktable or even Instagram.
15. Edit your product images.
Edit your photos according to its relevance and what you want your customers to see.
Crop the image to remove undesirable background or apply a layer mask and white background to make your photo clean and looks professional. Don't overdo it because the audience might think that it is fake and unnatural. Enhance the color according to standard and remove any unnecessary details. You can include product name, your business name, contact number, business or website address, social media accounts or its price but make sure that it is not bigger than your product image. It is your choice whether you want to edit your product or not.
Don't forget to create different versions of each edited photos as you will need this when choosing the best image to publish.
Finalize your output
After enhancing your captured images, double check if it is enough. If you had included the product name or price or even your business' basic information such as business name, location and contact infos, then it is ready for upload.
Upload your product images
16. Choose the best photos to publish.
When choosing the best product photos, consider if it is universally appealing to the audience. Choose the best photographs that are of high quality and look natural. Try asking professional photographers and photo editors and even your audience on which image is visually attractive and what is not catchy.
Ask them what needs to improve and what should be removed in the photograph. When you are done with the selection process and satisfied with your work, then you are all set for product upload.
These are the essential ways on how do you take gorgeous product photos using your smartphone especially if you are choosing the best budget- and user-friendly product photography. Utilizing the one that you carry around inside your pocket is a wise move since mobile phones are now integrated with advanced camera features. Plus, mobile phones make it convenient for you when uploading your product images on your online store or on your social media account(s).
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