Product Photography and Video, Keep it Genuine
You have a drawer of old electronics and you want to sell them on ebay or Amazon. You lay one of your old cell phones on your white comforter and snap a photo of it with your iPhone and post it directly to eBay through their mobile app. Three days pass and you have 25 bids at $10 more than your asking price. You ship the product to the new happy owner and a few days later they write feedback on your seller profile
“A++ Seller, Product exactly as shown in photo and description”
After all of my studies at University of Oregon in the school of digital arts, learning how to properly frame photos, making sure levels are balanced, and how to produce high resolution print photography, why is it that a low resolution photo of a cell phone on my bed is so effective at selling product?
Legitimacy. Customers want to see genuine product shots as if it was sitting on their comforter. It gives the customer a sense of security when purchasing product on the internet, and simulates the “in-store” experience.
Computer Generated Product Photography – Why you shouldn’t do it
Most manufacturers have gone down the path of creating computer renderings of their products and using them for e-commerce listings. Computer renderings are nice because they can easily be adapted from initial product design and used simultaneously as product photography which allows them to cut down on costs.
Those renderings can be used for a manufacturers own retail store, however, some ecommerce retailers do not allow computer renderings as product shots, because they don’t give customers a real idea of what the product looks like. This can create problems when dealing with deadlines, because manufacturers scramble at the last minute to have product shots taken.
Lifestyle Images
Customer’s love seeing products in the wild. Showing your product in use with real people gives customers an idea of the product’s size, fit, and true color. Lifestyle images are a nice compliment to standard white background shots and something we offer our customers.
Unboxing Videos
More and more customers are searching on YouTube for unboxing videos that display someone taking each individual item out of the packing in a video format. This gives the potential customer the satisfaction of knowing exactly what comes inside the packaging of the product they are about to buy.
So if you are an amateur e-commerce entrepreneur, selling your old electronics on eBay, keep snapping those photos on your bedspread. However, if you are a manufacturer, stay away from computer generated images and think like a customer. How would you want to see the product you are about to buy? Avoid costly product shoots, we can generate product photos for you.
If you would like to learn more about how Earl & Brown can distribute your products, and take pictures/videos in our own green room send us an email at info@earlbrown.com or call us at 503-670-1170.