The Ultimate Guide to Shopify Product Photography (Updated for 2024) | soona

The Ultimate Guide to Shopify Product Photography (Updated for 2024)

Boost your sales with professional Shopify product photography. Our guide will show you how to create high-quality product photos for your online store.

Liz Giorgi

CEO & Co-Founder

September 15, 2024

If you have an ecommerce business, chances are you’re familiar with Shopify. It’s a platform that makes building a website and selling your products and services online easy and streamlined. To really make the most out of your Shopify site, you’ll need some awesome product photography.

Consumers make a lot of quick judgments when shopping online. If you don’t impress them or grab their attention, something else will! So it’s important to make sure your online store offers a seamless and engaging journey for the customer, which is super important for your conversions. And in our opinion, that starts with product photography.

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What is Shopify product photography?

Shopify product photography refers to any product visuals you have on your Shopify website. This could include not only listing images like hero shots and supportive photos, but also visuals that appear elsewhere on your site. Shopify product photography can also be in banner images, thumbnails, infographics, and more.

Shopify product photos are important. They communicate the value of your product to potential buyers, taking the place of the in-person experience offered in stores. So visuals essentially are the product.

But don’t fret, it’s not as daunting as it sounds to create high-quality product images.

How to take product photos for Shopify

Unless you’re already a pro photographer, you’ll first need to iron out the basics. The good news? Clear and eye-catching product photos are accessible to anyone with a smartphone, natural lighting, and some creativity.

1. Prep and plan

Preparing before a photoshoot goes a long way in making sure the day goes smoothly. Consider how closely your product photos will be examined by anyone thinking about purchasing. So while an accidental fingerprint on your product package may seem harmless to you, it could look sloppy and distracting to a potential customer. It’s always worth a few extra minutes before and during your shoot to maintain a flawless appearance.

2. Jot down your shot list

Create a shot list that includes every photo you want to capture. Whether you’re checking off boxes as you go through a DIY shoot or you’re sending it to a full service photography studio, your shot list will be a guide to make sure you don’t miss any important shots. Include any ideas for arrangements and styling of your shoot.

If you want photos for your product page as well as photos for your social media feed, your shot list might look like this:

3. Get lighting on point 💡

Both natural light and artificial light have their advantages. Consider what your setting and mood should be for your ecomm photos—and your budget for equipment—to make the best decision about which type of lighting you should use.

Natural lighting

Natural lighting is best—it’s free, romantic, and gives photos a natural glow—but it’s also fickle. If you’re shooting indoors, you’ll need time to set up your shoot near a well-lit window before the prime lighting happens.

When shooting outdoors, you’re chasing that fleeting few minutes of golden hour or blue hour. Outdoor sunlight can be really harsh in photos if the timing isn’t right.

Artificial lighting

Artificial lighting can obviously be more costly, but it offers you more control. They’re dynamic, can change colors, and can create moving shadows for animated GIFs.

4. Select your background/setting

Now it’s time to consider what backgrounds you want to shoot! The possibilities are infinite, but here’s a quick list of ideas to try:

5. Arrange your products

With Shopify, you’ve got total creative freedom with how products are arranged. Here are some ideas for inspiration.

6. Shoot every angle

Your product page should get as close to IRL as possible. Achieve this through photos from multiple angles and using GIFs of your product in action, etc.

7. Upload strategically

When you’ve got your photos edited and ready to share, upload as many as you’d like as quickly as you can. Just make sure you reduce the file size first.

Hiring a photography studio

When it comes to hiring creatives to shoot your product photos for you, you’ve got options. Some services allow you to hire a photographer “freelance style” who will come to your location or who already has a studio. These photographers vary greatly in price.

Another option is to work with a studio of creatives virtually. This means booking a shoot and shipping your products to the studio where they’ll be photographed by experts.

Shopify image requirements and guidelines

File name

When uploading to Shopify, you’ll want to name your photo specifically. think: what would I type into Google to find an image like this? and there’s a name! for example: “baby onesie pink stripes white background”.

File format

Most Shopify images will fall into one of three formats:

Shopify product photography tips and best practices

Get equipped

Modern smartphones can achieve decent high-quality images with the right practices. However, investing in equipment can also be beneficial:

Focus on your product

Adjust camera settings to ensure your product is in focus and the background is slightly out of focus to really make your product pop.

Be different and get creative

Taking inspiration from other images and making them your own is a great way to get creative inspiration.

Consider models

Models make product visuals relatable. Consider hiring models that reflect your target customer demographic.

Incorporate alternative image types

Consider GIFs, 360-degree photos, or videos of your products to supplement your visual content.

Don’t skip editing

Your photos may need some edits. Here are some aspects to consider during edits: