The complete guide to packshot photography, 1: why take packshots of your products?
Welcome to the complete guide to Packshot photography, a series of articles designed to help you take attractive photos of your products and to optimize your online presence. If you sell products on the internet, you might be surprised to see how much of a difference good packshot photography can make.
Indeed, when a potential customer visits your website, the first thing they see is an image of your product. If that image is poor or doesn't present your product in the best light, it's unlikely they'll buy from you. Conversely, a quality packshot photography can attract the attention of consumers and encourage them to buy.
In this first article, we decipher for you what packshot photography is and what it can do for you.
What is packshot photography?
Definition of a packshot photograph
By definition, the Packshot photography Is a specialized photographic technique especially for e-commerce sites to capture product images isolated on a neutral background.
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Concretely, packshot photographs are Primordial for any business looking to sell its products on an e-commerce site, and a good packshot can make the difference between a successful sale and a customer who goes elsewhere. The advantage of packshot photography is that it focuses on the product and only on the product, with no visual distractions. It also aims to represent the product as accurately as possible : the customer will thus not have an unpleasant surprise when receiving the product afterwards.
Packshot photographs are generally taken in a professional studio with a lighting configuration specially adapted to each product, in order to highlight its specific characteristics. Packshot photography thus assumes a thorough knowledge light, camera, and composition to produce a clear, sharp image tailored to the product.
Where can you find packshot photographs?
Are packshot photographs only for e-commerce sites or can they have other uses?
Maybe that's the question you're asking yourself right now. Indeed, if you are going to invest in packshot photographs, you would be entitled to expect to use them to the maximum of their capacity.
The primary purpose of the packshot photographs is to highlight products of a company on the internet, and as such, they can have multiple uses. In the furniture sector, detailed images can help customers appreciate the quality and design of the pieces, thus facilitating their purchase decision:
- On your e-commerce site of course, where they allow you to arouse the interest of customers by presenting your products in an attractive way, while showing their characteristics, colors, textures and dimensions,
- On social networks like Instagram or Pinterest to expand your audience and reach a new audience,
- as part of a advertising and promotional communication of your company and its products through the use of advertising visuals, posters, flyers, catalogs and commercial brochures,
- as part of a internal communication (training employees on the characteristics of a product for example),
- or even in the edition of Leaflets for your customers.
For example, a clothing store can use packshot photographs to present their new collection on their website, Increase your conversion rate and improve your natural referencing, while communicating about it in online advertising campaigns or promotional brochures. However, the primary use of packshot photographs remains in product sheets of an e-commerce site, it is therefore on this use that we will focus primarily on in this series of articles.
Packshot photography, lifestyle photography or still life photography? Types of product photography that serve different purposes
There are various product photography techniques, each with its own particularities and advantages. Packshot photography is one of them, along with lifestyle photography and still life photography. So which one should you choose according to your needs?
Packshot photography
La Packshot photography is a technique that allows you to take pictures of isolated products on a uniform background. It focuses on product details by removing any items that could distract customer attention. The aim is to represent the product as it really is, without any stylistic effect and without modifying its appearance in order to embellish it.
Product photography in still life
Conversely, the still life product photography is a technique that consists of stage the product creatively using various decor elements. Unlike classic packshot photography, which focuses on the frontal presentation of the product, still life product photography leaves more room for creativity. By using combinations of compositions and colors, a photographer produced in still life can thus add a artistic dimension to the brand image of a company. Thus, still life product photography is not really suitable for e-commerce use as the product is not necessarily represented accurately. On the other hand, this type of technique is ideal for a advertising campaign.
Lifestyle product photography
La lifestyle product photography is for its part a technique that consists in staging products in their context of use. It allows you to show customers how to use the products, among other things. It also gives them an idea of the size and relevance of the product in their daily lives. Lifestyle photography can also help you make the product more real for the customer, allowing them to imagine using it in their daily life. The main use of lifestyle photography therefore remains advertising.
As you can see, a packshot photograph is more focused on produced by itself, rather than on the environment in which it is used. The ultimate goal of a packshot photo is thus to allow potential customers to clearly see and understand the product. This will help them take a informed purchase decision. Instead, lifestyle photography attempts to create a printout to the viewer by showing how the product can be used in daily life. Does a still life photograph aim to highlight aesthetic qualities of the product, the photographer's artistic vision and the brand's message.
Why is good product photography essential?
Internet, a new era that changes everything for the presentation of your products
With the Internet, online shopping has become more and more common, until it has become the norm nowadays. There is just one slight problem: consumers can no longer touch, examine, test, or physically experience products before buying them, unlike buying them in a physical store!
A new challenge then arises: how make the product real and palpable for the consumer? How to faithfully bring out its details, colors and textures... despite the screen barrier?
That is the whole objective of packshot photography, and the common thread of this series of articles.
Stand out from your competitors by making a good impression
La online competition is extremely strong, and the first impression is essential. Professional, high-quality photographs are a way to stand out and capture the attention of potential customers. And the opposite is even more so: nothing like poor quality packshots to scare away your customers.
Knowing this, many can take the easy way out: simply use photos from their supplier. But is that just a good idea? Indeed, this solution seems practical and inexpensive, but it can also backfire. These same photos are very likely to also be found on the sites of your competitors.
A key element for the natural referencing of your e-commerce site
In addition, photographs are essential for the natural referencing or SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Search engines like Google rank websites according to their relevance and quality. And quality product photography can significantly influence this ranking.
The images are in fact considered to be contents by search engines. In other words, they can be indexed and referenced in the same way as traditional web pages. Thus, poor packshot photographs can lead to a drop in your ranking in the search results. Let's also not forget the functionality of image search search engines. By using relevant keywords and quality photographs, you increase your chances of appearing in search results. This can help bring new potential customers to your website.
What are the main characteristics of a good product photo?
The objective of packshot photography is to present your products in a clear, accurate, and informative manner. And that is why a packshot photograph must have certain characteristics to be effective.
A white background
First, the background of the photograph should be Preferably white, or neutral. This helps to focus on the product and sets it apart from any other element. A uniform background reduces visual distractions and makes it easier to highlight the product.
A faithful representation
The packshot photograph should represent the product As it is, without trying to beautify it or to lie about its nature. This authentic approach helps potential customers make an informed decision when buying online. By showing the product as it really is, you avoid returns and disappointments from your customers.
Packshot photography must be the most precise and clean possible. It must therefore be taken with a professional camera, with a adapted lighting and appropriate settings. And if possible in studio environment. Lighting is indeed essential in this quest for an authentic product. Shadows can completely transform how we perceive a product. It is therefore necessary to find the right balance between too present shadows that could darken the product and an absence of shade that would cause it to lose all depth.
Sharpness above all
A photo that is blurry, poorly framed, or poorly lit can also lead to a decrease in the perceived quality of the product. In other words, poor photography can jeopardize a sale. So banish any notion of fuzzy of your photos. Indeed, the customer must be able to see every detail of the product in your photos. The Focus Stacking can thus be useful in taking packshot photographs. We'll talk about this technique and more in the rest of this series.
Without distraction
Finally, and as we told you before, packshot photography must be devoid of any distraction. It also means that you need to present the product in a simple frame. That is, without objects, colors, or textures in the background that could distract potential customers. The aim here is to ensure that the photograph draws attention to the product itself, and nothing else.
That being said, you can imagine that we have only scratched the surface of packshot photography here. We still have a lot to talk about, starting with the equipment you'll need. So we invite you to discover all this in the rest of our series of articles on packshot photography:
