Mastering Product Photography: Techniques for Captivating Visuals on Your Amazon Listings

Product photography is essential for making a meaningful first impression on online shoppers. Impressive visuals don’t just add credibility – it also gives prospective buyers a more complete understanding of the product they are about to add to their cart. And the fewer surprises a customer finds after purchasing, the better the experience. 

Unfortunately, there’s no simple secret to creating compelling imagery that draws in more buyers. Instead, crafting compelling product photography for Amazon listings requires technical skill, artistic ability and a solid from start to finish. But don’t give up just yet. Keep reading to uncover key insights and practical advice to get your company’s product photography headed in the right direction. 

Product images influence buying decisions

Among the most influential pieces of Amazon content are high-quality photos. In fact, 30 percent of shoppers won’t even consider a product with low-quality images. In a saturated marketplace, professional, high-quality photos can make a product stand out and catch the eye of potential buyers. 

Captivating visuals on Amazon can also give customers a better understanding of the product, showing them what the product looks like in real life and helping them make a purchase decision. Poor photography, on the other hand, can convey a lack of professionalism and reduce customer confidence. Additionally, with Amazon’s stringent requirements for product images, sellers must ensure they meet the company’s guidelines or risk having their listings removed. Investing in high-quality product images is essential for boosting sales, increasing customer satisfaction, and maintaining a professional image on the platform.

Equipment is only part of effective images

The equipment required to create professional-quality product images for Amazon typically includes a camera with a high resolution, a tripod to keep your camera steady, and lighting equipment that will allow you to have full control over the lighting in your photos. You’ll also need a white backdrop to create a clean, consistent background for your products. In addition to these basics, you might consider investing in other equipment like different types of lenses, reflectors, and diffusers to achieve specific effects. 

However, product photography techniques for Amazon listings require more than investing in the right tools, especially if you’re new to photography. First and foremost, lighting is vital. You want to choose a location with ample natural light or know how to utilize artificial lighting well. 

It’s also critical to showcase your products from multiple angles. 

In most cases, online shoppers also want to avoid surprises when the product they are purchasing arrives. But, the inability to physically see a product in person and experience it can be a challenge. One way to help prospective customers overcome this hurdle is by ensuring the photos show more than just the primary view of a product. Instead, the gallery should feature multiple angles or relevant positions. For instance, using close-up shots of intricate details can help highlight the quality of materials and workmanship, while wide-angle shots can provide a contextual view of the size and shape of the product. 

Of course, not every photo on an Amazon listing should be shot inside a product photography studio. Sellers often overlook the value of using lifestyle photography to give potential customers a better sense of the product’s size, scale, and functionality by showing the item in use. These types of images can help convey the product’s benefits and features in a more relatable and tangible way. One approach is to consider the target audience and the story you want to tell through the photos. This may involve setting up a scene that depicts the product in use, such as showing how a piece of clothing fits a particular style or highlighting the benefits of a product in action. 

When planning product photography for Amazon, you’ll need to have a strategy to be sure that in addition to meeting the front-facing, white background requirements imposed on the main image, the remaining slots can convey additional angles and achieve the other goals. In other words, you’ll benefit when your secondary photos pull double or triple-duty with regard to their purpose. 

Go beyond capturing quality images

While creating a favorable environment for your photos is the first step toward photos that drive conversions, it’s not the only one. To make your product images stand out even more, you will benefit from some basic knowledge about post-processing techniques and software that can enhance your photos even further. The key to achieving stunning product images is to first ensure that you have captured high-quality raw images rather than relying on a compressed format like JPEG. Raw file formats can be edited more aggressively without sacrificing the quality and then converted to an Amazon-friendly format after the edits are complete. 

Once you have your raw images, you can use different post-processing techniques like resizing, color-correcting, adding contrast, and sharpening, among others. Many software programs are available for this purpose, including Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, GIMP, and Capture One, which are user-friendly and offer great features to transform your images. 

While editing capabilities are almost endless, thanks to today’s technology, you can go too far with these tools. Maintaining consistency across your product images that strengthen your brand is equally important. And it’s not just a matter of what these images depict, but also how. 

Professionally shot and art-directed product shots – by people fully briefed on your brand narrative–will help ensure your pictures do more than just look good but say something too. 

From the hero image at the top of your brand store to the photos in your slideshows and galleries, the choices of subject matter, angle, lighting, color, etc., should be driven by your brand story.

Know Amazon’s Photography Rules

As is often the case for Amazon sellers, knowing and complying with the rules is critical to sales success. Listing photography is no exception. As a result, the platform has several specific guidelines for product photography to ensure that shoppers enjoy quality and consistency when exploring the marketplace. Among the standards that exist for all Amazon photos, the company states:

• Images must accurately represent the product that is for sale.
• Amazon product Images must match the product title.
• The product must fill at least 85% of the image.
• The optimal zoom experience for detail pages requires files to be 1600px or larger on the longest side. Zoom has been shown to help enhance sales. If you cannot meet this image requirement, the smallest your file can be for zoom is 1000px, and the smallest your file can be for the site is 500px.
• A product image must not exceed 10,000px on the longest side.
• Images must be JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg), TIFF (.tif), PNG(.png), or GIF (.gif) file formats. JPEG is preferred. Our servers do not support animated .gifs.
• Images must not be blurry, pixelated, or have jagged edges.
• Images must not contain nudity or be sexually suggestive. Leotards, underwear, and swimwear for kids and babies must not be shown on a human model.
• Images must not include any Amazon logos or trademarks, or variations, modifications or anything confusingly similar to Amazon’s logos and trademarks. This includes, but is not limited to, any words or logos with the terms AMAZON, PRIME, ALEXA, or the Amazon Smile design.
• Images must not include any badges used on Amazon, or variations, modifications or anything confusingly similar to such badges. This includes, but is not limited to, “Amazon’s Choice,” “Premium Choice,” “Amazon Alexa,” “Works with Amazon Alexa,” “Best seller,” or “Top seller.” Refer to trademark usage guidelines for more details.

In addition, a product’s main image must have a pure white background without any text, logos, watermarks or other graphics. Depending on the product type, there could also be additional restrictions or requirements for the primary or secondary images. For example, the main images of shoes must show a single shoe facing left at a 45-degree angle, while all photos of kids and baby clothing must be photographed flat and off-model. 

With mobile devices becoming the dominant way to shop online, it’s also essential for sellers to provide images that are easily viewable on any device. While Amazon’s interface makes the effort seamless in most cases, some items, such as text on pictures or videos, could be too small to be legible when viewed on smaller screens. 

Amazon’s Storefront feature also allows customization of some aspects for mobile devices. Since a Brand Store can be an integral part of Amazon success, sellers looking to excel should consider taking advantage of those options and remember to view and test their listings and Store from both desktop and mobile devices. 

Avoid these product photography pitfalls

With so many guidelines and ways to optimize, it’s easy to make mistakes. Fortunately, it’s just as easy to avoid the most common pitfalls that amateur product photographers make when you know what they are.

One common mistake is poor lighting, which can obscure details and make the product unattractive. Another frequently encountered issue is an incorrect white balance which can distort the product’s true colors. Similarly, over-retouching is another tactic that can make the product look unrealistic. A crowded or cluttered background can distract from the product when shooting lifestyle photos, reducing its perceived value. And, of course, a lack of technical knowledge regarding camera settings and session planning can lead to subpar product images. 

When using images on Amazon, it’s also crucial to understand the legal considerations surrounding them. One of the primary considerations is copyright infringement. Using copyrighted images without permission can result in legal consequences and penalties. Ensuring that the images used on Amazon are either original creations or appropriately licensed from the copyright holder is crucial. Another legal consideration is intellectual property rights. Using an image without permission can lead to legal troubles if it is trademarked.

By being aware of and avoiding these common mistakes, Amazon sellers can present their products in the best possible light, making it more likely they can achieve their goal of attracting customers and boosting sales.

Be sure your product photos are performing

Thanks to Amazon’s extensive tracking abilities, sellers can analyze their product image’s performance and make data-driven decisions about optimizing product photos on Amazon that can improve their sales. 

One key metric to monitor is the conversion rate, which refers to the percentage of people who view your product and then go on to make a purchase. High-quality, professional photos can significantly boost your conversion rate as they help to showcase your product’s features and benefits. 

Another important metric is the bounce rate, or the number of people leaving your listing without further interacting with it. If your bounce rate is high, it could indicate that your product photos are not engaging or informative enough to hold potential customers’ interest. To lower your bounce rate, ensure your main image is clear, high-resolution, and accurately represents your product. Including images that answer common customer questions, such as dimensions, components included, or how to use the product, is also beneficial.

A third crucial metric is customer reviews and ratings, particularly those mentioning your product photos. Positive feedback regarding your images indicates that they are effectively showcasing your products and meeting customer expectations. However, if you receive negative comments about your photos being misleading or inaccurate, it’s a clear sign you need to improve your product photography. Regularly review customer feedback and make necessary adjustments to your images to ensure you continue producing captivating visuals for Amazon product images that meet your customers’ needs.

Let Amify put your brand in the best light 

With the right tools and practices in place, sellers can make stunning images that excite viewers and increase conversions. But it can take time to perfect, and many brands on Amazon are already struggling to meet the demands of a competitive online marketplace. 

If you could use some help, Amify has experts ready to assist with the hurdles facing your business, including listing creation, Amazon FBA, and marketing. Contact us to discover how our experience can overcome your Amazon challenges and grow your brand.