What You Will Learn in This Guide

Tips to make your products more appealing through the use of well-photographed pictures.

Photographing your Products: Essential Equipment

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Gears	Suggestions
Camera	Good cameras are more accessible nowadays and can be great investments for your business. But if you are not planning to take pictures often, perhaps a friend or family member, who owns professional equipment, can lend you theirs.
Tripod	Great lighting and a good camera would not help much if your photos come out blurry! Remedy this with a tripod so you produce images that are consistently in focus.
Lightbox	For small items, a lightbox is great for getting evenly-distributed lighting. There are many types to choose from, but you can make your own too!
Photo editing software	You don't need the best or most expensive tools to enhance photos. Use these to sharpen, increase vibrancy or do any other touch-ups to your images. Try Pixlr or Canva, to name a few.

Props	Suggestions
Sunlight	Proper lighting is crucial, but that does not mean you need expensive equipment. Natural light does a great job of illuminating your products without looking too dim or too harsh.
Backdrop; craft/mahjong paper/plasterboard	Place your products against a plant backdrop, or look for interesting surfaces like marble benches at your local park, or a patch of gravel outside your home. Bonus points if you head outside to make use of natural light!
Mannequin	If you sell clothing, mannequins are the next best thing to actual human models; they come in all shapes and sizes so your creative options are plenty. You can purchase mannequins at reasonable prices via online marketplaces like Shoppe and Lazada too.
Mannequin bust	Sell jewellery, wearables, and accessories instead? Mannequin busts do well to show off your products without taking up too much space.
Model	Models offer the best reference for your customers when they look to purchase a product, especially clothing.
Backstage shots	Best used in social media, these are backstage or behind-the-scenes shots of your brand's events and you can use them to show photos of special guests and activities.

Here are some suggestions on taking pictures of your products:

Shot Types

There are a few ways to show your products:

Ways	Suggestions
Product-only	As the name suggests, this would be a full-on shot of your product.
Mannequin	To show off clothing, consider taking shots of outfits worn by mannequins.
Contextual	Find creative ways to showcase your product's best features in a single shot.

Example: If you sell hiking boots, use an outdoorsy backdrop with dirt and gravel surrounding it to emphasise its rugged design.

To summarize, here are the takeaway tips for getting the best images:

Have fun snapping away!