You currently run a business and you have decided to take it online, so you decided to create your store on the Flutterwave Store where you can start selling your products but in your heart, you know something is missing but you just can not place it. You have everything sorted out; the product, the platform, the logistics and even how you intend to share with the public but something still feels odd or out of place.
The way your product looks or is presented may just be what is out of place. Do you have a good photograph of your product? Is your product visually appealing to the eyes of prospective customers? Will they see the product and immediately want to give you all their money?
If the answer to those questions is NO, well, you have your work cut out for you. As a small or medium business owner, it is very understandable if you cannot afford a professional photographer yet because of other business priorities. However, you still want to have very good photographs of your product to add to your Flutterwave Store.
We want you to make the most of your resources so we have compiled a list of useful phone photography tips that can help you in taking better photos of your product.
The Smartphone
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
Mobile phones are increasingly becoming very sophisticated, you can do so much more with smartphones now than you could when the first major smartphone was released. Most phones can take photographs but there are more powerful smartphones that can give you great photographs. If you want to take your product photos with a phone, you should consider getting any of these phones or newer versions: Google Pixel 2, iPhone 8, Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Note 8, Huawei P20 Pro, Xiaomi Mi Note 10, OnePlus 8 Pro e.t.c. You can get more information about these phones here.
A room with good Natural Lighting
Photo by Nathan Fertig on Unsplash
A room with good natural lighting will make shooting your photos easier, especially one with a big window. Photography is the art of recording light, light plays a very vital role in any form of photography. To get a good photo of your product you will have to shoot close to the source of light, in this case, the window. Sometimes the natural light could be harsh on your product, the window can diffuse the light or you can cover the window with a soft white cloth or white paper to soften the light coming in.
A good background
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
The background of a photo matters a lot, most product photographers prefer to use a white background for their photographs but you can choose to be creative with your choice of colour. You can use a cloth or cardboard but it should be big enough for the product to have a lot of space on the background. Some product photographers use different backgrounds, some use wooden backgrounds, here is a useful article on the alternatives to white background.
Get a Phone Tripod
Photo credit: Amazon
To avoid a blurry photo, you need a tripod to hold your phone. A tripod also allows you to play around with angles for your photo. Never forget that the main aim is to have customers come to your store and see visually appealing photos that can convince them to make a purchase.
Shoot all the right angles
Photo credit: Pinterest
You should shoot all the possible angles of your product, especially if it is a clothing item. The poster below highlights some important product photography angles.
This is vital because the buyer wants to be certain that what they are seeing while buying is what they will see when they get the product. This also ties to the point that you must stay true to your product offering, no one wants a “What I ordered” versus “What I got” situation.
Photo Editing Apps
You have taken the photos with your phone and they are looking good except for some minor issues like brightness, colour or shadow. You can easily fix these issues using a simple photo editing software. Most of these apps are quite easy to use, you may just need to play around with the features for some minutes to understand how they function. Some examples are Snapseed (iOS & Android), Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop Express & VSCO. You can learn more about the applications here.
Now that you have learnt how to take visually appealing photos for your Flutterwave Store, waste no time, start taking those beautiful photos of your products and start making money.
Cover photo by Yanga Beauty (a Flutterwave Store Business).