Jul 16, 2025

How To Capture & Showcase Best Product Images That Drive Sales

man and woman in a photoshoot - Best Product Images

If you own a business that sells products online, you know how critical product photography is to your success. Let’s say you’re looking to buy a drone. You find two identical listings on an e-commerce website. One feature is dull and blurry images that weren’t taken in a well-lit environment. At the same time, the other displays stunning, bright images that showcase the drone from various angles, including close-ups of the remote and its accessories. Which listing would you choose? Exactly. Captivating product images that highlight the details and tell a story are crucial for e-commerce success. This blog will help you capture and showcase the best product images to drive sales and improve your SEO rankings. So, how to shoot product photography?

One of the most effective ways to improve your product photography skills is to use a product photography kit. Caspa's solution helps you capture stunning product images that appeal to your target audience seamlessly.

Why Product Images Make or Break the Sale

some mockup products - Best Product Images

First impressions matter, especially in ecommerce. Studies show that 75% of online shoppers rely on product photos to make purchasing decisions. That means your product photos aren’t just images; they’re your brand’s frontline sales team.

Why Product Photos Matter

If they don’t captivate, your potential customers will scroll past without a second thought. But great product photography does more than just grab attention; it builds trust, elevates your brand, and drives sales. In a competitive market where customers can’t physically interact with your products, your images need to do the talking. The right photos can turn casual browsers into buyers and one-time buyers into loyal customers. Let’s break down why product photography is critical and how you can leverage it for maximum impact.

The Power of Visual Selling

Online shoppers can’t touch, test, or try your product. They rely entirely on your photos to tell the story. A crisp, well-lit image builds trust, showcases quality, and signals professionalism. A dull or poorly lit one? It creates doubt and pushes customers toward competitors who present their products better.

Power of Product Photography

Strong product photography isn’t just about making things look nice; it’s about strategic storytelling. Every image should highlight your product’s key features, demonstrate its functionality, and spark an emotional connection with your audience. A well-executed set of product photos doesn’t just make your store look more polished; it increases customer confidence and ultimately boosts conversions.

What Poor Product Photography Is Costing You

Bad product photos aren’t just unappealing; they actively hurt your business. Here’s what happens:

Higher bounce rates: Visitors leave your site within seconds if the visuals don’t impress.
Lower conversions: Unclear images create uncertainty. If customers hesitate, they won’t buy. High-quality product photos, on the other hand, had a 94% higher conversion rate than those of low quality.
Weaker brand identity: Inconsistent or sloppy visuals make your brand look untrustworthy.
Increased returns: If your product photos don’t accurately represent the product, customers may feel misled and return their purchases.

Great product photography isn’t just about aesthetics; it's also about revenue. So, how do you get it right?

What Makes a Product Image “the Best” or Highly Effective?

When assessing the quality of a product image, clarity is the first aspect to consider. A highly effective product image starts with sharpness. Every detail should be visible, with no blur, pixelation, or guesswork. High-resolution images with crisp focus instantly convey quality and professionalism. Customers need to see precisely what they’re buying, especially when shopping online, where they can’t touch or try the product. If a photo looks low-quality, they’ll assume the product is too.

Lighting: The Key to Bringing Your Product to Life

Good lighting highlights texture, color, and form. Whether you’re selling skincare, clothing, or electronics, balanced lighting ensures your product looks true to life, neither washed out nor overly shadowed. Poor lighting can distort colors or hide important details, leading to disappointment or returns. Soft, natural-looking lighting is often the safest bet, but consider what best reflects your product’s real-world use.

Angles: Building Confidence with Every Shot

One image rarely tells the whole story. Multiple angles, including front, side, back, and top-down views, help customers fully visualize your product. Include close-up shots of key details (like stitching, buttons, or ingredients) to build trust and reduce doubt. Offer 360-degree views or short product videos to enhance the experience. The more they see, the more they believe.

Context: Showing the Product in Action

Contextual images make the product relatable. Showing the product in use or next to a familiar object for scale helps customers understand its size, purpose, and application. For example, a skincare serum might be shown in someone’s hand or on a bathroom counter. A person can wear a backpack to show off their fit and proportions. Lifestyle photos create an emotional connection and help drive conversions.

Consistency: Building Trust Across Your Catalogue

One overlooked but critical factor is consistency. Uniform backgrounds, lighting, and styling across all your product images give your brand a cohesive, professional look. Whether a customer is browsing one product or twenty, they should feel like everything came from the same trusted source. Consistency also improves the shopping experience, especially on marketplaces or multi-product listings.

Product Image Sizing and Composition Best Practices

Simplicity is key in product photography. You want your product to take center stage, so avoid busy backgrounds and unnecessary props. Instead of a cluttered garage, a simple white background allows customers to focus on the details of your product.

Keep Product Photos Clear and Honest

White backgrounds also help photos appear more professional and consistent, so aim for a seamless look wherever possible. If you do use props or accessories in your product photos, make sure they are relevant and that it’s clear what the customer will receive upon purchase. For example, if you are selling a guitar, including a case in the image is fine. But if you are selling a guitar, avoid including a model in your pictures, as this can mislead customers into thinking they are purchasing the human figure along with the instrument.

Follow Image Size Guidelines to Achieve the Best Product Images

Product image sizes can affect how customers perceive your products and even your brand, so follow the guidelines to achieve the best results. No one likes tiny product photos that float in a sea of white space.

Image Size Guidelines for Online Selling

For optimal display on all devices, ensure your products fill at least 85% of the image area. Additionally, ensure your images are at least 1200 pixels on the longest side to activate the zoom and enlarge features on most marketplaces. Keep in mind that Amazon and eBay (the two largest online marketplaces today) have minimum size requirements of 500 pixels on the longest side, which should be considered an absolute minimum. For optimal results, use large, high-quality images with a minimum resolution of 1600 pixels on each side.

Why Product Photography Needs to Have a White Background

A white background (Hex #FFFFFF or RGB 255-255-255) is the industry standard for product photography. Amazon requires all MAIN images to have a completely white background so that they blend in seamlessly with the search and item detail pages.

Why White Backgrounds Work Best

While not a requirement for additional images on Amazon, and not a requirement on the other marketplaces mentioned here, it is nonetheless highly recommended by each of them. Using a white background has several advantages, including improved display on mobile devices and a smaller file size. It’s a format customers are accustomed to and comfortable with on all channels, and it should be considered an eCommerce best practice.

Your Product Images Represent Your Brand

Whatever you decide to do with your images, try to maintain consistency. Consistent images convey a strong brand identity, professionalism, and confidence, all of which help buyers feel more comfortable purchasing from you. This is especially important in online marketplaces like Facebook or Etsy, which also serve as social media marketing tools. As of May 2018, 85% of all social media purchases came from Facebook. And as of August 2018, Etsy has 35.8 million active buyers, 81% of whom are returning customers who have discovered brands they love.

Revolutionizing eCommerce Visuals with AI

Caspa helps eCommerce brands create stunning product photography with AI, eliminating the need for:

Multiple tools
Photographers
Models that traditionally eat up to 20% of revenue

Comprehensive AI Editing

From creating ultrarealistic product shots with human models to editing existing photos, Caspa's all-in-one AI product photography platform handles everything, from background removal to upscaling, allowing brands to produce professional marketing visuals in seconds.

All-in-One Visualization Solution

Whether you need custom stock photos or complete studio editing capabilities, Caspa streamlines the entire product visualization workflow into a single, cost-effective solution. Get product photos that increase your sales today!

How to Create the Best Product Images for Your Brand

To capture mind-blowing, high-quality product images, you need the right tools for the job. While you may already have some of these items at home, others can be purchased inexpensively online or at local craft or arts stores. Here are the key elements to include in your product photography toolkit:

Camera

Invest in a high-quality camera. That may be a DSLR or a simple point-and-shoot camera. You can even take product photos with a smartphone. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive camera or come with lots of gadgets, but find one that you can easily use that also produces realistic pictures. You can even buy some quality used or second-hand cameras.

Tripod

Using a tripod rather than holding your camera with your hands can help keep your camera steady and avoid blurry pictures. Many great tripods start at around $25.

White Background

This will serve as your primary background for product images. Create a seamless background by using a thin sheet of flexible yet sturdy white material attached to a table with clips, with the other end placed or taped against a wall. These can be purchased at your local craft or arts store.

White Bounce Cards

These can help augment the light and fill in shadows. They can also be purchased at your local craft or arts store.

Light Tent or Lightbox:

This is a wireframe box with translucent walls that helps evenly distribute light around the object in focus. The product is placed inside the box.

Table or Flat Surface

This is necessary to create an even surface for your product and any other accessories so they don’t appear lopsided.

Chair

You can take pictures of smaller items on a chair. You can do this by pushing the back of a chair against a wall, taping a flexible white background to the wall above the chair, allowing it to fall over the chair to the ground. This creates a clean transition between vertical and horizontal planes for taking photos.

Stand-mounted Sweep

For larger product items, such as furniture, opt for a stand-mounted sweep, which features a white background that curves to provide a seamless backdrop. Alternatively, use large white craft paper taped against a wall to create a seamless sweep.

Tape or Clips

Great for a variety of uses, these help keep your background and your products in place.

How to Take Product Photos That Attract Customers

Attract customers with quality product photography by adhering to a few guidelines related to composition, styling, background, and more. Here are some key considerations for ecommerce photography.

1. Highlight Key Features through Composition and Styling

The composition of a photo serves as a visual guide to highlight specific features or benefits of your products. This can be expressed through different camera angles and the position of the product in the frame (top-down, three-quarter, head-on, overhead, or adjusting the distance of the product from the camera). From every angle, the product should be placed centrally. Composition can also make the frame of the image look dynamic. Product styling communicates your brand values and helps convey emotion. It allows customers to get a sense of what your brand is like.

Styling Tips & Shot Types

Styling includes lighting, colors, textures, and additional elements not included with your product, like added objects to help convey a message. For example, if you were selling holiday cookie cutters, the photo might feature a plate of freshly baked cookies and sprigs of holly in the background. Here are some different types of product photography shots you may want to showcase in your listing:

Individual

Contains only one object or element in the frame.

Group

Showcases more than one product, like a kit or a collection. For example, a collection of wine bottles.

Lifestyle

Shows your products in action. These shots tell the story behind your product and show your customers how they can use it in their daily lives. Styling is crucial to lifestyle shots.

Scale

Helps customers gauge the actual size of a product. Product descriptions may list the dimensions of an item, but it can be difficult for customers to know what that looks like in practice, especially without a frame of reference. Scale shots provide customers with a better idea of a product's actual size by comparing it to other everyday items.

Detailed

Products with small details, such as jewelry, may require a close-up, detailed shot to help highlight specific product features.

Packaging

Many customers are concerned about packaging and want to know how their product will look when it arrives. If your brand has beautiful packaging, showcase it so customers know what to expect from the entire brand experience.

360 product photos

If you’re an advanced photographer or outsourcing to a professional, consider 360 product photography. It involves capturing a 360-degree product image set and then assembling the photos into an interactive product animation that allows customers to rotate and zoom in on product details from every angle.

Product Photo Ideas & Inspiration

For example, let’s say you sell plant pots. You can take an individual photo of just one plant pot, another of a plant pot in a group (perhaps displaying the various colors, styles, or sizes you offer), another featuring someone placing a plant in your pot (lifestyle), and a detailed shot showing a closeup of a feature, like a removable tray. Take a look at products similar to yours to get inspiration for composition and styling, as well as the variety of shot types they feature.

2. Use a white background

For product photography, shooting with a white background creates a clean, simple look and keeps the focus on the product. A white background enhances the colors, textures, and details of your products, without distracting the customer.

Using Backgrounds to Elevate Product Photos

For more creative photos or lifestyle shots, consider introducing more color and texture to the background image. Using a colored, textured, or lifestyle background creates contrast and mood, and it can help signal the mission or feeling of your brand. As a best practice, always have white background images of your product, and then consider adding additional, colorful, or detailed ambient backgrounds.

3. Put your product in the best light

Quality lighting is key when shooting product photos. It helps to accurately represent the product’s colors, texture, and details to the customer. You don’t need additional lights to take a great image. Sometimes, using natural light that comes through a window can be sufficient. Experiment with the time of day when the light in your home, office, or studio works best for the type of images you want to achieve.

Lighting Tips for Consistent Product Photos

If you don’t have access to adequate natural lighting, consider using artificial lighting to achieve a consistent look in your product shots. It’s more predictable than natural lighting, and you can shoot at any time during the day. You can control the light strength, warmth, and direction. In either case, using white foam board bounce cards can create a more balanced and flattering exposure for photos, especially on sunny or cloudy days. They enhance the light, fill in shadows, reduce contrast, shape products in photos, or brighten and create even shadows.

4. Set up your product shot

Now it’s time to create your product photography setup:

Product Setup and Lighting Basics

Place your product in front of or on your chosen background. Make sure it’s centered and flat. Glue dots, tape, and clips can help keep small products in place, while hangers, mannequins, or models can help display clothing and jewelry. Adjust your lighting of choice, either natural or artificial. If using natural light, place your backdrop and shooting surface close to the window. If the light is too intense, diffuse it by draping a sheet or paper over the window.

Lighting Setup and Camera Settings

If using artificial lights, place your primary light in front of your product, and position another behind or above it. You can use one or several lights to achieve your desired look, and use white foam board bounce cards to fill in or augment shadows. Document your lighting positioning to remember it for future shots. Set up your tripod in front of the prepped product. Attach your camera to a tripod and adjust the white balance setting to match the Kelvin temperature of your natural or artificial light. For a sharp, focused look, set a smaller aperture (the lens opening that allows light to pass through) for a wider depth of field. Turn flash off.

Camera Settings and Framing Tips

Adjust your camera settings. Set your camera to “Raw” if it has this setting. If not, set it to the highest quality image setting, like JPEG. For the size, choose large, and for the quality, select superfine if available. Have the product fill 85% or more of the frame. To achieve this, ensure your tripod is positioned close enough to fill the space, but not so close that customers cannot understand what they are looking at or that product features are cut off, unless it’s intentional to highlight a specific feature. Take multiple photos at different angles. Play around and adjust. Be sure to highlight both key product features and the overall product.

5. Edit and enhance your photos

You have your photos, now it’s time to put on the finishing touches with these tips:

Adjust Tone, Brightness, and Contrast

Utilize the tone and color adjustments in a photo editing software. This can make a dark photo brighter if your lighting wasn’t sufficient, darken an overly bright image, or soften an overexposed image. You can also manipulate shadows in a lifestyle image if desired.

Enhance Colors

The colors in a product photo can be affected by various factors, including the background, lighting, and other elements. For example, a color can appear washed out in a raw image or reflect on the background, altering the tone. Use color-enhancing features to make adjustments as needed.

Sharpen Images

Sharpening emphasizes the texture of a product image. It can identify edges and add contrast. This is particularly helpful for photos that are blurry.

Crop Photos

This can help achieve a consistent shape and size across all photos. Cropping can help improve composition or eliminate accessories or other elements that aren’t important to the product.

Remove Unwanted Items

Sometimes, an item used to style an image, a spot on a background, or an issue with the product (such as wrinkled clothes or a glare on sunglasses) can be distracting. While some reflections are essential, others aren’t. If you aren’t able to remove unwanted elements by cropping, use masking and selection tools in photo editing software.

Don’t Skimp on Retouching

While you may be on a budget, if you’re not skilled in photo editing and retouching, it may be worth hiring a professional to make sure you get the most attractive shot possible. An overly edited, under-edited, or poorly edited photo can hurt your sales.

Product Image Requirements

Ensure you are adhering to the product image requirements of the specific website or marketplace you are selling on, as well as following the rules for the product detail page. The Amazon store has unique technical and content requirements for images to ensure that customers see accurate, helpful, and high-quality photos. For example, every product in the Amazon store must have at least one image. Amazon prefers images larger than 1,000 pixels on each side to allow for zoom, which can enhance sales. They also like that images be provided in the JPEG file format.

6. Optimize ecommerce photos

Once you’ve edited and enhanced your photos, one of the last steps to creating an engaging product photo is to optimize them. But what does that mean? Image optimization refers to the process of modifying and delivering high-quality images in the optimal format, dimension, size, and resolution for the device accessing them. Optimized images result in faster website loading times and increased visibility in search results. So, how does it work? Here are some tips:

Reduce Image Size

Keep the smallest possible file size that will not compromise image quality. Compressing images to a smaller size can reduce loading time when a customer visits your page or clicks on the image. Image content delivery networks are image-optimizing tools that can also significantly reduce image file sizes.

Consider Image Format

In general, JPEG, GIF, and PNG are image file types commonly used on the web that can be compressed. JPEG is the standard and most frequently used image format because it allows for more color, and it can be compressed to small file sizes while retaining image quality. GIF images work well for icons and thumbnails, and they support animation. While they have larger file sizes, PNG images offer higher-quality images with greater color depth, and they permit translucent backgrounds.

Include Clear Image Names

When naming your product images, think about how a customer would describe the product while searching online. You can use image optimization plugins to find what keywords customers frequently use. Use descriptive titles, which tell search engines what your product image is about.

Utilize Alt Text

Alt text isn’t visible on the product detail page, but it describes the image to visually impaired customers and is ranked by search engines. Alt text also impacts the search engine optimization (SEO) of your site, helping your product appear in search results. Alt text should be a simple sentence that describes the image, including 1 to 2 relevant keywords.

Include Thumbnails

Using thumbnails can improve product page SEO and allow customers to preview multiple products.

Use Image Sitemaps

Sitemaps for images are tools that provide more detailed information about the photos on your website. Image sitemaps are a way to inform search engines about the images on your site, thereby improving your SEO.

Offer Mobile and Responsive Images

Optimize your product photos for mobile. Many customers shop on their phones, so providing them the best experience where they are can help convert them into sales. Responsive images load correctly on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Optimizing images for all three can improve the user experience.

Product Image Tips by Category

Fashion: Capture the Feeling of the Product and Its Texture

In fashion photography, the image must convey both the product and the emotional experience it evokes in the wearer. Prioritize high-resolution shots that capture the texture, stitching, and drape of the fabric. Customers want to imagine how a piece will look and feel in real life. Show different fits across body types, and include front, side, and back views. Lifestyle imagery, models wearing the clothing in real-world settings, can elevate your brand and help customers visualize themselves in the product. Don’t forget to show how the item moves and fits when worn.

Beauty: Go for Clean, Detailed Close-Ups

Beauty products live or die by presentation. Opt for clean, minimalist backgrounds that allow the product to stand out. Use close-up shots to showcase textures such as creams, powders, or serums, especially if they have unique finishes. Accurate skin tone rendering is crucial when applying makeup to models. Poor lighting or heavy filters can mislead buyers, so prioritize true-to-life visuals. Include both product-only images and lifestyle shots of the product in use.

Electronics: Show Off the Specs and Practical Use

For electronics, clarity and technical detail are key. Include sharp images showing all angles, especially ports, buttons, screens, and accessories. Highlight design features that differentiate your product from competitors. Supplement with context shots, the device in-hand, in a workspace, or integrated into daily life. Show the screen on if relevant, and zoom in on any unique specifications or branding. Your photos should answer the customer’s practical questions at a glance.

Food: Make It Look Delicious

Food photography is all about appeal. Use bright lighting and color correction to make the food look fresh, rich, and appetizing. Pay attention to presentation; garnishes, dishware, and setting can all enhance visual interest. Include packaging shots to ensure shoppers know what to expect. If it’s a meal kit, snack, or beverage, consider showing both the packaged and prepared versions. Aim to evoke craving and clarity in equal measure.

Get Product Photos that Increase Your Sales Today

How well you photograph products can make or break an eCommerce business. The best product images grab shopper attention, build trust, and increase sales. Of course, product photography covers a wide range of images and styles.

Product Photos That Drive Sales

For instance, you might take studio images of a product on a plain white background. These photos help you list the item on a website. You should also create custom lifestyle images that showcase how the product looks in real-life settings. These visuals help convince shoppers to make a purchase. In short, product photography is critical to your eCommerce success. Enhancing your product photography can significantly contribute to boosting sales and expanding your business.