A good consistent product photo increases the chance of the products being sold. Your sales, growth, and profitability will depend on how alluring and eye-catching the product photos look.
According to multiple sources, product images plays a crucial role in the purchasing decision of the customers. They tend to prioritize images over product information, reviews, and ratings.
White background is preferred by most eCommerce platforms for having a consistent and clean look. White background also makes the product and the brand look more premium and conveys a sense of trust between the consumer and the retailer.
Colored backgrounds are also becoming popular nowadays, due to popular brands such as Zara. They have managed to create a cohesive and professional-looking product photoshoot using actual models and solid-colored backgrounds.
In this article, we’ll be discussing about the importance of product photography backgrounds and also how using different types of decorated or colored backgrounds can also be useful.
White background product photography
Most products you will see on Amazon has a white background. In fact, product photos need to have a pure white background of RGB (255, 255, 255) in order to be listed for sale on the site.
A white background makes the image feel less distracting and keeps the focus wholly on the product. It makes products look clean and polished. Colors remain intact unless manipulated in post-processing or any kind of filtering used while doing the photo shoot. Another advantage of having a white background is that it tends to make the file size smaller, which helps to improve the loading time of the website.
Consistency encourages professionalism; it can be achieved using a solid white background and properly positioning each product into the frame at a consistent angle. By having uniformity, customers can easily recognize your products and rely on your brand for buying quality products.
White background photoshoots can also save you money. You can simply buy white paper or cloth sweep, that’s extremely cheap to buy and can be easily replaced or thrown away for a new one if it gets dirty. Lightbox is also another cheap option and preferred by many professional product photographers. It is easy to set up and due to its small size, it can be placed wherever you prefer.
Using solid color backgrounds
Along with white and neutral backgrounds; sometimes mixing solid colors can add a unique exquisite feel to the overall look of the image.
Although it can be useful, most sellers tend to shy away from using solid backgrounds. The reason being is that solid color sometimes creates confusion. It can possibly be avoided by using a colored background on a solid black or white product.
Neutral backgrounds for product photography
Using off-white, neutral gray, or beige are excellent alternatives if you want to add aesthetics while maintaining the minimal and professional look that a pure white background might give you.
But keep in mind on what product photos you are shooting; if it’s a small item then it might or might not look good depending on what the product is. Usually, clothes look good in different neutral backgrounds.
Black Backgrounds for product photography
Some companies often use black backgrounds to showcase their products. Black conveys the feeling of luxury and elegance. Typically, products such as jewelry, alcohol, and cosmetics use it to add an aesthetic and modern look.
Glossy black backgrounds are also commonly used to add dramatic reflections to products. Usually, bottles and packaging use such backdrops.
Using patterns as a background
You may see beauty and minimal furniture products using patterned backgrounds. It adds a classy and sleek look to the products and helps to make the brand more recognizable.
You can use custom patterns to increase creativity, uniqueness, and boost brand awareness of the company. Using subtle patterns are recommended unless you know what you are doing. Overdoing patterns may create unnecessary confusion and clutter on your product photos.
Wooden backgrounds for product photography
Wooden backgrounds are an excellent choice for shooting items such as cookware or kitchenware. It tends to produce a rustic and homey appearance.
Wooden backgrounds are also a cheap option, as these can be found almost anywhere. Possibly you might have wooden furniture that you can use or if not; go out and find wooden structures that can be used for shooting.
These types of backdrops can make very appealing and creative effects. Sometimes retailers selling fruits can be seen using such backgrounds.
Using Bokeh for product backgrounds
The bokeh effect can be useful for adding focus wholly on the product itself. You can be very intentional and highlight specific parts of the product to make it more appealing.
Backgrounds usually don’t matter for bokeh photoshoot. It will be always blurry. But if you have any specific intentions, then you can adjust the blur effect and add some background to the photo. You can usually see this effect being used on products that are worn by actual models. It is also often used for luxury products like perfume, jewelry, watches, diamond wearables, etc.
Save money by outsourcing
Image editing is an essential process of any kind of photography. It can make products look appealing and increase its chances of being sold.
All of the points mentioned above can sometimes be costly depending on your budget. Instead, by outsourcing it, you can achieve almost any effect you want at a very reasonable price. All you need to do is, make sure the photos are properly lit and detailed; the background can be added as per your requirement. See our pricing.
You can make small retouching adjustments or can completely overhaul the image as you like. Multiple images can be combined to make one single group of products. We can also fulfill your bulk editing needs. Feel free to contact us for any further queries.
Conclusion
Few factors need to be taken care of when choosing the right background. You need to think about the company, their intention for the product shoot, and what the audience wants. Before starting your shoot, take some sample shots and prepare yourself on how to approach the task. Also, look for inspiration from other people’s work; see how they have done the task similar to what you are doing. Try out with different backgrounds and see what suits better with the products. Keep in mind to be consistent with the styling and angle of photoshoots.
