In a marketplace as large as Amazon, it’s not unusual for new sellers to feel like a drop of water in an ocean. Standing out can feel like a challenge, but this doesn’t have to be the case.
Amazon product photos can be a great way to help your brand rise above competitors. The better your product images, the more information customers will have available—and that means more reasons to trust you and what you have to offer. With these best practices, you can ensure your photos pack the biggest punch possible.
Key Takeaways
- Product photography is a critical part of attracting shoppers to your product detail pages.
- Great product photos rely on many elements, including good lighting, high-resolution cameras, proper framing, capturing multiple angles, bright colors, and proper use of text.
- Using a professional photographer is often the best course of action, ensuring products look their very best.
The Importance of Amazon Product Images
Before the introduction of eCommerce, shoppers had two primary options: purchasing an item in person or ordering through a catalog. For most buyers not looking for specialty products, brick-and-mortar shopping reigned supreme. Customers could walk into a shop, see the inventory available, and evaluate items in real time. From trying on clothes to examining product weight and dimension, everything needed to make a purchase decision was available.
When shopping on sites like Amazon, however, shoppers are limited to the information provided on a product page. As such, you need to demonstrate what you have is worth buying and fits what the customer is looking for. Photos and videos are the best ways to do this, giving customers access to detailed information about your products. The more details you can make available, the more reasons you’re giving shoppers to trust you.
As an added bonus, quality images can help improve your SEO and click-through rate.
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Best Practices for Amazon Photography
Creating a winning product page goes beyond taking a few cell phone pictures and calling it a day. To truly help your Amazon storefront stand out to consumers, you need to cultivate winning product detail pages (PDPs) across both text and images. Keep these tips in mind as you prepare for any upcoming photography sessions, whether for existing inventory or when launching a new product.
Good Lighting
The right lighting is a must for all high-quality photos, regardless of the subject. Good lighting makes all of the features you’re trying to capture clear, which keeps shoppers from squinting at detailed areas, trying to determine if what you’re pitching in your written content aligns with what you’re actually selling.
For those considering taking their own photos, a ring light can be a good way to control appearance, providing a clean white light source that can eliminate shadows.
High-Resolution Photos Only
Nothing says “poor product quality,” like low-resolution pictures. High-resolution cameras are easily accessible, so grainy images that can’t be enlarged are a red flag for shoppers. Focus on high-resolution photos that showcase your product in a way that adds value to the customer experience.
In some cases, this is as much a requirement as a best practice; Amazon disallows photos that are grainy or too pixelated. However, if you don’t have access to a high-resolution camera, phone cameras have made big strides. Combined with the power of image editing tools, you can reach a high-resolution image for your listings.
Proper Framing
When taking Amazon product photos, framing items in the right way is very important. A well-lit, high-resolution image is key, but if the product is in the corner of the photo or at a distance, customers likely won’t spend the time trying to look at it.
Before you get behind the camera, think critically about the views that will be the most valuable for customers. Keep products front and center, and ensure the most important details are visible. In these kinds of images, clarity can supersede style. Your products occupy at least 85% of the frame, particularly in shots that don’t show an item in use.
Multiple Angles
One of the biggest hold-ups some consumers have with online shopping is the inability to truly understand whether a product can meet their needs. Since there’s no way to reach through the screen and put a product in a customer’s hands, images depicting its use and functionality are critical. Your pictures should cover all important aspects of your products, including the sides, top, and bottom, as well as close-ups of key areas.
Lifestyle Images
Showcasing products in use can be a great way to help build a mental image for shoppers. For example, show an athlete riding the exercise bike you’re selling or a happy toddler playing with your line of children’s toys.
Focusing on in-use images allows customers to see themselves as users and demonstrates a concrete way in which your products can live up to a written product description. Essentially, your ultimate goal is to depict how your Amazon brand fits into a customer’s lifestyle.
Show All Product Benefits
It’s common to list product benefits in a product description, but your word as a seller only goes so far. To bridge the gap and build trust, demonstrate as many product benefits in your pictures as possible. This can play into things like lifestyle images but can also mean leveraging other creative ways to show details like size, scale, and material. This might include the use of infographics, but careful planning for your images means you can play up these details in creative ways, which is great if you hope to highlight more than one benefit in each image.
Regardless of how you approach showcasing your product’s advantages, ensure that you are matching what you claim with keywords or in your product description are mirrored in your imagery.
Infographics
Infographics can be a great way to get key information across as quickly as possible. Rather than keeping text and images completely separate, infographics allow you to highlight multiple related features or selling points with both written and visual content in one clean, easy-to-read package.
For companies that use Amazon A+ Content, making infographics is simple and can be showcased across product and brand pages. If you aren’t able to have A+ Content on your listings, it’s possible to make infographics in programs like Canva and Photoshop, which can then be added to a PDP like any other product image (so long as it’s within Amazon’s guidelines).
Comparison Charts
Comparison charts, which can be built out directly on a PDP via the Amazon A+ Content feature, help customers experience more of your inventory than they may realize is available. These comparison charts highlight the pros and cons of similar products in your catalog, including varying sizes, scales, dimensions, colors, and use cases. For example, if you have both a home use and a commercial version of the same product, this can be a great way to showcase both.
Text Overlay
Adding text can go a long way in ensuring any key features or benefits illustrated in images are impossible to miss. There’s no guesswork with text on a picture; you can show customers exactly what to take away. This can include details that may not appear clearly in pictures, like the material a product is made from or something like waterproofing—important information to have that may be hard to include in other ways.
Bright Colors
When you’re looking at an advertisement or other kind of marketing image, what draws your eye first? In most cases, bright colors play a big role in what pops out. This is especially noticeable when brands have a strong understanding of the color wheel. Complementary colors are called that for a reason, they really look good together!
Brightening up your photos with brilliant hues won’t be appropriate for every product, particularly if branding doesn’t align with bright pinks or shocking greens. Where possible, insert splashes of product-appropriate color to draw shoppers in for a closer look.
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Amazon Product Image Guidelines
Amazon has many guidelines associated with product images:
- Images must provide an accurate representation of the product for sale.
- Products must be framed properly, with the product comprising at least 85% of the image.
- Images should not be blurry or pixelated or have jagged edges.
- JPEG is the preferred file format, but TIFF, PNG, or GIF images are also acceptable. Animated GIFs aren’t supported, but users can upload videos.
Amazon also has additional requirements for MAIN images, also known as those appearing first on a product’s listing. MAIN images must:
- Have a plain white background
- Depict the actual product; sketches, mock-ups, or placeholders aren’t permitted
- Omit any text, borders, logos, or watermarks
- Show one view of a product
- Show the entire product; no close-ups or distant framing is permitted
- Not include human models unless human interaction is a required part of demonstrating product use, like a wheelchair
- If clothing for adults, it must displayed on a model or mannequin; clothes for children and babies must be depicted off-model
- Have products outside of any box, bag, or packaging
- If shoes, show a single shoe at a leftward 45-degree angle
Failing to follow Amazon’s rules can result in a listing being suspended.
When Should You Hire a Professional?
Photography is an art form. Adding in eCommerce makes it a balance of art and science. While everyone with a good cell phone is capable of taking a high-resolution picture, there’s almost always going to be a difference between an amateur and a professional.
If you want your brand to present as a quality, trustworthy resource, professional photography is a must. A professional will know how to best position products, ways to nail the perfect angles, and how to ensure lighting is perfect for capturing a product’s best features. In addition, professional photographers tend to handle editing for you, relieving you of an additional burden in listing your products on Amazon.
Tips for Hiring a Professional
Finding a professional versed in more than headshots and family portraits isn’t always easy, but these tips can help you in your search:
- Look for professional photographers with good reputations in your area. Not all photographers will list product imagery as a strength or area of focus, but if they have product images in their portfolios, you can look for a good fit. To narrow options, Google search “Amazon product photography” or similar wording to find those specializing in this space. You can also look at online marketplaces like Fiverr.
- Get a quote before committing. Pricing can fluctuate significantly based on inventory needs and the photographer’s reputation.
- Ensure photographers are comfortable and familiar with your range of products. Just because a photographer knows how to photograph apparel does not mean they understand how to photograph skincare.
- Inquire about available packages, including how many shoots and what kind of editing you get with your booking.
- If available, set up a sample shoot to verify a photographer can accommodate your needs.
DIY Product Photos
While DIY product photos are generally challenging to pull off well, some sellers, particularly smaller operations without enough products to justify the cost of a pro, may find this the best course of action. If you’re choosing a DIY approach to photos, keep these tips in mind.
- Use a good camera. While cell phone cameras are more sophisticated than ever, a professional DSLR camera can make all the difference. If it’s out of budget, check with your local library to potentially rent one or research refurbished cameras.
- Prioritize lighting. Keep lighting bright to avoid shadows; a ring light can be very advantageous if there’s no access to a studio setting.
- Use a white background. Hang a sheet or use a screen to create a smooth, seamless image. Tools like Canva can also remove a background so you can place it on a white background.
- Take pictures from every angle. Until you see how pictures come out and how they look together on your product pages, you won’t necessarily know what you need.
- Edit, edit, edit! Editing can help you compensate for shortcomings in any photos taken and confirm that things like framing or color are on point.
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Winning Amazon product photography is an excellent way to put your best foot forward in a crowded marketplace. When customers have the chance to see what sets you apart from other sellers, you’re in a much better position to create a loyal fanbase for your brand.
However, photos are only one piece in a larger puzzle—and true success means mastering all of them. If you’re looking for support with everything from keyword research to pricing strategies, Trellis can help you elevate all aspects of your business. Connect with us today to learn more.
