LIFESTYLE VS. PRODUCT-ONLY PHOTOGRAPHY FOR E-COMMERCE

Photos on white are the industry standard

Product photography can be divided into two main categories: lifestyle and product-only.

Lifestyle product photography involves a styled or curated scene that promotes a specific lifestyle. Also known as in-context product photography, it allows customers to imagine what their life will look like using it, thereby creating a relationship or connection with your audience. Products are presented in their natural environment, where it’s expected to be used by the customer. These are what you typically see in magazines, websites, or social media.

Lifestyle product photography involves a styled or curated scene that promotes a specific lifestyle.

On the other, less glamorous side of the spectrum lies product-only photography, which is what you usually see when browsing your favorite e-commerce site like Lazada, Shopee, or Amazon. As the name suggests, it’s the product only, typically shot against a white background.

SO, WHICH ONE’S BETTER?

To paraphrase Alan Fletcher’s The Art of Looking Sideways, “given the choice between one thing and another, choose both!” Lifestyle and product-only photography each have their own benefits. But if you have limited resources and need to choose just one, here are a few things to consider.

Professional e-commerce product photographers are the unsung heroes of the digital marketplace. All those product-only photos you see on Lazada, Shopee, or Amazon were most likely done in a professional product photography studio. And that’s reason enough to hire one.

That one photo is the first thing customers see, and it’s the main factor when making the decision to buy it.  In fact, 90% of e-commerce shoppers base their purchase decisions on product photos. 76% of those product shots are on white backgrounds, which means if you want to sell on digital marketplaces, shooting against a white backdrop is unavoidable. That makes professional product photography a worthwhile long-term investment if you want customers to take your business seriously. There’s simply no getting around acquiring high quality, high-definition, professionally shot images.

Read more about the 5 things they don’t tell you about e-commerce product photography.

SIMPLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE

Although product shots may look simple and generic, it’s a very specialized form of photography. Lifestyle shoots may look amazing, but an accurate representation of your products is incredibly important. 22% of products sold online are returned because “items look different than the photos.” Fortunately, this is totally avoidable.

Setting up that one award-winning money shot for lifestyle product photography also takes incredible amounts of time, money, and effort. Conversely, you can get product-only shots for your entire catalog in less time for the fraction of the cost. That’s because the price of that one product shot can be easily covered by a single sale. And that’s something lifestyle shots simply can’t guarantee

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Get multiple angles of your product at a fixed rate

OPTIMIZE FOR CONVERSION

Because the marketplace has gone digital, sellers can opt not to have the typical brick and mortar store, especially if they’re just starting out. And the next best thing to seeing an item up close in real life is to have high-definition photographs that capture every detail and relevant angle. Your customers will be able to zoom in up to five times to see all the crisp detail on your product without the photo blurring or pixelating.

E-commerce product photography makes your products look as close to the real thing as possible. This is only achieved through professional lighting paired with a strong camera and high-end photo retouching.

HIRING PROFESSIONAL E-COMMERCE PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY SERVICES 

If you want your photos to do the selling for you, Foto Machina knows how to get it done. Our team possesses years of experience in photographing and editing just about every type of product. This is backed by a tried and proven streamlined process using product shoot best practices that yields a quick turnaround with excellent results.

Whether you need an ongoing stream of photos for small projects or an Instagram page in need of like-worthy images, our team is ready to elevate your brand with professional e-commerce photography solutions. Not convinced? Here are a few more reasons why.

Want to work with the Philippines’ e-commerce photography experts? Send us a message or book a shoot using the form below.

We’ll shoot, edit, and archive your product shots in as quickly as three days.