Product photos that sell, shot on your phone

You do not need a costly camera to sell online. The phone in your pocket is enough.

What you need is good light, a plain background and a little patience.

Look at any online store you like. The products look clean and bright. The colour on the screen is the colour you get at home. That is what makes people trust the photo enough to pay.

Now look at many small sellers on WhatsApp and Instagram. The photo is taken at night under a yellow bulb. There is a bedsheet behind the product. The kurta looks brown when it is actually maroon. The customer orders, gets a different colour and sends it back.

Good photos save you from such returns and from many questions on chat. You can learn to take them in one afternoon.

How to shoot them

1. Shoot near a window in daylight. Morning or late afternoon light is soft and true to colour. Switch off the tube lights so the colours do not mix.
2. Use a plain background. A white chart paper or a plain wall is enough. Bend the sheet up behind the product so there is no line in the photo.
3. Take the same angles every time. Front, back, side and one close shot of the fabric, stitching or label. Then the whole catalogue looks neat.
4. Show the product in use. A saree worn by a person, a bag on a shoulder, a lamp switched on in a room. This shows the size better than words.
5. Clean the lens and do not zoom. Wipe the phone lens first. Move closer instead of zooming in.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using filters that change the colour of the product
• Copying photos from the brand or from another seller
• Mixing white, wood and bedsheet backgrounds in one store
• Cutting off part of the product at the edge of the frame

Make a small corner in your shop for photos. Stick the white sheet there, keep a stool and mark where the phone stands. Then any staff member can take the photos the same way.

Keep the photos square or tall. Most of your buyers will see them on a phone screen in a WhatsApp catalogue or on Instagram.

What to do in the next 7 days

• Day 1: Find the window in your shop or home with the best daylight.
• Day 2: Buy a white chart paper and set up a small photo corner.
• Day 3: Shoot your top 10 products from the same four angles.
• Day 4 to 7: Replace the old photos on your WhatsApp catalogue, Instagram and website.

When your photos are ready we can put them in a simple online store for you. Message us on WhatsApp

Which of your products is the hardest to photograph? Tell us and we will share a tip for it.