How to Photograph Products for Your Online Store That Sell Instantly — Tips for 2025

High-quality product photography today determines the success of an online store more than the product description itself.
People buy with their eyes — and even if you sell a great product, a poor photo can cut conversions by dozens of percent.

In this article, we’ll look at how to create photos that convince customers your product is worth it — and how to prepare them technically for the web in 2025.

Sell Emotion, Not Just a Product

A photo shouldn’t just show what you sell, but why the customer needs it.

📸 Try capturing context:

• instead of “coffee mug,” show “a cozy morning coffee by the window,”
• instead of “running shoes,” show “a moment of motion, energy, and vitality.”

💡 Tip: A photo should evoke a feeling, not just convey information.

Lighting: The Key to Professional Results

The most important factor that separates amateurs from pros is lighting.

🧠 Perfect lighting principles:

• Shoot near a window or with diffused light, never under a direct bulb.
• If using artificial light, use two lights — a key light from the side and a fill light from the opposite side.
• Avoid shadows behind the product — use a reflector or white paper.

💡 Tip: For small products, use a lightbox — inexpensive but very effective.

Background and Environment

A clean, distraction-free background is essential.

🧩 Options:

• White or neutral background — ideal for e-commerce and catalogs.
• Contextual background — for social media, banners, or blogs (e.g., kitchen counter for cookware).

🎯 Goal: The background should complement the product, not dominate it.

Composition That Sells

Professional product photos have intentional composition — guiding the viewer’s eye exactly where you want it.

📐 Composition rules:

• Use the rule of thirds — place the product slightly off-center.
• Add negative space for potential text or price placement.
• If you sell sets, photograph everything together and individually.

💡 Tip: Show the product from multiple angles — ideally 4–6 per item (front, detail, texture, use, scale).

Camera Settings

You don’t need expensive gear, but a few key settings make a big difference.

⚙️ Recommended:

• Aperture f/8–f/11 → sharp focus across the product.
• ISO 100–200 → minimal noise.
• Tripod → essential for sharp, aligned shots.
• RAW format → best for post-editing color and exposure.

📸 On mobile, turn on Pro mode and disable aggressive filters.

Color and Consistency

All products should share a consistent visual style — lighting, background, aspect ratio, and tones.

🎨 Recommendations:

• Always use the same light temperature (e.g., 5500K).
• Maintain uniform color grading — it makes your website look professional.
• Apply color corrections to the whole series, not individual photos.

💡 Tip: Consistent, clean visuals boost trust and conversion rates.

Post-Processing for the Web

Editing isn’t cheating — it’s the final step toward perfection.

🛠️ Focus on:

• White balance and contrast — for realistic results.
• Removing dust, glare, and imperfections.
• Optimizing size — for web (2000px long side, WebP format).
• Alt text and descriptions — for SEO and accessibility.

💡 Tools: Lightroom, Capture One, Photopea, or Canva Pro.

Lifestyle Photos Build Trust

Alongside studio shots, add lifestyle photos showing real-world use.

👕 For example:

• a coffee mug on a breakfast table,
• a backpack being carried,
• jewelry worn on a model.

These images can boost conversions by 30–50% because they help customers visualize the product in their life.

Keeping Your Product Photos Organized

Once you have hundreds of products and versions, you need structure.
That’s where Infiry comes in — a smart library for your product photography.

Infiry helps you:

• 📂 Store high-quality photos sorted by brand or category.
• 🏷 Add captions, colors, keywords, and photographer info.
• 🔎 Search by name, color, content, or collection.
• ☁️ Share collections with your designer, e-shop, or marketing team.
• 🤖 Use AI to generate keywords for easier searching.

👉 Try Infiry for free and keep all your product photos organized, accessible, and ready for publishing.