Have you ever wondered about the powerful effect photography has on buyers and what it does to their decision-making process?
Good photos have a way of making any product look better. Colors are sharpened, the contrast is increased, and the entire photo becomes crisper. It’s probably not a stretch to say that virtually every eCommerce business should use professional photo editors to enhance their products.
But why should they? How much does photo editing actually contribute to eCommerce success?
We will answer these questions in detail throughout the entire article. Additionally, we will discuss the 7 hidden benefits of Ecommerce photography post-production (spoiler alert: it boosts your sales).
Let’s pace up, and begin!
What is Photography Post-Production?
Photography post-production is the last step in the grading process. It involves bringing together all the different elements of photography to make sure everything lines up, is exposed well, and that it looks good overall. After you have finished capturing your images, this is the final stage before you share them with the world.
Post-production is a must for almost every photography niche all over the world, including food, portraits, products, landscape, and of course, eCommerce.
There’s nothing more tempting than a beautiful photo of nicely arranged products, so your customers want to buy them immediately. Pictures say a thousand words and they can also persuade people.
Uses of Post-Production in eCommerce
Let’s briefly discuss the most important post-production services that are used in the eCommerce industry.
Clipping Path
Clipping path services have been in the industry for a couple of years now and have gained a lot of traction in presenting a better image of your digital artwork. It is a very common element of modern image editing and graphics design.
A clipping path is used to create a silhouette of an image, while the rest of the image is transparent or semi-transparent. It can be used to cut out any object in an image so that the background of the image remains visible. This service is widely used for portraits, product photography, and writing text on top of images. It is derived from a technology called photo-masking or vector masking, which service providers use to cut out objects from photos with exact precision.
There are many reasons you’d want to use image clipping path services. When the design calls for a complex image but you don’t have the time to wait for a photoshoot, clipping path is a great alternative.
Other times, the background of the image may not allow for a clean cut. A clipping path can come in handy in those instances, too.
Retouching
There are many methods of retouching, but the aim of every method is to edit an image so that it appears more appealing. Maybe you want to smooth out wrinkles or remove blemishes on your subject.
The goal of retouching is to present your subject to help sell your image, not to mislead the viewer into thinking they’re seeing something that isn’t there.
It’s even more essential for beauty photographers, who often have to deal with high contrast black & white images, where practically everything is a distraction.
Color Correction
Color correction is the creative, technical, and aesthetic process of changing the color of an image in post-production. A common misconception is that color correction and color grading are interchangeable terms. They aren’t.
When taking a photo, the colors captured by the image sensor may differ from what’s actually being viewed. It can either appear lighter or darker or have a different tint to it. In post-production, adjustments made to correct for this are essentially called color correction.
Photo color correction allows us to fix the problem of color that is poorly or incorrectly captured, or just to change it for artistic effect. Making good color corrections requires good knowledge of how the colors work and how they interact together.
Background Removal
Background removal is finding and extracting an object from a particular background and replacing it with something else (usually a different picture).
Have you ever been when you wanted to remove a background from a photo? You want that picture of a child sitting in front of a window, for instance, but the window was distracting. Background removal will help you get a completely separate picture of just the child.
Without a doubt, one of the most common tasks aspiring eCommerce business owners run into is the removal of a background image. The task can often feel simple in concept, but in reality, it requires a lot of time and patience in order to get it right.
Ghost Mannequin
Ghost Mannequins are digital models that realistically mimic the figure of real-life mannequins.
It allows you to shoot several pictures of cloth on a model or mannequin, then merge the photos in post-production to eliminate the body. As a result, you’ll get a realistic image that puts the attention solely on the cloth.
The Ghost Mannequin effect takes photorealism to the next level, giving your clothing a ghostly, otherworldly appearance. It is a quick and reliable post-production method for clothing product photography that addresses the presentation dilemma for online clothing stores.
How Product Photography and Editing is Increasingly Dominating eCommerce
The traditional eCommerce space has seen a great deal of activity for the last decade. From developing strategies to increase online purchases to further integration with social media sites like Facebook, there has always been something new to do or try.
And now product photography and editing are becoming more important than ever before. Have you ever wondered why some online stores have more online traffic than others? Or why do some products don’t sell very well? It’s not only the quality of the product that matters here, it’s also how it is presented.
By focusing on professionally shot products and a clean, well-lit background, you can persuade shoppers that your product is the best choice.
According to Magebit, 90% of consumers report they use images in product searches. Also, 52% of shoppers abandon the sites and never return because they dislike the overall aesthetics.
Product Photography and Editing are an important part of online marketing. A product photograph can say so much more than a few lines of text describing the features.
Of course, you are still going to have your product specifications listed. But having high-quality photos plays an invaluable role in allowing potential customers to grasp an idea of what the product looks like in real life, and how it will be suitable for their needs.
Not only that, but if you’re pushing the sale of your products on your site, then good photography and editing will play a role in convincing people to buy.
How Does Visual Presentation Engage Customers More?
Humans are intelligent, and emotional animals, and we are strongly influenced by visuals.
Just look at most billboards that are most effective, they are filled with vibrant eye-catching colors that make you want to buy their product. But not only is it the color that creates this reaction but also elements like branding, text, design, and layout.
According to E.N. Marieb’s book Human Anatomy and Physiology, our brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than textual information. You can then create strong retention when you give your clients the ability to take that material home.
That content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images, tells us how visual content is engaging more of our brains. As a result, it’s creating a deeper presence of the brand in the minds of consumers.
In conclusion, visuals are a more exceptional way to engage customers. People enjoy seeing something, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they learn more when associated with visuals.
Ecommerce Photography Post-Production: The Hidden Benefits
What does photography post-production have to do with eCommerce? Is it worth investing in? What are the gains you get from doing it?
The following sections answer these questions through these benefits, which only professionals in the industry know.
Improve Stay-Time
Today’s consumers quickly scroll through information, absorbing none of it. That means your products, blog posts, and other contents aren’t doing their job if they don’t hold readers’ attention. With photography post-production, you can create images that are appealing to the eye no matter how quickly the consumer is scrolling through your content.
Many audiences are visual, so they are looking at photos more than trying to read through your content. Having beautiful high-quality images is the perfect way to keep someone on your site.
Increase Click-Through Rates
In a competitive online world where your product is being advertised alongside many similar products, the image you use for your advertisement is crucial.
You need an image that will stand out, make it easy for your consumers to see exactly what they are getting, and create an immediate positive emotional response. And then, click.
While stock photos of smiling people and happy families may play well on your page and grab your visitors’ attention, they won’t get them to click through to your website. This means that it’s important to invest in photography, post-production and make your advertising images professional.
Reduce Bounce Rate
We can all agree that a website with a high bounce rate is, in most cases, not a happy place. We all want our site to keep people on the site and hopefully convert them into customers. And one way you can do this is with post-production in photography.
Incorporating rich media into your posts will reduce the number of visitors who bounce from your pages, as edits to your pictures improve your store visitors’ experience.
Grow Credibility
Editing your images to look as amazing as possible is a great way to garner more attention from viewers, and give them a reason to remember you. Credibility through providing value and cultivating relationships with your consumers shouldn’t be underestimated either, but at the core of that is photo editing.
There isn’t one concrete answer for what makes a photo seem credible. However, experts agree on certain things that often lead to credibility: composition, lighting, and subject expertise. Keeping these factors in mind for your post-production pursuits will help you grow your credibility and create a stronger brand.
Escalate Conversion Rate
A high-resolution, high-quality photo is a great way to increase your overall conversion rate. While this doesn’t mean that users will immediately purchase anything they see, it means that they are likely to be more inclined to click through and read the full content of the article.
If you can show off what your brand looks like with a beautiful photo, you’re going to increase your conversion rates.
Lower Return Rate
But there’s something about beautiful pictures make visitors hang around longer. Take the example of Airbnb; if it wasn’t for their beautiful pictures, they wouldn’t have become the world’s largest shared accommodation marketplace.
Good-looking pictures make your website more attractive and help lower return rates.
Don’t focus only on the other benefits; make sure you look at the return rate as well, because it can really affect your bottom line. If you want to make the most money and keep your customers happy, don’t skimp on editing.
Ultimately, Boost Your Sales!
Photography post-production is not just about enhancing an image’s aesthetic value. More often than not, it’s used to make the product in the image more appealing, which could be directly related to an increase in sales.
If you want to build trust with customers who visit your site, you need compelling images that look good and reflect the brand attributes you want. This trust goes a long way in affecting your profits.
Whether your business is B2B or B2C, by creating more visually engaging products, you can make a more lasting impression on your customers – which will ultimately lead to more sales.
Outsourcing Photo Editing: The Most Efficient Route
Customers are less willing to purchase from a store that doesn’t have as many options. Competition is fierce, and creating beautiful product pages that compel people to buy is crucial. But as a business owner, you may not have the time or resources to edit photos by yourself.
Therefore, many eCommerce businesses resort to hiring photo editors or designers. If one does not have the scope to carry out the post-production process, it is better to outsource it to a professional.
Even if you had the scope to do it yourself, it will save you a lot of time and energy. You’ll be able to direct that effort you invested in photo editing into other areas, like expanding and branding your business.
Ending Thoughts
From websites to social media stores, images are incredibly valuable for promoting your product or service to the widest possible audience.
It speaks volumes about what you’re trying to present and whether you know what you’re doing. Does it look like something that’s hastily thrown together? Does it look like some random string of pixels that somehow conveys what you want it to?
However good your intentions may be, your eCommerce images can sabotage your sales even before they begin. That’s why the simple and ultimate solution is professional post-production in photography.
Ashique Rahman
Ashique Rahman is a dedicated soul of Offshore Clipping Path and passionate about the e-commerce industry. He has been sharing his deep learnings through articles on e-business updates, trends, tips, and strategies to help increase traffic, conversion rates. He loves to pass his leisure through photographing as this brings a feeling of complacency.