How to Hire a Product Photographer for Your Ecommerce Business

Product Photographer Manchester Ecommerce

How to Hire a Product Photographer for Your Ecommerce Business

One thing every eCommerce store owner knows is how competitive and fluid the online market is. With new products to research, new trends to jump on, descriptive text to copywrite, and marketing plans to orchestrate—there is plenty of work to do to keep your store ahead of the curve. That being said, the glue holding all those facets together—product photography.

Shoppers, both casual and veteran, are savvier with online material than they have ever been—and the difference between hi-res, high-quality images of prospective products and a quick snap from your smartphone camera is the difference between a big sale and a big flop. With that in mind, if you run an eCommerce store from Manchester, UK:

Why Hire a Professional Product Photographer?

While it’s always easier to DIY your product photos in a few minutes, and upload in just a few minutes more—time and statistics will let you know how effective that strategy is for sales.

Unless you happen to already be a part-time professional photographer, more often than not, shoppers will be able to spot the difference. We all love aesthetically pleasing images (the internet has made several careers out of that simple truth)—however, perhaps more than that, we trust high-quality images over amateur ones.

No matter what your store, or where, shopping online is first and foremost a visual medium—and to garner the most traffic, you need the best possible images. Images are the conduit that encourage people to click—if they like what they see, they’ll explore more. And buy more.

That being said, if you’re in Manchester, how do you go about hiring the best product photographer for your eCommerce store? To make things simple, we’re here to give you a step-by-step of what to look for when doing just that. First on the list:

What Makes the Photography Studio Professional?

With the recent influx in higher mega-pixel cameras on smartphones and a number of filters to fake lighting conditions or apps to generalize editing—there are more than a few individuals that declare themselves as ‘somewhat of a photographer, myself.’ However, while a camera has a lot to do with taking a great image—creative and technical experience is far more important.

Creative & Technical Skills

Does the studio you’re looking in to have experience with the type of photography you require? And beyond that, do they have the equipment to take the shots or do they rent it?

Can they offer studio-lighting, and how is their editing—do they use Lightroom or Photoshop and how long does the whole process take?

If you already have images that you’d like to make usable, an extremely valuable offering is high-end retouching of images. If you don’t yet want an entirely new portfolio from scratch but, rather, want to expand from your current portfolio, does the studio you’re looking at offer that?

This is all where you might find yourself in the technical nuance of product photography—but it’s extremely important to be thorough with your choice as, hopefully, you’re building a long-term relationship for your eCommerce business.

As a more fine-tuned example, tabletop or flat-lay is extremely valuable for product photography—with that in mind, does the Manchester photography studio offer flat-lay, white-background for Amazon products, ghost mannequins for clothing shots, jewellery or creative still-life options?

And, beyond the immediate technical skills required for professional photography, what about:

Administrative & Managerial Skills

First and foremost, it’s important to make sure the image options match your desired content—but what about the business? How is the photography business run as a whole? Are they communicative, timely, organized? Do they have multiple employees, second-shooters, or full-time editors?

While these sorts of questions further into nuance, they’re important to make to ensure that the photography studio not only offers high-quality products, but also offers them in a timely manner.

As mentioned above, eCommerce is always going to be a competitive, trend-based market. With that in mind, can this photography studio get the images back to you quickly? For eCommerce especially, turnaround is one of the most important aspects of a successful store. That being said, how fast can the studio get you back (and keep you) in the game?

And finally, how easy are they to work with?

The last thing to note in regards to managerial skills is how the business handles customer service. As photography tends to be a business where revisions might be needed, and input is sometimes necessary—how receptive is the studio to commentary? Are the number of revisions set ahead of time? Is the business good about communication, and keeping in contact with updates on the project?

As mentioned above, the goal of a photography studio is to build a working relationship. Is this company someone you would go back to, and look to for future projects?

Which brings us to the final, and perhaps most important, thing to consider when choosing the best product photographer:

Do They Create Engaging Content?

Though there is always a degree of subjectivity when viewing photographs, just as there is with viewing any form of art—the product photographer you choose should, more than likely, be able to create images representative of your wishes. Much like a copywriter, a photographer will focus on what aspects emulate your own style, and find a way to professionally express that style.

That being said, the best way to decide if a particular photographer offers the best possible product photography is, simply, to observe their portfolio. See how they adapt to certain projects. See if one of their projects is the perfect representation of your vision. See if you mesh stylistically-well, together.

Will their content get your product or store noticed on social media? Will they help you stand out in that inexorably competitive and fluid market?

For more Product Photography content, tips and ideas follow our instagram account: @onenorthstudio

Product Photography Studio Manchester Ecommerce

Let’s Work Together

Hiring a professional photographer for your eCommerce business is a tough decision to make. But, if you’re based in Manchester, we at One North Studio want to be the ones you rely on for the product photography of your business.

To help build a long-term relationship, we consistently deliver clean, crisp, professional images of the highest quality at very affordable prices with the fastest turn-around time—and, best of all, you only pay after all work is approved.

If you’re looking for help with your next product post, get in touch with us today by email or phone!

How to Hire a Product Photographer for Your Ecommerce Business