How to take good product photos with your phone

Customers cannot touch your products online. The photo is the first thing they see, and often the reason they decide to order or to scroll away. The good news: a normal smartphone and a few simple habits are enough for clear, attractive product photos.

1. Use daylight

Light is the most important thing in a photo.

• Take photos near a large window, during the day.
• Avoid direct, harsh sun on the product. Soft daylight is best.
• Turn off yellow indoor lamps. Mixed light changes the colours.
• Do not use the phone's flash. It creates shine and hard shadows.

If customers say "the colour looked different in the photo", the light is usually the reason.

2. Use a simple background

A plain background keeps attention on the product.

• A white or light-coloured wall, a clean sheet, or a large piece of card works well.
• Remove other objects from the photo.
• For clothes, a plain wall and a hanger, or a person wearing the item, both work.
• For food and handmade items, a clean wooden table or plain cloth looks warm and natural.

3. Keep the phone steady and the lens clean

• Wipe the camera lens with a soft cloth before you start. Fingerprints make photos blurry.
• Hold the phone with both hands, or lean it against something steady.
• Tap the product on the screen so the phone focuses on it.

4. Show the product from several angles

Add two to four photos for each product:

1. the full product, from the front
2. the back or side
3. a close-up of the details: embroidery, fabric, stitching, texture
4. the product in use: worn, held, or on a table

Close-ups of quality details, such as hand embroidery, are often what convinces a customer.

5. Use the same shape for all photos

On Bano Shops, product photos are shown in a tall 4:5 shape, so a shop page looks tidy. Take your photos in portrait (tall) mode and leave a little space around the product, so nothing important is cut off.

6. Show true colours

Customers return products when the colour is not what they expected. To avoid this:

• photograph in daylight
• do not use strong filters
• if you have the same item in several colours, photograph each colour separately
• write the colour name in the product, for example "dark green" rather than just "green"

7. Keep the file size reasonable

Very large photos load slowly, especially on mobile internet. A photo from a normal phone is fine. If your phone has a "high efficiency" or very high resolution setting, the normal setting is usually enough.

A quick checklist before you upload

• Is the photo bright and sharp?
• Is the background simple?
• Is the colour true?
• Can the customer see the important details?
• Does every product have at least two photos?

Next step

Good photos work best with a good product name and description. Read how to write product descriptions that sell, then add your products to your shop.