Product Photography, Part 11: Image Editing

Clean, level, aesthetically pleasing product photos are essential. But so is consistency. All of the images on an ecommerce website should go together. Create a formula with presets for programs such as Lightroom, or find a filter on VSCO, to achieve a consistent look across all photos. It’s the consistency that makes your site and its products attractive and engaging to shoppers.
You’ll likely spend a lot of time learning the program if you’re unfamiliar. Like Capture One, the curve is steep. If you need to edit only a few images, a more user-friendly program could be a better option. I recommend Photoshop if you’re experienced and have the time to edit every detail of your image, especially now that Adobe has moved to a subscription model starting at 9.88 per year.
Editing is a critical step in producing product photos that engage ecommerce shoppers. If you can’t make what you’re selling stand out, consumers will not likely buy it.

Desktop Apps

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Capture One is a desktop editing program for Windows and macOS. I’ve never used it, but it is the first choice among many professional photographers. The software comes with extensive editing features with studios in mind. It has a steep learning curve, which likely means there are better options for most do-it-yourself merchants. Licensing starts at 4.00.

Lightroom offers compelling features, such as tethering, healing, and cloning tools; non-destructive editing; and near-universal file conversion. Plus, Lightroom’s popularity among photographers means there is an abundance of how-to guides and plugins for any competency level. The starting price ranges from .99 to .99 per month.
Lightroom offers compelling features, such as tethering, healing, and cloning tools; non-destructive editing; and near-universal file conversion. Plus, Lightroom’s popularity among photographers means there is an abundance of how-to guides and plugins for any competency level. The starting price ranges from .99 to .99 per month.
Lightroom offers compelling features, such as tethering, healing, and cloning tools; non-destructive editing; and near-universal file conversion. Plus, Lightroom’s popularity among photographers means there is an abundance of how-to guides and plugins for any competency level. The starting price ranges from .99 to .99 per month.
I use VSCO when working on the color of an image. The app comes with many excellent presets. It’s a good alternative to traditional desktop editing software.

But it does have drawbacks.

Adobe Lightroom Classic is a cloud-based, multi-platform editing software for iOS, macOS, Android, and Windows 10. It’s arguably the best desktop editing suite for most product photography needs. Lightroom’s features are mainly free to use without a subscription. It also has a user-friendly interface with slider-based tools and presets to ensure all of your images are consistent.  Lightroom is an excellent option for beginners. You can start a project online using your mobile device or on a desktop, and all the edits will be automatically updated across all of your devices.

Consistency Is Key

In this and subsequent posts, I’ll turn to post-production topics. I’ll address the editing process, explaining how to use desktop and mobile software to create high-converting product images.