Clothing doesn’t cooperate like rigid products do. But there are plenty of proven tips and tricks to help with the three stages—prep, shooting, and post-production—so you can consistently create balanced, professional photos that convert.

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Why symmetry matters in apparel product photography

Put simply, symmetry is pleasing to the eye. It represents order that our brain likes. Like a bookshelf with perfectly aligned spines or evenly stacked towels. But if you look at a building that has every window perfectly aligned except one, you’d notice it immediately.

The same applies to your product photography. If your apparel shots are crooked, unbalanced, or asymmetrical, shoppers notice—and not in a good way. Symmetry triggers trust, which in turn can help boost your sales. 

When buyers see balanced, well-aligned product images—like The Wildlife Trusts online storefront—they perceive higher quality and professionalism. It’s a subconscious signal that you care about details, which translates to caring about your products.

Pre-shoot preparation: setting up for symmetry 

The right prep can save you hours of editing later and help you achieve that balanced, professional look from the start.

Choosing the right garments and prep

• Select quality samples: Choose garments in excellent condition without permanent wrinkles, stretched fabric, or damaged seams that can’t be easily fixed.
• Steam thoroughly: Remove all wrinkles and creases before shooting. Pay extra attention to sleeves, collars, and hems where asymmetry is most noticeable.
• Know your fabrics: Delicate materials like silk need gentle handling and may require clips to maintain shape (without over stretching). Heavier fabrics like denim hold their form better but need proper steaming.
• Arrange details evenly: Position buttons, zippers, and accessories symmetrically before shooting.
• Check seam alignment: Ensure shoulder seams, side seams, and collar edges are properly positioned and won’t create uneven lines.

Mannequin and display preparation

• Choose proper sizing: Select mannequins (or models) that fit your garments without stretching or bunching the fabric. You can turn images into ghost mannequins later.
• Align mannequin straight: Position mannequins facing directly forward. Shoot straight-on or at a slight up/down angle.
• Support flat lays: Use foam core boards or batting inside garments to add structure and eliminate wrinkles for flat lay shots.
• Add dimension: Stuff sleeves and body sections with batting to create natural-looking volume and shape.
• Pin invisible points: Secure fabric from behind using straight pins to keep symmetrical draping.

Some pieces won’t work symmetrical and that’s fine. Still apply all other prep and shooting tips to get high quality photos. For example, this cape on Project Cece’s online shop is asymmetrical and calls for balanced composition rather than forced symmetry.

During the shoot: capturing balanced apparel images

Photographing and arranging products isn’t quick work—even teams with professional stylists might max out at 10 items per shoot day, though dedicated studios with specialized workflows can typically process more.

Camera settings for optimal symmetry

• Choose longer focal lengths: Use 50mm, 85mm or longer to minimize distortion that can make clothing look uneven or warped. If you’ve got limited space, zoom lenses can come in handy.
• Set consistent aperture: Shoot around f/8-f/11 to keep the entire garment in sharp focus from front to back.
• Position camera center: Keep your camera dead-center and level. For top-down shots, ensure the camera is truly overhead to avoid skewing.
• Use a sturdy tripod: Essential for consistent framing, sharp images, and avoiding camera shake.
• Set up even lighting: Use two lights (ideally), positioned on either side to eliminate uneven shadows. Adjust angles based on fabric thickness.
• Enable camera gridlines: Use your camera’s grid overlay to align garments perfectly within the frame. You can also shoot tethered and connect to a monitor to catch any issues in real-time.
• Frame precisely: Frame your shots exactly as needed from the start. If you plan on removing background or doing other edits like drop shadow, you can always adjust canvas size during editing. Just make sure to fully capture your product so you have plenty to work with in editing.

Styling techniques for balance

Different garments will benefit from different arm positions—some look better with hands close to the body, others with arms slightly bent away. Whatever you choose, make sure both sides match for symmetrical posing.

• Use clips, pins, and even tape behind the garment to create perfect draping while keeping them invisible from camera view.
• Review each shot immediately to catch issues before moving to the next setup. What looks balanced to your eye may appear crooked in the photo.
• Make small adjustments between shots rather than major repositioning. 

Post-production: fine-tuning your symmetry  

Even with perfect shooting, most apparel photos need symmetry adjustments. Good clothing editing fixes natural flaws without making products look artificial and matches both sides, not copy-pastes half a garment.

Basic symmetry edits anyone can do

• Crop and straighten: Use your editing app’s grid overlays to align garments perfectly within the frame and correct any camera tilt. In Adobe Photoshop, you can select several grids when cropping, such as Rule of Thirds or Triangle (both great for quickly centering your shots) or Grids (for more precision).

• Make minor adjustments: Fix small imperfections like uneven hems or slightly askew collars using basic retouching tools.
• Address wrinkles: You can’t get true symmetry on wrinkled fabric, so make sure to smooth out any obvious creases.

Professional symmetry editing techniques

Professional symmetry editing involves complex, precise adjustments that require advanced skills:

• Sleeve alignment: Matching sleeve length, cuff positioning, and draping between left and right sides
• Side-edge corrections: Ensuring garment edges create perfect parallel lines and consistent silhouettes
• Curve refinement: Smoothing necklines, armholes, and hemlines for balanced curves
• Detail alignment: Positioning pockets, buttons, zippers, and decorative elements to mirror exactly

These edits involve reshaping fabric digitally while keeping realistic texture and natural draping. Our mirror image symmetry service handles these complex fixes so you can focus on shooting and growing your business instead of spending hours on detailed post-production. 

When to DIY vs. when to outsource

Not every symmetry issue can be fixed with editing. Major fabric distortions or non-mirrored patterns need to be corrected during shooting—no amount of post-production can create symmetry that wasn’t captured originally.

Some garments, like the patterned shirt from Omnes, look balanced in shape but have naturally asymmetric designs. For these pieces, focus on getting the overall structure right during shooting, then handle simple fixes like ghost mannequin effects, lighting adjustments, and wrinkle removal.

Basic edits like cropping and straightening work fine as DIY projects. But complex symmetry corrections can take hours per image. For busy photographers and ecommerce brands, professional editing usually costs less than your time while delivering better results. 

And with marketplaces like Amazon requiring high-quality images, professional symmetry editing gives you that polished result that DIY edits can’t always achieve.

Symmetry checklist 

Check all these before approving your images and you’re good to go:

• No obvious wrinkles (natural fabric draping is fine)
• Sleeves and hems are aligned and match in length
• Collar and necklines are centered and balanced
• Buttons, zippers, and pockets are positioned symmetrically
• Fabric drapes evenly on both sides
• Lighting is balanced with no uneven shadows

Consistently balanced shots for every product

Not only does symmetrical apparel photography help your products look appealing, it also meets the high standards that customers expect in ecommerce. Whether you edit in-house or outsource the tricky stuff, what matters is finding the approach that works for your workflow and quality needs.

Need help getting perfect symmetry? Path’s editors handle complex apparel fixes, saving you time while delivering professional results for any marketplace.

Wrinkles, crooked sleeves, uneven hems—fixed. Focus on your business while our editors handle perfect symmetry, every time.

Learn more

The post How to Take Symmetrical Apparel Photos for Ecommerce appeared first on Path Edits.

Humans are wired to crave symmetry. It signals beauty, balance, and trust—exactly the feelings you want to trigger when someone lands on your product page.

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When you think about symmetric photos, think ecommerce photography for apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, electronics, and anything presented in a clean, controlled environment. Symmetry matters even more in apparel photography, especially for things like ghost mannequin shots where structure, balance, and form all drive buyer confidence.

Why you need symmetric product photos

Studies show that 87% of online shoppers believe enhanced product content is helpful to them during their shopping journey. In today’s competitive landscape, delivering symmetric, polished images isn’t optional—it’s the bare minimum.

Here’s why:

• Aesthetic: Symmetry creates a polished, professional look that immediately elevates your brand.
• Easy browsing: Balanced images are easier to process visually, making it faster for customers to evaluate and compare products.
• Visual trust: Symmetry builds instant credibility and makes your brand feel more reliable.
• Emotional appeal: Symmetrical compositions feel satisfying, calm, and complete — all things that lower buying friction.
• Performance metrics: Symmetrical product photos often convert better, boosting both clicks and sales.

That’s where Path comes in. Our expert editors apply symmetry with care—enhancing your product’s natural design without making it look artificial or over-edited.

When and how to use symmetric ecommerce photos

Highly detailed products

If you sell jewelry, electronics, watches, or anything intricate, symmetry highlights the craftsmanship and premium quality you’re trying to showcase.

Highlight centerpiece items

Hero images, like your main PDP photo or homepage feature, need to feel instantly strong and balanced. Symmetry gives products that commanding presence.

Premium products and brands

Luxury brands know: symmetry is a visual shortcut to higher perceived value. It signals attention to detail, care, and sophistication.

Selling symmetrical products

When you sell mirrors, tech gadgets, skincare bottles, apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics — basically anything designed with balance in mind — your photos should mirror that symmetry. It reinforces design quality and makes browsing intuitive.

Bonus: Ghost mannequin shots especially benefit from perfect symmetry to create clean, realistic apparel displays.

Marketplace product photography

Symmetrical product photos aren’t just nice—they perform better in marketplace search results and listings, helping you stand out in crowded spaces. If you sell on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc., you might even be required to use symmetric product photos. 

Marketing and advertising campaigns

Symmetry draws the eye and keeps viewers engaged. Whether you’re designing social media ads, web banners, or print catalogs, symmetric images create irresistible visual flow.

High-end retouching

Good symmetry editing polishes natural flaws—like a slightly crooked seam or uneven laces—without making your product look artificial. It’s subtle, invisible craftsmanship that makes a major difference.

Tips for symmetric product photography

Here’s the key to mastering symmetry without overdoing it:

Keep the product’s natural shape and design intact.

Center lines, balance proportions, and adjust visible angles carefully.

Use symmetry to enhance authenticity—not to create a fake-looking “clone.”

Don’t force symmetry where it doesn’t naturally exist.

Avoid warping, pinching, or unnaturally stretching parts of the product.

Stay away from edits that make products feel sterile or “too perfect”—buyers can tell.

Get it perfect, every time

Symmetry isn’t just about making your photos look good—it’s about building trust and driving sales. In ecommerce, symmetry is a small investment that delivers a big payoff.

Ready to sharpen your product photos with perfect symmetry? At Path, our expert editors specialize in balancing precision with authenticity. We’ll polish your product images so they feel clean, credible, and irresistible—all with quick turnaround times, industry-leading accuracy, and deep ecommerce expertise.

Perfect your photos with symmetry

Learn more

The post Symmetry Sells: Why Balanced Product Photos Convert Better appeared first on Path Edits.

When it comes to capturing a shoe in a frame, there are many ways to go about it. You may have to work with a model, but these days you’re more likely to shoot a standalone shoe.

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For the purposes of this article, we’ll tackle the last option. We’ll give you a step-by-step process of how to achieve great results and some tips and tricks to remember for your shoe photography shoot.

How to photograph shoes

1. Start with a proper setup
2. Add in lighting
3. Get the right angles
4. Double-check your details
5. Clean it up in Photoshop

But first, allow me to tell you a little story…

Not too long ago, I decided to treat myself to a new pair of brown boots.

I searched online until I found the perfect shoes. They weren’t too tall or too short, they had an interesting burnished copper zipper detail, and the heel height was perfect.

Sure, they were a little more than I had hoped to spend, but finding that perfect pair isn’t easy, so I bit the bullet and hit the Buy Now button.

I waited eagerly for my new perfect boots to arrive. I started mentally composing outfits around them — assuming they fit, they’d be exactly what I needed to kick off fall fashion.

The day they arrived, I ran out to greet the delivery guy as soon as he knocked.

I thanked him, took the box inside, and opened them immediately…

Only to find that my perfect brown boots weren’t brown at all… they were a muddy shade of blackish red. And the zipper detail that looked so cool in the photo? It was a bright, brassy tone instead.

I double checked my invoice and the label on the box to make sure I’d gotten the right item, and even pulled up the image on my phone again so I could compare.

Turns out they were the right boots after all. But they were not at all what I was expecting. I returned them and started my search all over again.

So what gives? How did I find the perfect pair online only to be so disappointed when they got to my house?

The answer, of course, is all in the photography.

1. Start with a proper set up

Don’t waste time trying other setup options — get a lightbox or a roll of white seamless paper with a high-quality, non-reflective surface. Anything else will cost you tons of time trying to make your shots look just right.

Build your lightbox or hang your seamless paper and set your subject shoes so they’ll be roughly in the middle of your shot. Don’t push them too far back in your scene or you’ll wind up with weird shadows that will be hard to delete after the fact.

2. Add lighting

Again, save yourself time and frustration by using tried-and-true lighting techniques. A lightbox will need one light on either side and one from the top. This will make your background nice and light and virtually eliminate shadows.

Shooting on seamless requires a similar approach, but you’ll have to play a little more to make those pesky shadows disappear. A three light setup works well also — one on either side and one lighting the background.

3. Get the right angles

When it comes to angles for shoe photography, more is more. You’d be surprised at how many people want to see the sole of the shoe or the detail on the back. The main angles to focus on are directly head on, top down, and three quarters, but once you’ve got those, rotate the shoe completely to make sure you’ve got lots of other angles, too.

Here are just a few potential angles for you to try: 

Potential buyers might want to see the sole of the shoe, for example. They’ll also want to see the heel from the back, and the shape directly from the side.

If you’re having trouble keeping the shoe in place for some of the odd angles, try shooting from below through glass (for the sole shot) or holding it in place with some cleverly tied thread — you can always Photoshop it out later.

4. Double check your details

Sure, shoes are utilitarian items, but they’re also fashion. If something catches your eye, make sure you feature it prominently in your images. That could be something as obvious as a logo or something as simple as the grommet that the laces go into — if it’s interesting in any way, capture it. 

The iconic Air Jordan logo and the unique texture of the shoe are captured well here, as you can clearly see the design details.

5. Clean it up in Photoshop

Even the most meticulously planned product photography can stand to have a little touch up. Maybe you’ll want to increase contrast to make the details pop, or maybe you noticed a tiny scratch on the shoe when you pull it up on screen. Either way, editing your shoe images is a necessary step. If you don’t feel like spending hours in Photoshop, you can hire your own virtual design studio.

Shoe photography best practices

A few things to remember when photographing shoes:

Cleanliness

This one should come as no surprise. Customers want things to be in pristine condition when they arrive, and a shoe that looks worn, scuffed, or dirty is a big turnoff. If your subject shoe has any imperfections at all, or even if they just need a quick polish, put in the extra effort to make sure it looks perfect.

All of Thousand Fell’s shoe product photos are crisp and clean, with stark white shoes on a clean white background with a hint of drop shadow for depth. 

Clear the clutter

While we’re on that note, make sure your setup is clean and perfect, too. If you’re photographing more than one shoe style in one sitting, make sure the seamless background paper has no marks or wrinkles. You can use small props to get the shoe to stay in the positions you’re looking for, but if they show on camera at all, make sure they’re spotless, too.

Correct lighting and color

One of the most important things consumers look for when buying a pair of shoes is the color. Remember my magical brown boots that weren’t so brown after all? This was a case of too-warm lighting left uncorrected.

If that photographer had used neutral lighting (usually between 5000 and 6000 Kelvin) and if they’d made sure their white balance was spot on — either in camera or in post — the color would have been more accurate on the website. 

(Not the actual boots in question, but you catch my drift…)

One more thing on that point – when you’re fixing your white balance in post-production, make sure that your monitor has been calibrated recently and that you’re exporting your files correctly. These two things can make even a good SOOC (straight out of camera) image go wrong.

Consistency

To make an accurate impression of what the shoe looks like, you must be certain you have consistency throughout your set. You want the color and lighting to be the same from photo to photo so your viewer doesn’t see the shoe as turquoise in one frame and green in another, for example. This will help make sure the textures come across accurately as well.

Check your lighting, your focal length, your aperture, and your relative frame to make sure that your images look uniform throughout.

Create proper shoe shapes

With boots or flimsier fabrics, you’ll need to create the same shape you’d see when a shoe is worn. Tall boots that are flopping over aren’t attractive to any buyer, for example.

For shoes with thinner fabrics or details like ribbons, you may have to get even more creative. You can give the shoe more structure with well-hidden florists’ wire. If some happens to peek out, you can always clean it up in post-production. 

These laces add interest to the image.

For boots, try adding fullness with crumpled paper, or do what I do and cut a pool noodle just shorter than the shaft of the boot itself and stuff it inside.

Brother Vellies props their boots up so shoppers can see their size and shape. 

Consider the context

There are different ways to approach shoe photography, and your desired end product will vary depending on where and how the image will be used.

You have to understand what small details are important to shoe shoppers in your specific market and which they don’t really care about.

Someone who’s looking to purchase crib shoes for their baby will care about very different things than someone who wants diaphanous white sandals for their wedding day, for example.

If you want the shoe to pop off the screen and entice buyers, you must pay attention to the differences in shape and the sheen of the material.

Sometimes, you might add props and creative backgrounds. I’ve even seen lifestyle shoots for shoes — boots in a field, heels styled on a stylish rug, that sort of thing. 

These laces add interest to the image.

Flat lay photography is another potential approach, one women’s footwear brand Kahmune uses on their homepage. 

Image source

If you’re photographing for most ecommerce sites, though, your creative choices will be pretty limited. The industry standard is a white background with little to no shadow, and a greater depth of field so details are crystal clear front to back. Make sure you nail this technique and your eComm clients will be happy with the end results. 

This is a more typical photo for ecommerce websites.

Moving forward with your shoe photography

With all of these tips, your next shoe shoot should be a breeze. Make the effort to create images that are clean, neat, and attractive, and you’ll have happy clients selling shoes in practically no time. 

The post How to Take Pictures of Shoes that People Will Want to Buy appeared first on Path Edits.

They used to spend hours on photo editing too, often staying up all night fumbling through Photoshop to have images ready for a next-day trade show. “We were taking all of our photographs and sitting there for hours Photoshopping everything,” says Alee. They had a photographer, but their capacity was limited to 50 per week by how many photos they could edit at a time, and her editing costs were high.

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Once Alee and Veronique started outsourcing edits, they were able to get a big batches edited in only 6 hours. For a recent trade show, Alee remembers sending off 150 product shots to be edited and cropped. “We woke up to the edited images the next day and they were perfect.”

A story-driven children’s clothing brand

Ice Cream Castles is a children’s clothing brand inspired by a story of traveling to imaginary places. They make playful, whimsical apparel for three-month-old babies through size 10.

Veronique co-founded the brand and is now the sole owner of the company in her role as president and head designer. Alee is director of operations at Ice Cream Castles.

We’re very story-driven. Every collection is centered around a magical imaginary place that these children are traveling to on imaginary ice cream trucks.”

“We’re very story-driven. Every collection is centered around a magical imaginary place that these children are traveling to on imaginary ice cream trucks,” says Alee. “The clothes they bring back are all souvenirs and memories from visiting these places. So you have a lot of visuals, and a lot of the prints are kind of out there but relatable.”

Challenges fiddling with Photoshop

• Then: up to 37 hours editing a batch of photos
• Now: 6 hours, worry free
• Then: wasting 12+ hours for 4 imperfect images
• Now: 12 hours, worry-free
• Then: spending valuable time in Photoshop
• Now: spending less than $1.00 per image

Originally a social media marketer and now a jack-of-all-trades, Alee worked with Veronique to do everything for the business — fulfillment, inventory management, marketing, customer support, and anything in between. “I’ve got my hand in everything,” she says.

When she first started, the product photos on the website needed some attention. “The pictures on the website were all different sizes,” Alee recalls. “Some were really close, some were really far away, and some you could see the print and the colors look different from piece to piece.”

Veronique was busy running a brand and didn’t have time to do photo edits, and design isn’t an area Alee has too much hands-on experience with. But product photos needed editing if they wanted to propel the brand forward, so they invested time learning Photoshop.

“We sat there doing product shots, Googling, and getting YouTube videos for resizing. It’s just so many hours of time,” she says. Soon, the photo edits combined with a growing workload, became too cumbersome.

To create a white border and make the images look uniform, “we were taking all of our photographs and sitting there for hours Photoshopping everything.” This process was intense and time-consuming. Alee and her partner often found themselves pressed for time in stressful situations with tight deadlines.

“We would get our samples and then have to photograph everything and take them to a trade show. A lot of times the turnaround for that is two or three days. One time it was the day of — we got the samples, picked them up at FedEx, and took them on a plane with us to New York and needed everything photographed in 20 minutes.”

And as the brand grows, so do the product photography needs. “We do a ton of social media,” says Alee. “We also partnered with Zulily. We’re using the Amazon function.”

They’ve hired a product photographer for lifestyle shots, but editing still takes a lot of time, especially considering channels with different requirements. Plus, their product photographer caps out at 50 photos per shoot. “[Our photographer] doesn’t have time to edit for us,” she says. “I know I could get more out of her.”

At a certain point, they knew it was time to look for help. “We would have loved to be able to take pictures ourselves and have them edited professionally without having to pay an arm and a leg for a photographer,” Alee says.

“We would have loved to be able to take pictures ourselves and have them edited professionally without having to pay an arm and a leg.”

Taking the photo edits off their plate

Veronique did a quick Google search and found Path. “The pricing was very competitive, as well as the different turnaround times,” Alee says. “It’s fast. It takes an extra thing off of our plates that we don’t have time for anymore.”

With prices so low, there was little risk. So Veronique decided to give it a try.

She and Veronique like that they’re able to provide direction for the photo edits while not having to do it themselves. “We both have a really good work ethic and we’re both really controlling,” Alee explains. “So, I like being able to have something that we control from start to finish and [direct] the aesthetics and where we want to take things.”

“Our cost with Path is less than $1 per image, and the different turnaround time options are a great way to save some extra money.”

They also love the flexibility in turnaround time and how it works with different budgets. “Our cost with Path is less than $1 per image, and the different turnaround time options are a great way to save some extra money,” she says. “I know that if we have a week, it’s going to be cheaper and it’ll still come out the way I want. We really like the consistency.”

An effortless photo editing solution

Now, they outsource their photo edits to free up the time they’d otherwise be fumbling around in Photoshop. Ice Cream Castles sends as many as 75 photos to Path in a single batch — and up to 150 in urgent situations.

“Path allows us to just take the pictures and send them,” Alee says of outsourcing their edits. “Then we get them back, and they’re all on a white background. The size we need, the resolution we need — and we don’t even have to think about it. It’s alleviated a lot of our stress with product pictures. We average 50-ish new products per season and take front and back images of most pieces.”

Path has come in handy for tight deadlines, too.

“One time we needed 150 product shots edited and cropped urgently for a trade show that was happening the day after we received our samples. [Veronique] stayed up all night editing — and the entire flight to New York and the next day so we could have line sheets for the trade show. [Now] we’re able to photograph all of the products and submit for editing in the same evening. We wake up to the edited images the next day, and they’re perfect.”

Same-day turnaround saves the day for these time-pressed situations. When they still DIYed their edits, it took three of them 12+ hours to get four poster images ready for a trade show booth. That’s all changed now that they work with Path. “When we need something by the end of the day, it’ll be there,” she says.

“We just used Path for the first time to edit our lookbook images, and it worked out to be around $3.25/image to make all of the background colors consistent, to do image masking, and to add a natural-looking drop shadow to all of the images,” says Alee. “We got them back in 12 hours, which is amazing.”

Alee also needed to make sure she was working with a company that could scale with their changing needs. Businesses experience fluctuations and busy periods, and sometimes they have big batches of photos to edit.

“The amount of pictures we’re able to get back in such a short amount of time is one of the things we absolutely love about Path. There are several times each year where we need a relatively large amount of photos edited really quickly, and doing it in-house takes up so much time.”

Outsourcing photo editing has also allowed Ice Cream Castles to get the best bang for their buck when it comes to the professional photographer they work with, who takes about a week to turn around edits.

“Our photographer is very talented, but it costs us so much extra for the editing,” Alee says. Now, they can get more shots from her.

Like many busy professionals, time is a hot commodity. When they started outsourcing to Path, Alee and Veronique were able to invest their time in other more impactful activities to contribute to business goals. And they don’t have to spend so much time tinkering with their photography skills.

“We now have the freedom to shoot products on any surface with any lighting because we know Path will come through and deliver consistent, quality imagery every time.”

“We used to spend 5–15 minutes per product shot editing them ourselves, and they would never be cropped uniformly or saved to the right size we needed for our website and vendors. We just didn’t have the extra time to put in. Now we can get 50–150 images back in 6 hours if we need to, and all we have to do is upload them completely unedited and untouched. We now have the freedom to shoot products on any surface with any lighting because we know Path will come through and deliver consistent, quality imagery every time.”

Now that editing is off their plate, Alee and Veronique have gotten back in touch with their passion and creativity.

“Just having fun is really important for us. If you’re not having fun, the creative work suffers, and a huge amount of what we do is the creative part.”

“Path has taken something that we don’t like to do off of our plate. It’s allowed us more time to do other things that need to get done.”

Find the time to fall in love with your work again

Path can handle photo editing jobs big and small. Forget fiddling with Photoshop. Get back to the work you love to do.

The post How Ice Cream Castles Reduced Product Photo Turnaround from 1 Week to 1 Day appeared first on Path Edits.

The main question we wanted answered was: How many product photos do you need to put on a product page for clothing?

We looked at how many photos these brands had for each of their products, and then dug deeper. How are they presenting their products? Is it all white background product photography, or are brands getting more creative? How about color variants and drop shadows? 

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After analyzing the top 25 fashion and apparel brands (according to SEMrush’s report on the most-trafficked sites), here’s what we found:

• On average, there are approximately 8 photos on the product pages for clothing items.
• Adidas had the most images per product page, averaging at around 28 photos.
• Versions of white, rather than a stark Amazon-type white background, are common — think grays, beiges, off-whites, textured whites, etc.
• New mediums are popping up: video, 360-degree view, super zoom, but not many of the brands (28%) are using them.

How many product photos do you need?

This was the main question we wanted answered: Exactly how many fashion and apparel product photos do you need to have on each individual product page?

The average was 8.36 product photos per page, or approximately 8 product photos. So there you have it: 8 product photos per item should do the trick.

Here’s how it broke down:

Fashion and apparel brands with the highest number of product photos per page

1. Adidas 28.1 images

Sports apparel brand Adidas features an average of about 28 product photos per item. This number is so high because they display multiple images for every color variation, as well as some video content which featured close-ups. Generally, Adidas uses more angle variations than most of the other brands, and also incorporates video in some places. 

2. Victoria’s Secret 26.7 images

Victoria’s Secret, a well-known women’s fashion and undergarment brand, has close to 27 photos on each product page. This is because many items come in multiple color options, and the brand has a collection of product photos for each color variant. They often take unique shots, sometimes on different models, to showcase each variant.

3. Mango 13.2 images

More than 10 fewer than the next one up, fashion brand Mango has around 13 images per product page. They seem to be more creative than some of the others on this list. Check out the vintage shots on this padded shoulder blazer, for instance: 

4. Zappos 13.1 images

Right behind Mango and also close to 13 images per product page is online shoe brand Zappos. Because their products are shoes and not your typical clothing items, thus there are more intricate details to showcase, from various angles. Our analysis revealed footwear product pages had no less than 8 images with shoe photography.

We also noticed that for men’s shirts in particular, the number of color variants per product led to a high number of images.

5. H&M 13 images

Rounding out the top five is fast fashion and accessory brand H&M, averaging around 13 images per product. Again, color variants drive the total number of product photos up. Each item is showcased on a different model in different poses, and often paired with different items too. This showcases the versatility of the items and appeals to a more diverse audience.

We also asked product photography expert Emily Rowe, Chief Executive Sensei at Social Sensei, to share her advice for how many product photos you need for apparel items:

“The more product shots the better! In a perfect world, the accurate number of product shots is the number of photos required to show all the details of the product. I’d recommend anywhere from 2–8 images for any product. The bare minimum for clothing and fashion I would recommend is 3 product photos. You need to make sure your photographs include a front, back and detail shot of each garment.

Let’s say you’re shooting a blazer and it has unique buttons, an interior pocket and zipper accents. You want to make sure you showcase each of those features. So in this example, 1 front, 1 back and 3 detail shots would be best.

When you shoot you want to think, if I’m a customer who’s never seen this product and I purchase it, what features, if not showcased, may prompt me to return it? You want customers to know exactly what they’re ordering and feel excited that the product is exactly as described.” – Emily Rowe, Chief Executive Sensei at Social Sensei 

What color background should your product photos be?

Simple is the theme when it comes to product photo background colors for fashion and apparel photography. 94.26% of photos have a plain background.

88.98% of the plain-background photos are a white background. Of our average 8 product photos per page, 7 of those have a white background. This is 83.88% of product photos with a white background.

White backgrounds aren’t just the stark white that you see on Amazon. Fashion brands are getting more creative with various shades of white, adding gray tones to the white or opting for off-white, more closely resembling eggshells.

[tweetquote text=”“White and neutrals tend to work best for the majority of products, allowing the product to pop. These backgrounds also best showcase the detail of the product.” – Andrew Leibowitz, VP, client services at Fluid]

 The best background color to choose for your product photos depends on the item will vary depending on your product, audience and brand identity. For example, “black backgrounds typically work best for metals and jewelry, as black adds a nice contrast to golds, silvers and stones,” says Leibowitz.

Contextual backgrounds aren’t too common on product pages for these fashion brands. Only 1.53% of the product photos we analyzed were contextual, or lifestyle, shots. 

Do you need humans in your product photos?

The answer here isn’t so straightforward. 61.91% of the apparel product photos featured people, or 5.18 images per page.

“A good way to differentiate your site when it comes to photos is to show the customer how they can wear the product. This can also lead to increased average order value if you give the customer the opportunity to buy the other products included in the outfit look.” – Andrew Leibowitz

Brands with the most product photos featuring people (by percentage)

1. Urban Outfitters, 93.2%: This brand also has a high number of images per page, the only in this list.

2. JCPenney, 92.54%: JCPenney has a below average number of product photos per page, at 6.7.

3. Forever 21, 92.11%: Also below average, Forever 21 features 7.6 images/page.

4. Trendyol, 88.4%: Trendyol has a very low average of 2.6 total product photos per page.

5. Gap, 83.05%: Gap has 5.9 images per page, which is also below average.

Brands with the least product photos featuring people (by percentage)

1. Teespring, 0%: Teespring has no humans in their product images at all. Instead, they use lots of invisible mannequin. They have an above average number of images per page at 10.

2. UNIQLO, 9.52%: 6.3 images per page below average

3. Gamiss, 28%: A big jump up to 28% of photos featuring people, Gamiss also has a lower-than-average number of images per page (5).

4. Zappos, 40.46%: One of the top five brands with the most images per product.

5. Jabong, 47.37%: Just under 6 images per product, which is below the average.

Corey Rush, CEO of Blue Pack Marketing says, above all, the shots have to be realistic. “I’m not talking about a poor Photoshop job with a backpack sitting on the Golden Gate Bridge,” he says. “I’m talking about a model (sometimes it’s you, a friend or an actual model) WEARING that backpack in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Allowing consumers to see the product in motion is that important.” 

Invisible mannequin

64% of brands used invisible mannequin in some way. Invisible mannequin was in 11.67% of the product photos we reviewed.

There was no invisible mannequin at all on the pages we analyzed for the following brands:

1. Jabong
2. Gap
3. H&M
4. LAmoda
5. Asos
6. American Eagle
7. Forever 21
8. Urban Outfitters
9. Zappos

Farfetch uses invisible mannequin the most by far, at 88.67% of their images containing an invisible mannequin. The next brand, Teespring, came in at 64% before a significant drop to 23.53% for Rose Gal.

[tweetquote text=”“The overhead layout is good for catalog work, but I think it’s important to put apparel on a human, whether it be in lifestyle or modeling the product. It gives more life and personality to the brand as far as the marketing side.” –Leigh Germy, professional photographer]

Enhancing product pages

Zoom

100% of our brands have some sort of zoom functionality on their product pages.

Zoom functions include:

• Hover
• Click to zoom
• Close-up shots

On whether you should use zoom or close-up shots: “It depends on your web platform. We build Shopify ecommerce platforms for our clients, and the vast majority of their themes come with image zoom. So it’s not necessary to include zoomed-in images because your website helps customers enable that feature.

Even if your website doesn’t have zoom, we recommend a full front and back shot and subsequent detail shots (focusing on the detail) until you’ve covered every element of the product. Get as close as you need to showcase the product.

In general, your product shots shouldn’t be super far away. You want your product to be the first thing your eye is drawn to in the photo. Lifestyle shots are for social media; they shouldn’t constitute the majority of your product shots online. Maybe use a lifestyle as your thumbnail, but that’s it!” – Emily Rowe, Chief Executive Sensei at Social Sensei

“Zoom is okay, as long as the imaging is high-quality. Make sure that if you zoom, it’s also executed in a way that enhances the user experience.” –Corey Rush, CEO of Blue Pack Marketing

Thumbnails

The following brands don’t have any thumbnails at all, opting for large imagery and a more scrollable format:

1. Jabong
2. Macy’s
3. Nordstrom
4. Farfetch
5. Myntra
6. Mango
7. Gucci

However, most brands (72%) had thumbnails of some sort. Thumbnails show that there’s more to look at, which helps the user experience.

“Thumbnails are SUPER important. Retail is starting to struggle, but it isn’t because people dislike the experience of shopping. A lot of ambient retail strips, well-merchandised stores and creative pop-ups are thriving right now. Everyone loves to be WOW-ed; a lot of shoppers just don’t want pressure from sales representatives and disingenuous sales and sticker prices.

Think of your thumbnails in your shop as the ultimate display of your branding. You need your photography to engage people the same way mannequins in garments did in the ’60s. If you aren’t going for the lowest price in your market, start building your brand and encouraging some loyalty. It all starts with your product shots and thumbnail images and grows from there.

People are reverse-thinking product shots. Brands build everything and then hire a photographer. If you start with a good branding team that’s all-inclusive and can build your branding and photography at once, you’ll start to see a lot change. Some things don’t photograph well and if you’re based online, that can’t happen. A lot of colors clash, backgrounds won’t work if new clothing items are off palette, etc. Bring in a good team, take well-branded and fun photography, engage people, get on Shopify, and watch your sales grow.” – Emily Rowe, Chief Executive Sensei at Social Sensei

Editing product photos

Color variants

The majority — 19 out of 25 or 76% — of our brands have product photos that feature color variants. This shows that it’s important to showcase the different color options that customers can choose from. But it’s even more important that your color variations are either shot in real life or edited by professionals. If they look differently online than they do in person, you may have a lot of unpleasantly surprised customers on your hands.

“3–5 product photos that show the product in use and on a consumer are enough. If you have any sort of variation of color, this can add multiple variants and decrease site speed and then increase your bounce rate. Finding a common ground where your customer can see your product in use or on an actual human, and the other side of showing all applicable colors and loading quickly.” – Corey Rush

Drop shadow

Zappos doesn’t use drop shadow at all. UNIQLO uses it for all of their images. 96% of brands use drop shadow in one or more of their photos. Drop shadow is used in 32.34% of images, indicating that it’s good to use in a few images but not all.

“It really depends on the brand. If you’re a motorcycle brand, for example, you might want a bit more drama to the images. Ultimately, you want a clean and well-exposed image.” – Leigh Germy

Text overlay

Text overly isn’t something that’s widely used by brands. Only 1.77% of the product photos that we looked at had some sort of text advertisement on them. This indicates that text overlay is best used in different contexts, such as website banners or social media.

Video and 360-degree views

Gap is the most innovative brand on the list when it comes to product videos. Only 28% of brands experiment with video at all. Brands are also incorporating more dynamic 360-degree views that showcase the apparel from the front, sides and back.

“I appreciate the videos, ie: catwalk or lifestyle,
if they give the consumer a better idea
of how the product and fabric move. The animated GIFs are fun for social media, but a video is more impressionable.” – Leigh Germy

iHeartRaves is one fashion brand (not on this list) that is using product videos to drive online sales. “We’ve found that video does a great job of accurately displaying how a product fits on our models,” says digital manager Brandon Chopp. “Our images have become more alive, which means it’s more interesting and engaging to the user.” 

“Video is rapidly growing.” -Brandon Chopp, digital manager, iHeartRaves

Here’s an example of a tank top with a product video on its page. “This just so happens to be one of our best-selling products, so we plan to incorporate more video on future product pages,” Chopp says.

We chatted with David Ambrogio, SEO and content strategist at Online Optimism, a digital marketing agency in New Orleans. He shared his top tips for incorporating video onto your product pages:

• Use Wistia to embed call-to-actions directly into your videos to encourage sales.
• Put video first. Before you even scroll down to the product, have a short product overview video right on top.
• Use video product testimonials. These are pure gold! People want to see real-life uses of your clothes, so this helps tremendously.
• Take advantage of user-generated content. Get your customers to post video reviews of the product or create videos of them wearing the product. You can also incorporate this as part of a contest to encourage people to participate.
• Do keyword research on the kinds of terms your users are using when searching, and then create videos centered around that.

Methodology

• Top-trafficked sites, as reported by WWD
• We chose ten product pages from each brand at random to compile the data
• Data was compiled September and October 2018
• Date of report publication: December 4, 2018
• We looked at adult apparel and shoe product pages, not accessories or children’s products 

The post Analysis: Fashion Brands Use an Average of 8 Photos Per Product appeared first on Path Edits.