The beauty and cosmetics market is now seeing a steady rise, with 2022 numbers posting a 16% growth from last year. Everything from makeup, hair and skincare, and perfumes enjoy great demand from consumers.
With the personal care eCommerce industry headed towards a $65.3 billion valuation this year, shop owners must fill up their inventories with these products.
How do you ensure your shop is poised to get a good chunk of this billion-dollar market? The answer is through beauty product photography.
Beauty product photography is an art form that requires a good eye, the right equipment, and a lot of practice. It’s important to understand that the target audience likely to consume beauty products has an eye for beauty.
With the right knowledge and tips, you can take stunning photos of beauty products to attract customers and boost sales.
Best Beauty Product Photography Styles
Several types of beauty product photography showcase products in their best light. Here are some of them.
Flat Lay
Flat lay photography highlights individual products and creates an aesthetically pleasing composition with multiple pieces. Photos are best from a bird’s eye view. But they can also be taken from different angles as well. They are great for showcasing products on social media sites.
Group
Group product photography allows photographers to showcase multiple products together. They are perfect for product bundles. For example, you plan to sell beauty products as a subscription box. You can take group photos of different products inside the package.
They’re also great for presenting different shades of a makeup line (e.g., lipstick or eye shadow)
Lifestyle
Lifestyle photography captures the product in action, allowing viewers to imagine themselves using it. The idea is to convey how the product will fit in their buyer’s daily life. You can stage the product in a home setting or have a model use it while taking the shot.
Taking the Shot at Beauty Product Photography
Here are some tips for nailing that money shot.
Details, Details, and Details
When taking photos of your products, the main goal is to highlight their unique selling point (USP). Remember, there are tons of online beauty shops out there. You have to showcase what sets your products apart. To do this, you have to know what your target audience wants to see.
So when taking pictures, focus on the details.
Details aren’t only about the product itself. You also have to know what buyers like most about the product. For example, do they like the wide range of lipstick shades in the collection? If so, it might be best to take group shots with swatches of the different shades on varying skin tones.
Compose and Style
When preparing for the shoot, consider the theme and branding. Factor these when composing and styling the product shoot. For example, if the theme is joyful and the branding is approachable. You’d want to do bright shots with warm colors.
You can also incorporate product ingredients as props. Don’t be afraid to experiment with angles. One trick is to elevate the products by taking the shot from below.
Elegance in Lighting
In relation to composition and styling, you’d also want to experiment with how your lighting will affect the products. For example, glossy products will reflect light brightly, so adjust your lighting accordingly.
Don’t be afraid to play with gradients and shadows. Say, you want to shoot a red lipstick. You can make it look more daring by toning down the lighting and letting shadows work to highlight the product.
Bank on Authenticity
When shooting beauty products, you have to stage them in a way that draws attention. However, this doesn’t mean that you do it in a way to fool buyers into buying. Authenticity is still big among consumers. The more natural the product is, the better is their impact.
Brush It Up with Editing
No matter how good the final image is, never skip this step. Cleanup pictures by retouching the image or making color adjustments. You may not see it, but even minor tweaks can elevate your images.
Key Takeaways
Beauty product photography is a creative and specialized form of commercial photography. It requires a certain level of skill and expertise to capture the beauty of products in an attractive way.
With the right approach, you can create stunning visuals to draw attention to your brand and elevate your marketing efforts.
- Focus on details
- Compose and style products
- Use gradients and shadows
- Stay authentic
- Post process images
