Enhancing Product Presentation - A Guide to eCommerce Image Editing
Ecommerce has become so ubiquitous in our world today that it is difficult for any of us to imagine how people in the bygone ages managed for so many years without it! Getting products delivered at the doorstep with just the tap of a finger or click of a mouse is a great convenience that modern technology has afforded us. And yet, barring well-established ecommerce names, there is hesitation and uncertainty in our minds before we go ahead with an ecommerce purchase. That is why retailers have to amp up their game in winning customer trust, assuring them and showcasing their products in the best possible manner enticing customers to purchase from them. This is where photo editing for ecommerce comes in, enhancing product images and effectively communicating the value and quality of products which in turn leads to increased sales and customer satisfaction.
Critical Importance of Image Editing Services For E-commerce
Photo editing for ecommerce is the process by which product photos are enhanced in technical quality and creative quality to make them alluring for the customers and, ultimately, result in increased sales. This involves both subjective and objective metrics and is executed by trained and experienced graphic professionals with the help of highly specialised software like Adobe Photoshop. Here, we outline the stepwise process that is followed in such ecommerce image editing.
- Image Selection: It is true that product image editing for ecommerce can do wonders with your photos. However, the dictum of ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’ holds true here as well. Choose the best possible images from the given set so that the improvements made can have the best impact. Well begun is definitely half done. From a technical point of view, this would mean images that are of high resolution. From a qualitative point of view, it means images that have good lighting where all details are seen.
- Background Removal: Background removal is a very important part of photo editing for ecommerce which helps to focus attention on key details only. It also lends a uniform and professional product display in your ecommerce site. It would be a good idea to get the products photographed with a plain background that can be easily removed. Use the various tools in specialised photo-editing software to select the background and erase it. Then, you can replace the background with a clean, neutral colour, or even create a transparent background.
- Colour Correction: Every ecommerce image editing company worth its name will emphasise the importance of colour correction, unless of course you are using black and white images for specific reasons. (Even there, you will need to correct and balance the ‘grey areas’ or tones). Adjust the colours, saturation, hue and vibrance of the images to make sure that the image is an accurate representation of the product. If you have a product in multiple colours, it is possible to generate the entire variety in the colour range by suitably modifying only a single coloured product.
- Brightness and Texture Adjustments: Product image editing for ecommerce should ensure that no areas in the image should be ‘in the dark’ or ‘burned out’. At the same time, all the details need to be visible. This involves adjusting the exposure, brightness, contrast and clarity of the image to make the product stand out.
- Cropping and Resizing: It is important to know what to show in your images. It is also important to know what not to show in the images to retain the focus on the products. When you are photo editing for ecommerce, crop away the distractions and resize the image to fit optimally in the website window, mobile screen and social media platforms. There needs to be uniformity and consistency across the product catalogue.
- Retouching and Cleaning: While editing images, any ecommerce image editing company will achieve 90% perfection in your photos. However, only top notch companies like Mubytech bring in that final 10% too because it involves intensive and extensive cleaning and retouching efforts. Whether it’s the dodge tool, smudge tool, clone tool or spot-healing tool, different approaches are needed to remove defects, imperfections and blemishes in the images.
- Shadow and Reflection Effects: The products are three dimensional in nature while images are two dimensional. However, adding reflections or shadows while photo editing for ecommerce creates a sense of depth and realism. Though there are several ways to achieve this effect in editing softwares, it requires the expertise of an artistic graphic designer to make the image enticing.
- Final Touches: Apart from the quality of the images, the technical specifications also are important to enhance the browsing experience of the customers. While having many images helps the customer make a better decision, if the images aren’t resized optimally, it could lead to slow website loading. Processing a large volume of images and maintaining the crucial balance between quality and file size is best left to an ecommerce image editing company like Mubytech. Also, do not forget to add logos or watermarks of your brand for identification. They need to be aesthetically placed so that they do not distract the customer from the main product.
- File Naming and Organization: An often forgotten advantage of using product image editing for ecommerce is the organisation and file nomenclature they bring in. Every file should be saved in the appropriate format (JPEG, PNG, RAW, TIFF) and each format has further subcategories. They then need to be organised systematically with proper descriptive file names.
If possible, it would be great to do an A/B testing of the original images with the edited ones to analyse how well they are performing. This will help to come up with new editing strategies or refine existing ones for better results. You should also welcome feedback from clients and stakeholders and make necessary revisions. In short, product image editing for ecommerce is not a small matter. It is best left to experts with immense experience. That is why we invite you to try Mubytech once. You will never have to try anyone else again!