Selling furniture online is not an easy feat to accomplish. Considering the amount of investment the purchase of furniture product requires, customers are bound to have apprehensions. For that very reason, it is crucial to represent the best possible ecommerce lifestyle images of your furniture products.
That said, it isn’t always easy to get the best ecommerce images, especially for furniture and lifestyle images, through just ecommerce product photography. The first aspect to consider before retouching or restructuring any ecommerce furniture image is to take special care during the production process and ensure that the framing, exposure and lighting of the lifestyle products is accurate so you can click good quality ecommerce images that can be enhanced during the post-production process.
Images of ecommerce products require professional Photoshop editing and polishing.. Even for the most experienced image editors, it can be quite a daunting task.
Here I have compiled a list of the 4 crucial steps you need to keep in mind when photographing your ecommerce furniture images or retouching ecommerce product images for online furniture retailers and their ecommerce websites.
Choose the right time and space to photograph your furniture products:
Furniture products are unlike any other ecommerce products and require more attention to detail when photographing. It is essential that you find a space that is at least 3x the size of the furniture product to be photographed, to ensure you follow the rule of thirds for the image composition. And to make sure, sufficient space is left around the subject to be able to easily replace, remove or re-adjust the background of the ecommerce image, during the photo retouching process.
That said, below is an example of too much space and not enough product in the ecommerce product photo. So don’t get carried away and place your furniture or lifestyle products just about anywhere, for the sake of space.
Do more than a plain white background for your ecommerce website imagery
Yes, in most case scenarios ecommerce photographers would prefer to photograph ecommerce products in front of plain white backgrounds to avoid distracting the consumers from the main ecommerce product photo.
Contrastingly however, in the case of furniture and lifestyle imagery, it is important to give context (as to where the furniture product can be placed).
Adding in a contextual background to your ecommerce lifestyle product image will give it a more organic look and aid the consumer in making a purchase decision, as they will be able to understand, from context where the product may fit in their lifestyle and surroundings.
Additionally, if you are still concerned about the attention of the consumer being diverted from the main ecommerce furniture product image, you can easily blur the background in post-production. This will ensure that the furniture or lifestyle product image is still the main subject, while providing contextual information.
Below is an example of how a colorful background can prove useful when photographing ecommerce lifestyle images.
However, it is still missing some key elements in composition. Let’s read on to find out more!
Entice the consumers with a wholesome composition of the lifestyle product image
Taking from the points above, it is necessary to provide context but overdoing it and over crowding the ecommerce furniture product image will not prove beneficial. Your space should be thrice the size of the furniture product you are trying to sell but don’t leave it completely empty or overfill it.
Let’s take a look at the example below.
Our main or “hero” furniture product here is the chair.
Keeping that in mind the first thing we discussed was the space being 3x the size, which it is. The next thing we discussed was context, which is also present in terms of their being a cabinet or desk next to which the chair can be placed to take an enticing furniture product photo and provide context.
The issue lies with the size of the other furniture products (namely vase and cabinet) and the placement of the chair. If the consumer does not know at a glance that the chair is the main product here, it could prove troublesome for an online furniture retailer or ecommerce furniture webstore. So don’t overcrowd your ecommerce product image.
Choose the angles wisely for photographing the ecommerce furniture product images accurately
It is absolutely essential that you know which angles to photograph particular furniture products from. They are 3D objects and must appear as such and taking front facing photos would defeat that purpose.
So always make sure to scout the surroundings before you start photographing your ecommerce furniture and lifestyle products.
In the image above, although there is sufficient space, the background is accurate and the image has the right composition and adequate number of elements, something still doesn’t feel right.
The issue is the angle of the ecommerce furniture product photography. As the photo has been taken from a front facing angle, the furniture product appears to look flat. This is an example of a photograph where the furniture product looks 2D instead of 3D, hence making it difficult for the consumer to be able to gauge what it would appear like in real life.
Let me now show you an example of an accurately photographed ecommerce furniture product and lifestyle image.
In the image above, the ecommerce furniture photographer has ensured that the space where they need to photograph the chair is sufficient and is at least thrice the size of the furniture product itself.
Moreover, they have also taken the background of the image into consideration. And have opted to photograph the furniture product in front of a darker background, instead of a plain white one, so as to add depth in the ecommerce product image and bring out the colour of it, more.
Additionally, they have also placed a small vase next to the furniture product to give context without overcrowding the ecommerce image and the char is maintained as the “hero” of the ecommerce product photoshoot.
Lastly, the photograph has been taken from a lower, perspective angle to ensure the ecommerce image looks 3D and entices the customer to aid their purchase decision.
This is an example of a perfectly photographed ecommerce furniture and/or lifestyle product image.
Bonus Tip 5: Take the help of Ecommerce Photoshop Image Editing Service Providers
There are certain elements required to be added in an ecommerce lifestyle image to bring out the aesthetic value, such as adding shadows, enhancing color, image retouching and other elements. To achieve all of that a Photoshop image editing company is the perfect solution.
Photoshop image retouching experts can easily fix any mistake a photographer or photo studio makes as well as add subtle changes, to enhance the overall aesthetic appearance of the ecommerce product and stills image.
My absolute go-to for this are the exceptionally talented digital product illustrators and photo retouchers at EIE who can dramatically improve the quality appeal of ecommerce product photos, and provide customers with an unforgettable shopping experience.
Here’s Why You Should Choose EIE For All Footwear And Fashion Accessory Retouching Needs
If you are looking for a perfect outsourcing agency that can truly help you uplift the visual content of your website, you must collaborate with the most renowned outsourcing firm i.e. EIE, trusted by the top international brands for retouching their images.
With 20 years of e-commerce experience, we are pioneers of the industry. We always listen and customize product images based on what you – the clients – want. From simple furniture to complex restructuring: we have retouched millions of ecommerce images.
No matter the need of your furniture brand, our high-end lifestyle and furniture retouching services cater to everything. So come be a part of our EIE family!