How to Optimise Product Photos for Your E-Commerce Store

In an increasingly crowded online marketplace, the power of your product photos cannot be overstated. As a Yorkshire-based commercial photographer, I’ve witnessed firsthand how sharp, well-lit images can transform a website’s performance—sometimes turning browsers into loyal customers within seconds.

This guide isn’t just theory. It’s grounded in real-world examples from UK retailers and international brands who have harnessed product photography optimisation to boost profits, reduce returns, and enhance their brand image online. From precise lighting setups to file optimisation and SEO best practices, each section offers actionable insights you can apply right away.

Let’s explore how to elevate your e-commerce store by mastering product photo optimisation—turning every image into a silent salesperson.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in.

Why Do High-Quality Product Images Matter for Your Online Sales?

Consumers can’t touch or try products online. Their only interaction before purchase is through images. This makes every pixel critical. According to research by MDG Advertising, 67% of consumers consider image quality “very important” in their purchase decision. Meanwhile, e-commerce giant ASOS reported a 20% decrease in product returns after improving their imagery with zoom and 360-degree views.

Real-World Results: The Impact on Conversion Rates

Taking the example of Schuh, a UK footwear retailer, they invested in professional product photography combined with lifestyle shots. The result? A 32% increase in click-through rates and a 50% rise in overall sales over 12 months. This wasn’t just luck — the images helped customers imagine wearing the shoes, increasing purchase confidence.

Building Trust Through Consistency and Detail

Consistency in image style and quality across your product range enhances brand recognition and signals professionalism. For instance, luxury watch brand Bremont uses uniform lighting and clean backgrounds to showcase intricate details, establishing a premium feel that supports their pricing strategy.

Technical Insight: Mobile Shopping Growth

With mobile commerce accounting for over 72% of e-commerce sales in the UK (Statista, 2025), images must be optimised not only for desktops but mobile devices—ensuring fast load times and clarity on smaller screens.

What Are the Practical Techniques for Creating Compelling Product Photos?

Creating product images that convert involves a blend of artistic skill and technical understanding. Let’s break down the essentials with examples that you can apply, whether you’re photographing jewellery, electronics, or artisan food products.

Composition: Guiding the Buyer’s Eye

Effective composition helps highlight your product’s unique selling points. For example, a local Yorkshire pottery business photographed their mugs using the rule of thirds, placing the handle in the lower right intersection to draw attention. Cropping tightly around the rim emphasised its smooth finish. This precise framing increased time on page by 15%, according to their Google Analytics.

Try varied angles—flat lays for clothing accessories or macro shots for textures like leather or fabric—to add depth and interest. For instance, high-end leather bag maker Mulberry uses close-up shots to showcase stitching quality, reinforcing the luxury nature of their products.

Exposure and Focus: Capturing True Product Characteristics

Perfect exposure ensures colours and textures appear natural and inviting. Manual camera settings are preferable; for example, using a narrow aperture (f/8 to f/11) keeps the entire product sharp, essential for detailed items like watches or jewellery.

Focus on the product’s key features—such as the embossed logo on a leather wallet—while using a shallow depth of field to softly blur the background. This technique draws the viewer’s eye where it matters most.

Lighting: The Unsung Hero of Product Photography

Lighting can make or break a photo. Natural window light produces soft, flattering shadows ideal for food and crafts, while LED softboxes are better for consistent results with electronics or cosmetics.

For example, a Yorkshire-based skincare brand improved customer feedback by 40% after switching from harsh direct flash to diffused lighting, which better represented product colours and textures online.

Experiment with reflectors to fill shadows and experiment with backlighting for translucent products like glassware.

How Can You Optimise Product Photos for Your E-Commerce Platform?

Capturing great photos is only half the battle. To truly maximise their impact, images must be optimised for web performance, SEO, and user experience.

Multiple Angles and Views: Simulating In-Store Experience Online

Allowing customers to “handle” the product digitally reduces hesitation. Take Apple, for example: their product pages include multiple angles, close-ups, and videos, resulting in a 30% higher conversion rate than average for electronics retailers.

Try to include front, side, back, and top views where applicable. For fashion items, add images showing fit on models to aid purchase confidence.

Showcasing Texture and Details

Sharp close-ups are essential for items where craftsmanship matters—think handmade furniture or bespoke jewellery. Ensure images are at least twice the display size, as this allows zoom features to work smoothly. For example, online jeweller Monica Vinader’s detailed product imagery contributed to a 25% reduction in return rates.

Lifestyle Images: Creating Emotional Connections

Adding lifestyle shots—products in real-life settings—goes beyond showing the product; it tells a story. For instance, the outdoor clothing brand Trespass includes images of people using their gear in Yorkshire’s Peak District, helping customers visualise their own adventures. This approach creates emotional engagement and can increase average order values.

Consistency: Crafting a Cohesive Brand Look

Uniform backgrounds, lighting, and image sizes create a polished, professional feel. The cosmetics brand Charlotte Tilbury uses a consistent pink-hued background and lighting style, instantly recognisable on social media and websites alike. This consistency builds trust and helps customers associate quality with the brand.

Professional Photography Services: When to Invest

While smartphones have improved, professional photography still holds a significant edge in lighting control, composition, and post-processing. Businesses like The Cambridge Satchel Company saw a sales uplift of 35% after commissioning specialist photographers to shoot their products in controlled environments.

Professional photographers also help with image retouching, background removal, and delivering multiple formats optimised for different platforms, saving you time and ensuring quality.

Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC) for Authenticity

Repurposing UGC—customer photos, reviews, and unboxing videos—adds credibility. Fashion retailer ASOS features real customer photos in product galleries, increasing engagement and driving a 50% higher conversion rate on those pages compared to product-only images.

Zoom Functionality: Enhancing Customer Confidence

Implementing zoom and 360-degree spin features allows shoppers to scrutinise every detail. This is especially crucial for jewellery, electronics, and high-end fashion. According to Shopify, stores with zoom features see a 15-30% increase in conversions.

Technical Tips for Image Files and Web Performance

• Use JPEG for photographs to balance quality and file size; PNG is best for logos or graphics with transparency.
• Compress images with tools like Squoosh or TinyPNG to reduce file size without perceptible quality loss.
• Keep individual image files under 70KB where possible to ensure fast loading on mobile devices.
• Implement a Content Delivery Network (CDN) such as Cloudflare or AWS CloudFront to serve images quickly worldwide.
• Use responsive image attributes (srcset) to serve different image sizes depending on device screen resolution.

Optimising Image Names and Alt Tags for SEO

Descriptive filenames and alt text improve Google’s understanding and indexing of your images, boosting organic search traffic to product pages. Avoid generic names like “IMG_1234.jpg”; instead, use “black-leather-brogues-men.jpg”.

Alt tags serve two important functions: they describe images to visually impaired users, and they provide context for search engines. Keep alt text concise, relevant, and naturally incorporate keywords—without keyword stuffing.

Example best practice:

• Filename: organic-cotton-grey-tshirt-front-view.jpg
• Alt text: Organic cotton grey t-shirt front view with crew neck

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the ideal image resolution for e-commerce product photos?

Images should be at least twice the intended display size to maintain sharpness on high-resolution and Retina displays. For example, if your product image appears at 300×300 pixels on your website, the original file should be at least 600×600 pixels. This ensures clarity when customers zoom in or view on high-density screens, improving their shopping experience.

How many product images should I include per product?

Providing a range of 4 to 7 images per product is optimal. This includes multiple angles, close-ups of key features, and lifestyle shots when possible. UK outdoor brand Rab found that increasing images per product from 3 to 6 boosted their conversion rate by over 22%, as customers could better assess product suitability.

Why is lighting so crucial in product photography?

Lighting reveals true colours, textures, and shapes, which are vital for online buyers who cannot physically inspect products. Natural daylight typically offers the best colour accuracy, but controlled artificial lighting with softboxes or diffusers ensures consistent results irrespective of weather or time. Poor lighting can misrepresent products, leading to returns and dissatisfied customers.

Can smartphone photos work for my e-commerce store?

Modern smartphones can capture high-quality images, especially for small-scale sellers starting out. However, they lack the control over lighting, depth of field, and colour accuracy that professional cameras and setups provide. Investing in professional photography or hiring a photographer for key products often pays off with higher conversions and fewer returns, particularly for premium brands.

How do optimised images affect website performance?

Unoptimised images are the largest contributor to slow page loads—accounting for up to 38% of total page weight. Slow-loading pages frustrate users and reduce conversion rates; even a 1-second delay can decrease conversions by 7%. Compressing images, using the right format, and implementing responsive images improve loading speeds, enhance SEO rankings, and keep visitors engaged.

What are best practices for writing image alt text?

Alt text should be concise, descriptive, and accurate—typically under 125 characters. It should describe what the image shows without keyword stuffing. For example, instead of “red shoes buy online cheap,” write “Red leather women’s running shoes on white background.” This helps screen readers and improves SEO without penalisation.

How can user-generated content improve my product pages?

UGC adds authenticity and social proof, which are crucial for building trust. Displaying customer photos, reviews, and testimonials shows real-life usage, encouraging new customers to convert. Brands like Gymshark credit their rapid growth partly to incorporating UGC, which increased average conversion rates by 12% on product pages featuring customer photos.

Summary

Optimising your product photos is not a luxury—it’s a necessity in today’s competitive e-commerce environment. From sharp, well-lit images that reveal every detail, to fast-loading, SEO-friendly files, every aspect contributes to increased conversions, reduced returns, and stronger brand loyalty.

Take inspiration from successful UK brands who invest in professional photography and ensure consistency across all visual content. Don’t overlook the power of lifestyle images and user-generated content to emotionally engage customers.

By applying these techniques and best practices, your product images will not just tell a story—they’ll drive your business growth.

If you’re ready to elevate your online store with expert product photography, feel free to explore my website for tailored solutions and advice.