How to photograph shoes

Let’s find out how to take shoe and product photography for either a magazine ad or a catalog page professionally. Quality footwear photography is an important factor in driving shoe sales. As a product photographer, I have a problem that we’re not always photographing the most gorgeous things as a woman on the beach or exotic sports cars, it’s a product, namely shoe photography. This footwear means much to the client so we have to treat it like it is an exotic sports car or a fancy fashion shot.  

Whether you are making your own website, presenting Instagram shoes for sale, or shooting interesting and creative ads, these shoe photography tips will help you create quality and interesting pictures.

1. White Background

Footwear on a white background looks very elegant and fashionable. Choose such a background color if you want to discover how to photograph shoes for sale in online stores like Amazon or eBay. This method allows you to focus on shoes, without being diverted by the background, the environment, the model, and other factors. Remember about shadows and proper lighting.

There are several photo editing professionals like Pixofix that can also remove the background.

2. Model

Chose shoes’ sizes: 7 for women, 9 for men.

• For the photos, you need models with thin legs.

• Don’t photograph the whole body of the model, the legs will be sufficient.

• Shoot the model in motion (dancing, walking, jumping).

• The model’s outfit should suit the shoes’ color palette.

3.Angles

• Capture as many angles as possible.

• Photograph the side view.

• Photograph the view from the back.

• Photograph the top view.

• Photograph a view of the product turned slightly to the left / right.

• Take a “detail” shot closer to show texture, material, etc.

DON’T: Provide too few angles.

One of the biggest mistakes in product photography is displaying very few angles of the product on the listing. Customers want to see every side and face of a product as they decide whether or not to invest in it, so DO capture as many angles as possible. Photograph the side view, the view from the back, the top view, a view of the product turned slightly to the left, and all variations of those suggestions. As long as the angles are flattering, you win!

• At least one angled shot of the full set of shoes

• Two straight-on side shots: left and right

• Two angled side shots: left and right

• A shot of the front of the product

• A shot of the back of the product

• A shot of the top view of the product

• A “detail” shot up close to depict texture, material, etc.

Prepare your shoes in advance

Get your shoes in pristine condition before you even start shooting. That will not only help you produce stunning pictures faster but it will also save you valuable time in post production.

In order to avoid more unnecessary work for yourself while you’re shooting, simply make sure you have all the necessary equipment for cleaning your shoes and for showcasing their best shape.

Those items could include:

• Brushes

• Cloths for polishing

• Scissors

• Materials like tissue or paper for stuffing

• Chopsticks to straighten shoes like flats e.g.

• Canned air (for a final touch)

. Light your products correctly

To create beautiful imagery of footwear, you need nice even light to make the shoes in your photos stand out a bit more. You’re basically looking to create a basic overall light setup.

You should have light coming in from both sides towards the shoe. Make sure to keep the contact shadow at the bottom of the shoe.

You might also want to get elements like metalwork to stand out in your pictures if your shoe has such features. That’s why you might need to add some white cart or white reflector in. Add the front fill and look for a wide reflector. Make sure it’s not too bright though - if that’s your case, just lower the exposure.

If you want to light the front part of your shoes but not disrupt the image by over-lighting the front of the shoe, just add a bit of light to the background. Focus and then take the shot. The lighting should look nice and even. Clean out your chrome.

Get the right cameras and lenses

The lens you pick shouldn’t distort your product. To avoid that, make sure you’re on a decent f stop to get everything in focus that you want to get in focus. That will also affect your depth of field.

Specifically: choose a lens of about 15mm or above so you don’t change the look of the shoe. Make sure you’re not changing the shape of the shoe by the lens you’ve chosen. Wide-angle lenses tend to misrepresent the product.

Another important factor to keep in mind: by putting your camera on a tripod, you can choose any shade speed that you like. That will help you reduce the ISO so you don’t get a noisy picture, and instead, you end up with a nice clean image that has good sharpness overall. Because you’ve chosen a good f stop and as your camera’s on a tripod, the shutter speed won’t matter.

DON’T: Crop ineffectively.

Inconsistent cropping is one of the easiest mistakes to make in product photography. Your customers will see if some of your footwear images are more rushed in than others, and they will notice if products the same distance away from the camera are higher or lower than each other. They will notice differences in lighting, differences in focus, and so on.

Now that you know all about the DOs and DON’Ts of footwear product photography, dodging the DON’Ts and using the DOs to your advantage should be easy.

Recognizing these basic teachings in your product photos will significantly improve the quality attractiveness of your online product selection and provide your site visitors with great shopping experiences.

Resources: https://www.pixofix.com/stories/blog/

https://www.wikipedia.org/