This product photography post came about as many of my best posts do, because I was interested in seeing what best in class shops were doing in their product photos.
Selling digital products is not the same as selling a physical product. Oftentimes there is no “actual” pictures that you can take so you have to improvise.
The one thing that I did notice was that the best photos were showing the product in action. It seems that knowing exactly what they are getting helps reassure shoppers, especially when they are buying a digital file.
Printable Daily Planner Page | Day Planner, Goal Setting, To Do List, Daily Schedule, Time Management Calendar | Letter Sized 8.5X11, PDF
This is one of my new product photography pictures. I used to have all stylized banners, but I am finding that having candid shots of my business planner forms in action works better for getting views.
I have to say that this is a little dark and grungy but that is the way that I like my photos to look so there is high contrast with the white planner pages.
Paperly People delivers a PDF file, Word Doc and and has a bonus video included.
Digital Collage Sheet OVAL Enchanted Birds 30×40 mm Digital Collage Vintage Birds Printable Pendants Magnets Instant Download
I love that Digital Collage has this digital product show “in use” on the necklace and then the little cutouts all showing next to it.
Cameo Shoppe has it beautifully branded with their logo. This is a digital download of a .jpg file.
Bible Journalling Digital DownloadThis one is especially neat because she shows both the sheet that they will actually get and how it will look in their bible journal.
There is some really great product styling going on in this picture too. It isn't just the sheet or the bible but a bit of both and they are extremely powerful. If I was bible journal-er I would totally be interested in this item.
The Joyful Journal delivers it as a PDF file.
Bit*h Swear word DIY Print at home Digital Download Colouring Page, Adult Coloring, Swear words colouring page, sweary coloring.
This is a super cute way to show the print and then that it is a coloring page. Based on the fact that they are all the same layout in her shop, I bet that she has a Photoshop file that has the pencils as a layer. But it was still catchy and graphic enough to catch my eye, even after I had looked at hundreds of digital files before it.
Wicked Lovely Art delivers a PNG file.
Birthday Invitation Digital Download – Cheers and Beers to 30 Years
This one is really nice. They just show the completed card without showing the digital file that they will receive. This one is a little different because she does customize these files and has printing available so much more hands on than than most of the digital download creators.
Ida Claire Designs delivers a JPG file.
2016 Mini Calendars for Crafts Digital Download – Printable
I love how Purple Pony Art shows exactly how the files will work. She actually shows it being used on a project and also how to use cutting tools to make the calendars!
While she does use the cutting mat as a background for photos, she styles them all differently so that they have a similar feeling but not generic.
She delivers a PDF file.
Beaded Bracelet Tutorial Edwardian Splendor Digital Download
This tutorial by Jewelry Tales is really neat. It is a great picture of the completed product made, but there is also a great shot of the tutorial handout page.
I like that it is super obvious that this is a digital product rather than a physical item.
She delivers a PDF file.
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, Quote Digital Print, Christmas Printable Art Gift Ideas, Holiday Wall Art Decor, DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
Alright, as much as I said above that I liked the different product photography layouts, The Ivy Letter Shop does a great job of using stock backgrounds with the different printable files Photoshopped on them.
What I think they do really well is to show all different of the items main pictures so it doesn't wind up looking like a whole page of the same product.
They deliver a ZIP file document.
Infographic Resume Bundle | 4 Indesign and Word Templates | Professional and Creative Cv Resume Designs | Instant Digital Download
I love a couple of things about this one that I love. First off the design of this banner is really stunning. Based on the fact that they are selling a design product, that makes sense!
Secondly, I like that The Resume Creator isn't dumbing it down, she (or he) is delivering an InDesign file. InDesign is a super technical program that only designers use.
Pets. More Organized. – Pet Info, Vet Info, Vaccinations and Medication Trackers, and Petsitter Notes Digital File
Life More Organized does a great job of using “stock images” as backgrounds for their worksheet pages.
I really like the idea of being able to crank out pictures easily. They have a custom done cover file available.
They deliver these files via PDF.
Woodland favor tags printable, woodland baby shower tags, woodland birthday favors, thank you tags, woodland animal favors
I liked Magic Party Designs very much because they have both a “candid” version of the tags and then show how the printable file looks second.
Having looked at lots of printable products at this point, I think there is a fine line between showing it in action and not being clear that it is a digital file. They did this very well.
nineties photo booth props – perfect for a throw back 90s theme party or a crazy retro themed event
I really like what The Party Event has done here. They have the printables laid out laid out on what looks like a cardboard background.
Then they have lots of candid pictures of the product printables in use.
They deliver a PDF file.
Up Birthday | Up Party | Up Party Printable | Up Decorations | Up Printable
I like this picture because it shows a number of different views of products. And then they have a second picture of the printable file after it.
Again, this is a really great way to show that there will not be a physical product mailed out and to be clear what the product actually is.
Layouteria does personalize this design with the child's name.
They send out a PDF printable file.
Printable Labels – INSTANT and EDITABLE – Pantry Labels, Bathroom Labels, Office Labels, Organization Tags
This makes my marketing heart happy. They obviously were featured in the Better Homes and Gardens magazine and have that showing on their picture.
What GREAT social prof this is that this product will help organize a home!
Tidy Lady Printables delivers a PDF file with the printables.
Printable Thank You Labels, Thank You Tags, Thank You Stickers – 3 Inch Square – INSTANT DOWNLOAD – Gift Tags, Product Stickers
This one is kind of neat. I saw the tag and thought, how the heck could you print that out. But because they have a picture of the printable sticker behind it, it became really clear that it would just be cutting out a square and putting it onto a die cut tag.
That came through really clearly from the product photo so I feel like Green Originals did a really great job of storytelling with their product photography.
They deliver a PDF file.
Instant download Steampunk Envelopes Printable Envelopes instant download digital collage sheet VD0292
This one from Vectoria Designs was cool because of how explicit their product photography was.
Yes, they have two pictures of the product printed out, but then they show the actual sheet of paper with scissors in front of it. Scissors… of course to show that it gets cut out, but I felt like it was really a great example of what to do with the product.
They send out 4 PDFs zipped up.
Digital Product Photography Wrapup
Okay, I have now spent several hours going through product photography shots of digital products. In doing so I came to a few conclusions that I am going to share with you here…
1. It is really deceiving when there is no picture of the flat digital file. The people selling patterns are bit on this one. They will have 5 photos of the product made and no photos showing what the pattern looks like.
2. It is really great to have candid shots. None of the ones that I picked had the digital files showing as the front picture. It is best to have your first photo be a candid shot and then you can have the digital file as one of the back photos.
3. It is okay to use stock photo backgrounds so long as you mix them up and don't have a shop that looks like “same old, same old” around the back corner.
4. There is a theory that a shop looks better when all the pictures are similarly styled but that is a really easy shop to ignore. It might be great for individual photos, but when you come upon a shop that all the photos look exactly the same on a whit background it get pretty bland.
