How to Create 360 E-Commerce Product Images

Selling products online requires competitive advertising to stand out among your competitors. Through eye-catching logos, paid social media ads and user-friendly websites, the effort you put into selling your products will help lead you to success. A crucial aspect that will take your business to the next level is using high-quality product images.

Capturing the perfect product image can make your website look professional, give customers a better look at your products and help you make more sales. For the ultimate professional product image, learn how to create 360 product images. These photos are becoming increasingly popular for businesses to capture visuals of their products.

Learn everything you need to know about creating 360-degree product photos and how owning a 360 product camera can impact your business.

What Are 360 Degree Product Photos?

In short, 360 view product photography is a process that creates 360 product images. The photos taken will capture all angles of a product, which creates a full view image that you post on your website. 360 object photography is beneficial for businesses that have product pages or advertise products on social media. 360 product images are more engaging for customers and provide them with significantly more information than a two-dimensional product photo.

These product photos are comprised of a row of many two-dimensional photographs of an object at various angles. All of the photos together create a 360 product photo, allowing customers to rotate the items to see the entirety of the object in the photo. 360 product photos and videos are the closest your customers can get to see your products without being inside a physical store. As a result, customers can interact with your products in a way that makes your e-commerce store feel realistic.

The process of taking a 360 product photo requires special equipment that helps create the 360-degree rotating image on your website. Read on to learn how to make a 360 view of a product.

Do You Need a Professional Photographer?

Do you need a professional photographer to make a 360 view of a product? No! In fact, you don’t even need to use HTML coding to create 360 images or gifs. With the right 360 photography equipment, applications and skills, you can tackle this project on your own.

Investing in photography equipment can benefit your business. While highly skilled professional photographers are available, it can cost you more in the long run to continually hire someone to take your 360 product photos. Learning how to use the equipment, take the photos and create the 360 images is completely doable by any business professional who wants to improve their product marketing.

Are you ready to invest in 360 product photography equipment and create professional photos for your website and social media platforms? Learning how to take 360 object photos requires quality equipment and a couple of steps to develop them.

E-Commerce Product Photography Equipment

The equipment you use for your 360 photos is the main factor that will transform your photos into unique product photos. Fortunately, you can skip the pricey photoshoots and equip your business with advanced 360 photography equipment for stunning results.

Here are some common equipment items you’ll use for 360 photography:

• Photo Booths
  Having a clean and plain background allows your product to stand out. Additionally, plain backgrounds are easy to edit and alter in photo editing software. Using photo studios, photo booths or background paper is essential when shooting 360 product photos. Some of the photo boxes on the market that will make creating 360 photos easy are the:
  • Foldio1 10-inch foldable photo booth.
  • Foldio2 Plus 15-inch photo box.
  • Foldio3 25-inch by 25-inch photo booth.
  All of these options come with lighting and are easy to set up and take down.
• Cameras
  An important product you’ll need is a 360 camera for product photography. Rather than investing in a new camera, you can simply use your smartphone to capture the images. Using a phone-mounted tripod and an app that connects to your equipment, you can capture excellent photos to create your 360 product photo. Plus, you can try HD mobile lens kits to enhance your smartphone’s camera quality.
  
  Alternatively, try a DSLR camera with an optional manual mode. Shooting in manual mode is important for 360 photos because it will keep all of the settings consistent for the 360 image sequence. Taking photos in auto mode can change the lighting, color and other aspects of each photo you take. Having a sequence of photos that all look different won’t look seamless once you combine them for a 360 photo.
• Tripod
  A tripod will keep your camera secure so every photo in the sequence is shot at the exact same position. This makes the final 360 product image look professional. A premium tripod will help you take the perfect shots for every 360 photo.
  
  Find quality tripods like the:
  • TRIPOD 50V lightweight tripod that comes with a smartphone mount, a QR plate, a pan bar and a carrying bag.
  • TRIPOD130 carbon fiber tripod that comes with two hex wrenches, a QR plate, replaceable foot spikes, a karabiner and a carrying bag.
• Lights
  Take your photo from dull and boring to bright and eye-catching when you use the proper lighting for your photo booth. After all, you want your object to be well-lit and have every aspect visible when you capture the 360 photo sequence. Using LED lights in your photo booth can ensure your space is bright and ready for numerous product photos.
  
  If your photo booth needs more LED lights, check out the Foldio2 Extra LED Kit for a brighter photo space.
• 360-Degree Turntable
  

  A turntable is a piece of equipment that will help get consistent photos of your product. Capture your product at various angles by simply spinning the turntable so you can keep your camera in the same spot and refrain from moving the item as much as possible.

  

  Some effective turntables on the market include:

  • Foldio360 Smart Turntables are easy to use — place them inside of your photo box, launch the compatible Foldio360 app and start taking your 360 product photos with ease. This turntable also includes a built-in Halo Edge light to adjust the brightness of your photo space.
  • The Foldio360 Extension Kit is a 20-inch turntable extension that helps you photograph larger products.
  • The Foldio360 Smart Dome is perfect for shooting smaller items like jewelry. The dome helps remove any glare or shadows that would alter the look of the 360 images.

• Accessories
  Certain accessories can enhance your product photos and make the photography process run smoothly. Whether you need more backdrop items or equipment for 360 product videos, you can upgrade your current equipment with quality accessories.
  
  Check out these useful 360-degree spin photography accessories:
  • Halo bars are an additional lighting accessory — you can have more control over your studio lighting with the Halo-Bar Kit.
  • The Q Mic Video Kit will bring your products to life. With a microphone, two tripods and one dial, you’ll capture noises and sounds from all angles.

How to Take a 360 Photo of an Object

Once you have your equipment, you’re ready to start making your 360 photos or gifs. There are two main steps to develop a three-dimensional product photo for your website. The first thing you’ll need to complete is taking the sequence of photos of a product.

Step 1: Take Photos

Set up all of your equipment and place your product on the turntable. Ensure the lighting is perfect and your camera is set up at a decent angle to capture the product. Using the Foldio360 Smart Turntable along with the Foldio360 app allows you to easily capture the perfect product photos. The app connects to your smartphone camera, smartphone or DSLR camera.

Snap your photos, making sure to capture each angle of the product, left to right and top to bottom.

Step 2: Create the 360 Photo

Next, you’ll need to upload your images to software that will create the 360-degree rotating product image. With the Foldio360 app, you can create 360-degree photos fast. With this app, you’ll complete the following steps to create your 360-degree photo:

1. Edit photos: Now, you’ll make your photos look clean and ready for sharing on your website, social media platforms or any other digital platform. Edit backgrounds to be pure white so the image stands out, change the exposure if necessary, adjust the tint or color of the photos and crop the image to your preferred ratio.
2. Upload edited photos: Next, upload your photos into Spinzam, a 360 image platform that allows you to create the product photo and share it on your website.

The Foldio360 app is user-friendly and makes the entire process of capturing and creating 360 images accessible for anyone.

4. Practice Makes Perfect

Becoming more familiar with your equipment and the photography process may take some time. It’s helpful to practice creating 360 images as much as possible. The process will become easier and you’ll create multiple 360 product photos in no time.

5. Consistent Photos

Switching your product photos on your website to all 360-degree photos will help keep your website consistent. The layout and look of your website are crucial to keeping customers on your pages and welcoming them to look through all of your products. Having high-quality rotating photos for each of your products may impress your visitors and entice them to consider purchasing from your website.

Benefits of 360 Product Images

These unique photos look amazing and are an effective way to grab your customers’ attention. If you’re making the choice to invest in photography equipment and incorporate 360 photos throughout your website, you want to make sure you know what benefits these photos can bring.

Check out the many benefits you can experience from 360-degree product photos:

• Boost in sales: Shopping online can come with uncertainty. Is the product going to look like the photos? Since customers can’t physically hold products when they shop online, seeing 360 product photography examples of what they’re about to buy is the next best thing. Reviewing three-dimensional products can help make customers more confident in their online purchases from your e-shop and help you increase your sales and lower returns.
• Increase ranking on Google: Using high-quality images for Google Shopping can help boost your ranking in the search engine for your products. Searchers may find 360-degree images more useful and relevant while they’re looking for products online.
• Improve throughput: When you invest in quality photography equipment and implement a process that works for your business, you can increase your daily throughput of 360-product photos and overall operations. A more productive business can lead to successful sales and excellent customer experiences.