Product Photography Checklist for Ecommerce Brands

We've photographed everything from eyewear for Kensington Glasses to Peach Bands' products and dishes for Sushi Negi Bar. Each shoot taught us the same thing: the best results come from what happens before the camera comes out. This checklist covers what to sort before, during and after a product shoot, so you get images that sell rather than images that just exist.

Before the shoot

Most of the work that makes a product shoot efficient happens in the briefing. A clear brief means we spend the day photographing, not deciding.

Know where every image will live. A product page, an Amazon listing, an Instagram grid and a printed catalogue all need different things. Tell us every channel up front so we can shoot the right crops and orientations in one go, rather than stretching a square image into a banner later.

Check your platform's rules. Marketplaces are strict. Amazon, for example, wants main images on a pure white background with the product filling most of the frame. Check the current guidelines for every platform you sell on and share them with your photographer.

Build a shot list. For each product, list the angles you need: front, back, side, detail, scale, packaging, and any in-use or lifestyle shots. Look at your own best-selling pages and at competitors you admire to see which shots customers expect.

Send a product list with quantities. How many products you can photograph in a day depends on the item, the number of angles and how much styling is involved. A full list helps us recommend a half day or a full day, so you're not paying for time you don't need or rushing at the end.

Prepare the products themselves. Send your best stock, not samples that have been handled at trade shows. Remove price tags and stickers, iron or steam fabrics, polish glass and metal, and bring spares of anything fragile or perishable.

Gather brand references. Share your brand colours, fonts and a few images whose look you like. Consistency across a range is what makes a store feel professional, and it starts with an agreed style.

On the day

On shoot day, consistency is the goal. Every product in a range should look like it belongs to the same brand, shot in the same light.

Lock in the setup. Camera height, lens, lighting and background stay fixed for each product type, so a customer scrolling a collection sees a clean, even grid. Changing them halfway through a range is the quickest way to make a store look amateur.

Get packshots and lifestyle shots. Clean packshots on white or a plain background show exactly what the customer is buying. Lifestyle shots show the product in use and sell the feeling. Most brands need both, and doing them on the same day keeps the look consistent.

Light for the material. Different products need different lighting. Our three example shoots show why:

• Eyewear (Kensington Glasses). Lenses and polished frames reflect everything in the room, including the camera. Glasses need controlled, diffused light and careful angles so the reflections show shape and finish instead of hiding them.
• Accessories (Peach Bands). With small items, close-up detail shots matter most. Texture, stitching and finish are what customers zoom in on, so plan macro shots alongside the full-product views.
• Food (Sushi Negi Bar). Food has a short window before it stops looking fresh. Dishes need to be plated and styled just before they're shot, with the lighting already set, so the kitchen and photographer have to work to one schedule.

Show scale. Customers often can't tell how big something is from a photo on white. A shot in hand, on a person or next to a familiar object cuts down on returns.

Check as you go. Tethering the camera to a laptop lets you see images on a big screen during the shoot. If you're on set, sign off key shots there and then, rather than discovering a problem after delivery.

Add video while you're set up. Short product clips work well on social media and product pages. Because the lighting and styling are already done, adding video to the same booking costs far less than a separate shoot.

After the shoot

Good post-production is what turns a strong set of frames into a store-ready library.

Retouch to one standard. We select the strongest frames and retouch them to a consistent finish: dust and marks removed, colours matched across the range, backgrounds cleaned. Accurate colour matters most. If a customer's order arrives a different shade from the photo, it's likely to come back.

Get the right files for each channel. Agree file formats and sizes in the brief. You'll usually want high-resolution files for print, web-optimised versions for your site so pages load quickly, and cropped versions for social media.

Name files sensibly. File names that include the product name or SKU make uploading simple and help search engines understand your images. Write descriptive alt text when you upload, too. It improves accessibility and helps your products appear in image search.

Plan your next shoot. New stock, seasonal ranges and campaigns all need fresh images. Booking shoots around your launch calendar keeps your store current without a last-minute rush.

The checklist

Save this list, or print it for your next shoot.

Before

• List every channel the images will be used on
• Check marketplace image requirements
• Write a shot list for each product
• Send a product list with quantities
• Clean, prep and de-label the products, and bring spares
• Share brand colours and style references

On the day

• Fix the setup for each product type
• Shoot packshots and lifestyle images
• Light to suit the material
• Include a shot that shows scale
• Review and sign off key shots on set
• Capture short video clips while set up

After

• Retouch everything to one consistent standard
• Check colour accuracy against the real product
• Export print, web and social versions
• Name files by product or SKU and add alt text
• Book the next shoot around your launch calendar

Book a product shoot in Glasgow

Our product photography package is £350 for a half day or £700 for a full day. It covers briefing, shooting, selection, retouching and delivery in the formats your channels need. We're based in Glasgow and work with brands across Scotland and the wider UK.

Send us your product list and the shots you need, and we'll recommend the right booking. Get in touch at info@lethalcreative.co.uk, or see more of our work in the photography portfolio.