White Background Photography

It seems that photos with pure white backgrounds are all the rage online. Should your product images be on white?

It's not as simple a decision as it seems. Yes, there are certainly many advantages to shooting your products against a white background as we will discuss below, but always think about what you are trying to convey first, and then decide if it's right for you. Just because everyone is doing it, does not means you should too. In fact, that is one of the strongest reasons against doing it. In advertising, you do not want to blend in with your competitors, you must stand out.

Benefits of white background photography

White background images eliminate all distractions and focus the attention on your product.

If you are selling a product, and you want to present it in a clean direct manner, white backgrounds get right to the point. There is nothing between the viewer and the subject. The subject may be your product, it may be your staff, it may be you. Against a white background, all eyes will go directly to the image. This is great when you know what you want to convey and you don't want to waste time with eyes wandering all over the page.

The white background effect is generally easier to work with online.

Let's say you use a white background for your web pages. Images shot on white, will blend right in and look seamless. With the proper lighting and shadows, the product will appear to be sitting directly on the page, or possibly floating above it. There are limitations to this, however, to avoid a sharp cropped edge. If you show the entire product with plenty of white surrounding it, the image will look seamless. If you need to zoom in on some feature and show only part of the product, you will inevitably leave a hard cropped edge as shown in the example below. Think about how you will be using your images. If you have a lot of close up details that need to be shown, you may end up losing the seamless effect anyway and may have better results with a different style of image.

You can easily isolate products from pure white backgrounds.

A lot of clients want to be able to easily place product images in catalogs, brochures, web sites etc and not be limited to rectangular borders. You may have limited room to work, and want to place the product photo, alongside accompanying text. Our clients often want to be able to take just the product image, and slide it around without any background attached to it so it can be freely placed anywhere on any other background. To accomplish this requires isolating the product from the background and saving it in a file format that allows the product and the background to be handled separately. Photoshop is considered the industry standard for this type of editing, using clipping paths to define the edges of the product outline. There are a wide range of commercial photographic applications for isolated images. If you need your product shots to be isolated, we offer that as an additional service.

White background images may be easier to download.

When you are working online, image size is always a concern. You want to show large, high quality, clear images without slowing download times to the point you start losing visitors. By properly optimizing images for web you can achieve exactly that. Once you have invested in high quality photography, you will proudly want to show off your product to the world. A white background, or any solid color background for that matter, can help drastically reduce the file size and make the images easier for customers with slow connections to download.

White background photography is very affordable for any business.

One of the top reasons many companies go with white background photography, is its relatively low cost. But keep in mind, although white background images can be inexpensive compared to complete custom sets, they are not the cheapest form of photography. As with everything in life, there are high quality and low quality versions. By quality, we are not referring to the image resolution. You can have a 1 megapixel low resolution image that is far superior to a 30 megapixel shot if the photographer knows what they are doing. In photography, quality is generally referring to the overall visual appeal of the image, and how effectively it communicates the message of the client. When marketing your business, and your products, having the best images possible will pay off many times over, while a poor quality image will cost you a significant amount in lost sales. It is far cheaper to spend a bit more and do your photos right the first time, then trying to get by with amateur work and have it pull your whole business down with it.

You can view some of our rates and place an order of white background custom photography of your own products by clicking here.

Cons:

It is difficult to convey feelings and emotions on white.

We are not saying it cannot be done, but it is difficult. Color can be used to set the mood and convey feelings. If you are using only white, you must make up for the lack of emotion thru other means.

In order to work your web pages must be white.

If you have a colored, or textured background, the edges of the white box will show. That defeats the purpose of having a pure white background. One way to get around that is to use a matching color background in the photos. That will most likely require editing to achieve since even the slightest variation will make the edges of the photo stand out.

It can be boring.

You must be careful when using solid color backgrounds, regardless of whether they are pure white, pure black, or any other color. In real life everything we see is viewed relative to its surrounding environment. If you isolate your product, and remove all of its environment, you run the risk of creating something alien, unnatural, and lacking any emotion. This is commonly seen when isolated images are used without any thought and end up in catalogs and web page packed in with text just to save space. Web pages are not expensive, and you do not need to treat them like a newspaper ad where every inch costs a lot of money. Your images are often your most powerful sales tool. Put some thought in to how you will use the images to achieve the most effective results. Treat them with respect, and your customers will see your products in a whole new light. Images are there to help you sell, not to make your advertising look boring.

Everyone is using white background photos online.

This is a strong reason not to use it. If you do not have a strong reason to use white, then it may be best if you do not. Simply copying what everyone else is doing is no way to run a business. That is a surefire way to end up as just another place in the crowd. Creating a strong and recognizable brand should always be at the top of your list of priorities. If a white background helps you create a stronger brand, wonderful, let's use it. But if your brand is better off pink, then don't use white because you want to fit in. Do what is best for the long term success of your business, it will pay off in the long run.

Remember, always think : What do I want my images to convey? Put some thought into this and you will find it much easier to decide what style photography to use.

As always, we are here to help.

Call us and tell us about your situation and we will be happy to help. When you work with Pageimagine, you are getting not only high quality images, but also years of marketing expertise that can be priceless in helping you make your business a success. We believe in creating intelligent designs to help our clients grow.