25 Best Shoe Photography Ideas You Must Know
Shoe photography is a type of photography that makes use of shoes as the main subject. It can be done in a variety of ways and there are many different shoe photography ideas and tips to follow. Some people think that it is an obsessive hobby while others find it to be a creative outlet for their passion.
Footwear photography is a simple yet innovative thing to perform. Every product photographer is not capable of producing shoe photography masterpieces.
It requires talent, skill as well as experience to create majestic and premium shoe images. With a high-quality set of shoe photos, you offer people a memorable buying experience.
This not only lets them feast on the aesthetic of the products but also ramps up the number of sales.
Shoe Photography Ideas
Shoes are one of the most photographed objects in the world. They are also one of the most expensive items in our wardrobe. You can take some great photographs with shoes, but you need to understand how to pose them. The best way is to place them against a plain background like a wall or curtain and make sure they are well-lit.
In this post, we will go through some shoe photography ideas that will help you take better pictures of shoes.
1. Plan and Research Before Shooting
The first and foremost thing you should do before you go for product shooting is proper planning and research. It’s very crucial that you have a clear idea of what you are going to do in the entire process of shoe photography. Research and planning don’t imply that you have to sit for hours on the chair rather you have to execute it wisely.
Set ideas in your mind and gather knowledge about the camera settings, lighting, background, etc. You can sit with a laptop and prepare some simple questions like how many pairs of shoes you will shoot, what will be the colors, how many angles you need to portray the products perfectly, etc.
2. Be Intelligent to Select Your Location
Picking the right location for footwear photography is pivotal. Otherwise, you are unlikely to achieve the prospective output. In order to garner optimal outcomes, choosing the outdoors as the location is the best. This is because the outdoors provides natural lighting, which gives a better representation of footwear.
Footwear is a product that requires proper lighting, and it’s tricky to achieve that indoors. You have to keep a close eye on the light distribution while shooting indoors.
On top of that, if you are shooting footwear indoors, don’t place shoes on a sparkling surface as the reflection and shadow coming from it can cause a disturbance in the product image.
3. Use White Background
If you want to achieve the best shoe photo output, background color plays a vital role in achieving that. You should go for a white background when shooting a pair of shoes, as a colored background can match the color of your shoes.
Besides retaining the color of the shoes intact, a white background also helps you focus on the photography regardless of the model, props, and other factors. Avoid using a stuffed background as well to appeal to the clients towards the shoes.
4. Refrain from Laying the Shoes Flat
The simplest thing that can wreck your shoe photography is just to lay the shoes flat, making the display of them unflattering and lifeless. When you lay shoes flat, the details of the shoes get concealed which reduces the curiosity of the buyers towards the shoes. Even the color of the shoes also appears unappealing due to improper placement.
This impedes the clients to make up their decisions to snap up their required pair of shoes. As a result, you incur a loss due to your inappropriate display.
5. Display It as if It Is Worn by Someone
Clients always imagine how they will look before deciding to purchase any product including footwear. To intrigue customers online, it’s incumbent for you to exhibit your footwear in a way that it looks like being worn by a person. You can even create an illusion that would portray the footwear to be worn by someone.
You can also produce this illusion with dental floss by holding it up. Apart from that, you can use tissue paper or a tiny piece of cloth to stuff the pair of shoes. With these techniques, you can display your online shoes.
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6. Focus On Proper Lighting
If you aim to carry out perfect shoe photography, lighting is one of the key factors you have to keep in mind. Perfect lighting can illuminate your product and make it enchanting while poor lighting can damage your product and make it unflattering.
Well! You should utilize natural lighting instead of dark lighting as the shadows of dark lighting are likely to hamper the exhibition of the footwear perfectly. Make sure the sunlight doesn’t fall directly onto your set as it can affect your photo. Make use of a lightbox for your photography but you can also use three lamps, one on top, left, and right for the prospective outcome.
7. Emphasize Even on the Minute Details
Many photographers fancy applying soft focus in their shots to be creative and it’s a good technique in photography. But when it comes to product photography, we don’t recommend employing soft focus as clients always look for clarity in the product they want to buy.
So, when you are shooting footwear, avoid applying soft focus as it won’t create a positive impression in the minds of the potential buyers. They will think the shoe was blurred to conceal imperfections in it. Hence, to fix this issue, you can use an f/11 high aperture as it will give you a perfect focus. You can also make use of a tripod for steady shoe photography. This will let you achieve the result that you aspire.
8. Capture From Different Angles
When your target is online sales or displaying products in a catalog, you have to think about the mindset of the clients. Before buying a pair of shoes, customers want to view the product from different angles. They can’t make up their mind about buying shoes just by looking from one angle.
Many product photographers commit the error by shooting shoes from one angle which deter the shoes from displaying holistically. Therefore, to catch the attention of the customers, you have to take shots from every possible angle.
Then, you have to post the images for sale in such a way that potential buyers can notice every part of the footwear, thereby scaling up the chances of sales.
9. Don’t Hold Back to Showing Your Creativity
Product photographers have the full liberty to exhibit their innovative ability by thinking outside the box. To showcase your innovativeness in shoe photography, you can go for adding reflections while taking shots. You can add reflections by placing the pair of shoes in a little upper position and keeping some water down the shoes. This will create a mirror reflection of the footwear.
You can also keep the footwear standing just in front of the water to create a reflection from a different angle. By adding reflection, the footwear will not only look classy and unique but also draw the attention of the buyers.
10. Hire a Model Intellectually for Shoe Photography
If you are looking to bring a professional touch to footwear photography, there is no better option than to hire a good model. When a model wears a product, potential buyers get pumped up to snap up the product. When it comes to footwear, it’s not a piece of cake to sell it online.
You have to portray it in such a way that customers feel confident to buy it. This is where hiring a model comes into play as he/she provides the vibe of how a person will look wearing the shoes.
On top of that, when a good model wears a pair of shoes, it becomes a brand. But you have to be very circumspect in selecting a model, as a cheap model can ruin the entire goal. So, go for a model that can attract clients to the shoes.
11. Put Your Best Shoe Products Forward
While you are going to take photos of multiple shoes for making photo collages, you should keep the best shoes in front. When choosing products, the customers view the front products first out of a collage. If you have colorful shoes, arrange those as near the frame as possible. The closer images will catch the customers’ attention effectively.
You may also read: How to Create Photo Collage in Photoshop.
12. Avoid Capturing Flat Shoe’s Photograph
Even when you buy something online, think you don’t choose the products that lay limp and lifeless. If the item is captured in a flat position, the buyer cannot understand its details and this fact creates a gap between the product’s quality and the buyers’ thoughts.
A pair of flat shoes cannot create an illusion. They fail to attract the customers buying attention. So, as a photographer, if you take flat photos of products, they will not perform well as eCommerce items and eventually, your client will suffer while trying to boost shoe sales.
Instead, try to take shoe photos upright and smartly. Don’t let the items flat down, pressed, or tapped. In need, use other helping elements to keep the products standstill with their energy. Put inside the shoe papers, tissues, or soft clothes so that they look elegant and sophisticated.
Don’t think that it is cheating, rather it is the art of photo shooting and every professional photographer or retailer does it. It is a matter of interesting fact that shoppers understand it.
13. Avoid Messing Out the Frame
While taking shoe photos don’t jumble or mess out the photo frame. Try to keep the product image clear and isolate it from stuffing with other appliances. Keep some blank spaces around the subject, but do not leave too many negative spaces.
You can keep some relevant things or props for branding. However, cluttering the product photo frame with many distracting elements will ruin the business's purpose. Such product images in online stores are not ideal to display. These product images get lose their beauty and fail to catch potential customers’ eyesight.
You may also read- Single Vendor Online Store vs. Multi-vendor Marketplace.
14. Leverage Day Light
Lighting is everything during product photography. An appropriate light can make your products appealing to the customers. Lighting makes a shoe product photo glossy and glamorous. At the same time, bad lighting will damage your photography purpose.
However, to get the best light for product photography, place your product just next to a big window to avail yourself of the maximum light. You can use a softbox for studio photography with artificial light. But we recommend using board daylight. Taking any photos in daylight is several times better than taking them utilizing artificial lighting.
15. Focus Right Area of Shoe Products
The more your product is in focus, the more your customer will get the product details. Sometimes you can take images with soft focus, but it hinders the buyers from seeing the details of items. The soft-focus may seem artistic, but keeping the matter of customers in mind, try to take images with full focus.
Take images focusing on the entire product to get the best customer-oriented product photos. Use a higher aperture on your camera.
16. Take Product Photos From Every Angle
To provide the customer with details about your products, you have to take more and more images from different angles. Your customers want to see everything about what they are going to purchase.
So, try to take photographs of shoes from all sides such as the left side, right side, top side, back side, front side, etc.
In the case of show product images, take photos closely so that purchasers can understand shoe textures. You can shoot images from many other corners. Don’t relax taking a product image from just 2 or 3 sides.
17. Add a Perfect Background
If you take background removal service for product images, it is needless to say to add any background. But, if you decide not to edit the background of shoe photographs, you have to be concerned about taking the right photography background.
Since the background is a crucial issue for product photo shooting, we recommend using solid white backdrops. Even if you change your decision to receive Photoshop background editing services, later on, you can do it easily DIY at home or from an agency just because of using a solid background.
18. Add Reflection Shadow
To make your shoe photos more artistic and elegant, try to add some reflection shadows to it. You can take Photoshop shadow services, but if you want it during product photo shooting, we suggest you take the shoe photos from on top of a glassy surface.
You can use a mirror or if you are a thinker out of the box, keep some water just beneath the product. Both will provide you reflection shadow effect at the time of capturing photos.
19. Use a Live Celebrity Model
Celebrities have millions of followers who imitate their idols. The followers always keep a keen eye on their model and his/her fashion. So, during product photography, use a popular celebrity model wearing the best shoes. Because of the human model for shoe photos, the sales of shoe products will get a boost.
Reminder! Don’t use a cheap celebrity model. If you do so, your photography purpose may not be fulfilled. Find an experienced male model or female model who can give appropriate expression as per your shoe products.
20. Create a Story
When you take product photos, try to create a concept or story. Whether you are going to take sports shoe photos, walking shoe photos, gym shoe photos, or regular fashion shoe photos, etc. always try to use a celebrity model from the related field.
Create a story relating to a popular incident with that model and take shoe photos or brand-promoting short videos. See more and more photos or videos of existing professional photographers or videographers, have ideas out of their works, create your own story, and finally, shoot accordingly. You must get your desired stunning shoe images.
21. Get 360˚ Shoe photos
3D or 360˚ photo is one of the latest photography trends. It is also useful for small product photos such as shoes or jewelry items. It gives shoppers detailed product views.
You will not lose any blank space and your photograph will appear like a video. To get a shake-free perfect 360˚ shoe photo, use a turntable during photo shooting. If you are a full-time product photographer, we recommend investing in buying some modern product photography equipment.
22. Shoe Photo Editing and Retouching tips
Mere Photography is not enough in most cases for eCommerce product photos. Rather the product images need the professional touch of Photoshop or other image-enhancing tools. Due to many reasons, your images of shoe products may not be perfect and need to be fixed.
However, here we are going to provide you with some exclusive shoe photo fixing tips that you can leverage to beautify shoe photos for your online store.
23. Remove Shoe Image Background
If your shoe photos contain distracting backgrounds, apply the clipping path and background removal technique in Photoshop. Highlight the shoe product in the image frame. Most of the eCommerce platforms recommend a white background in product photos.
Shoe photo with clean backgrounds performs better and increase sales multiple times. If you can remove the backdrop by yourself, do it or hire a photo editing company.
24. Shoe Color Enhancing
Shoe images should be shiny and glossy. They must be attractive like other product photos. At the first attempt at Photo shooting, if you don’t get the attractive color of shoe images, get color correction services. It will help you tweak color-related issues.
Enhance shoe photo lighting to create glossiness. If you need different versions of a product, take color change or matching services. Perfect shoe color can draw potential shoppers’ attention.
25. Shoe Image Retouching and cleaning
Sometimes product images contain specks of dust, spots, scratches, etc, that are alarming for high-end quality product photos. They need to be cleaned. If your shoe pictures have specks of dust and spot issues, Photoshop the images and achieve the best quality shoe images for the e-commerce business. Hire designers or do it yourself to remove dust and spots utilizing different tools and options of Photoshop.
Take Advantage of the World-Class Image Retouching Companies
Once you are done with your shoe photography, that’s not the end. You have to emphasize post-processing. It’s unwise if you post your photos on various platforms for commercial purposes without optimizing them.
You might have carried out your photography with the utmost endeavor and care but yet flaws are bound to exist in your shots. This happens due to wrong camera settings, lighting issues, using improper background, etc. But no need to worry about that as you have the full opportunity to retouch them and iron out the defects. This retouching will add a final polish to your shoe photos.
You can do it yourself but to get a professional touch, you should take assistance from the image editing companies that are giants in the industry. Top-notch photo retouching companies have the expertise to administer photo appearance as you fancy. They can discover the shortcomings in your footwear photography and bring life to the images. They offer high-end shoe photo retouching, background removal, image shadow services, etc.
To Conclude
Snapping a pair of shoes encompassing all the details in a frame without excluding integral parts is what makes you a classy shoe photographer. We have tried to present the necessary hacks for you to nail shoe photography. These pieces of information will help both newbie and seasoned footwear snappers.
Applying these tips and tricks will, no doubt, polish your footwear images. This will let you have an optimal customer shopping experience. We hope you will benefit immensely from the write-up. Until next time, just chill and rejoice.
