You may have heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”; it’s a sure-shot fact when you want to sell your products online.
Good high-quality photos of clothes are going to have a massive input in the success of selling clothes online.
So, if you want to:
- Sell your second-hand clothes
- Open an online clothing store
Here’s an in-depth guide on how to take photos of clothes that will help you to sell them online.
8 Tips on How to Take Pictures of Clothes to Sell
1. Find Good Lighting
Good lighting can highlight the color and texture of the clothing, while poor lighting can make the clothing look dull or distorted.
To create good lighting, there are a few key things you can do:
- Use natural lighting when possible: This can help showcase the color and texture of the clothing. Also, you would be saving on the cost of buying lighting equipment. Avoid harsh shadows or bright spots that can make the clothing look uneven. However, keep in mind natural light does not stay the same throughout the day. This will make it difficult to take consistent multiple photos with similar lighting angles as the sunlight shifts throughout the day.
- Use additional lighting: use the help of ring lights or light box lighting kits to achieve even lighting.
- Diffuse light: When possible, use diffused lighting to help create a soft, even light that highlights the clothing in the best possible way.
Following these recommendations will help to showcase the clothing in the best possible way.
2. Select a Proper Background
Backgrounds play important roles in the presentation of your clothes in photos. In this case, you need to pick a background that not only won’t overpower your clothes but also complement them.
The best solution would be to pick a white or neutral background.
Most of the top brands in the clothing e-commerce industry use plain white or black backgrounds to make the clothes stand out.
Avoid unnecessary objects in the background since they can distract people and make them pay less attention to your clothes.
For extra creativity, you can play with different backgrounds that match the style of your clothes.
Moreover, a background that is textured with bricks or wood can also work, but of course, that depends on your taste.
3. Position Your Clothes
First, decide how you want to position your clothes. There are a few main choices:
- Flat lay
- Hanger
- Model
- Mannequin
The most popular way of positioning the clothes is to flat-lay them. If you are not going to sell your clothesinn a professional ecommerce store, flat lay or hanging the clothes on a hanger is going to be enough.
4. Take Pictures with your Smartphone or Camera
If you have a professional camera, that’s great. But if you do not, a smartphone camera is really enough. Today, more than 85% of all photos are taken with smartphones.
Remember, your goals are to:
- Showcase clothes in a pleasant way
- Grab the attention of potential buyers
So using your smartphone camera with a proper setup you are going to have enough mobility, and quality to make great pictures.
5. Use a Tripod for Stability
A tripod is the best solution for avoiding blurry pictures.
Tripods will prove to be extremely handy for the stability of your camera and also to ensure and maintain the right angle for the pictures of your clothes.
Also, a tripod is a great help when you need to keep your photos consistent. For example, you can take pictures of different clothes in the same position with the same zoom and background, without moving your camera.
Make sure that your camera is stable and your tripod is stable. Rightfully adjust the height of your tripod to capture your photo at the proper height.
6. Capture Pictures from Different Angles
Take multiple photos from different angles and distances to cover different aspects of the clothes. These aspects include texture, colors and design.
Take photos of the front, back, sides, and any interesting details to give potential buyers a full view of the product.
- To capture the fit, consider taking photos of your clothes on a model or a mannequin.
- To capture the physical aspects of your clothes try zooming in on the texture, take pictures from the front and back and also zoom in on the zippers/buttons.
7. Find a ‘Model’
The best way to showcase your clothes is to put them on somebody so potential buyers can see what they would really look like.
Don’t get me wrong.
If you are selling second-hand clothes there is no need to hire a professional model.
The ‘model’ can be your sister or brother, your friend, or just someone you know that is the right body size for your clothes photoshoot.
Prior to making any purchase, every buyer creatively imagines wearing and using the clothes he/she sees online.
So, to stimulate a similar response you can use your model to showcase clothes that can give potential buyers a better sense of how the clothes fit and look.
You will also have to make sure the clothes the model is wearing fit them nicely and are of the correct size. Plus, see that the style and design the model is portraying match nicely with your brand style and target audience.
After you have taken photos of your clothes, now it would be nice to do some quick edits. See the next section for more information about photo editing.
After you’ve done editing, it’s time to take the final look at your pictures and upload them.
People like to see a lot of pictures of clothes before making the decision to buy. So, pick all the best shots and upload them online.
Make sure the photos are optimized for web use and have the correct dimensions.
How to Edit Pictures of Clothes?
Use a Photo Editor
Using photo editing software will help you to make photos of the clothes more appealing and fix any flaws in your photos. Some of the photo editing software you can use:
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Lightroom
- Luminar Neo
- Luminar AI
These are the most popular photo editors in the market. There are also free tools available, such as Canva or editing photos directly on your phone.
Fix Crop & Straighten
The first technical thing you want to fix in your photos is the correct crop and straightening of the image. Make sure the clothes are centered and in focus.
It will make your photos more appealing and remove any distractions.
Adjust Exposure, Contrast, and Saturation
When editing pictures, adjust just these main settings:
- Exposure: At first, your pictures might be too dark or too bright. Reducing or increasing exposure will fix this issue. Also, you can slightly adjust the highlights and shadows, as well as whites and blacks to get the desired overall look.
- Contrast: Sometimes photos get faded, where increasing the contrast is going to fix that. Additionally, if some things or colors are too harsh, reduce the contrast to the point where it starts looking normal.
- Saturation: Increasing saturation might be a great addition to enhancing the colors. The tones of the clothes will stand out and look more detailed.
There are also other settings, such as white balance, clarity and sharpness that you can adjust. They can make positive changes to the overall look of your pictures of the clothes. However, the 3 main settings above should be enough.
Don’t Overdo the Settings
As mentioned before, remember to keep your editing subtle and don’t overdo it.
Adjusting settings too much can do more harm than good to your images.
Summary: How to Take Pictures of Clothes to Sell
Appealing pictures are the main thing that is going to help you sell your clothes.
In short, to take good pictures, ensure they’re clean and well-lit. Use a simple background and multiple angles, consider using a model, and edit the photos as needed.
The better your photos, the more online sales you’ll have.
Now, you can easily start by applying and experimenting with these tips. Good luck.
