A shadow is a must, whether it’s jewellery or perfume products. You could create custom shadows if you don’t have shadows in your photos. The benefits of shadow-making for product photography are huge. Let’s explore all of them in an easy-to-understand manner.
The shadow-making for photography makes your product look attractive. Plus, it brings balance to the image. Compared to a blank white background, the shadow makes realistic photos. Moreover, it helps you to build strong branding and have higher sales.
What is Shadow Making in Product Photography?
Product photography is a mandatory subject for every business-related person. In product photography, you have to put in lots of skills such as editing, lighting, photoshop, shadowing, etc. shadowing sounds too ordinary. Still, it requires the physics of light, knowledge of optics, and exceptional thinking.
Silhouetting or shadowing images is a fantastic photography technique. It makes a product more visually appealing and makes them more focusable. Shadow changes a product’s angle, shape, intensity, contrast, and light. Also, it is used to enhance the subject to the viewers.
The Benefits of Shadow Making for Product Photography
Shadow-making for product photography lets you unleash a lot of potential for you. Moreover, It offers you a complete advantage over the product photography technique. Below are some benefits you experience when applying product photography shadow creation.
Makes Product Image More Realistic
When you apply shadow creation to your Product Image, it becomes more realistic. Compared to the image with only white space, a drop shadow effect makes an image more realistic. Sometimes it feels like the product is floating over a white space.
The product Image will be much more realistic because it offers excellent aesthetics. For example, products like Sneakers look great with a drop shadow. A natural product image will attract more customers to your website as well.
Helps Build A Consistent Brand
When all of your products have a consistent shadow on all of the products, the brand will be more consistent than ever. As a result, the customer will take notice of your products the right way. It also improves the voice of your brand. For eCommerce platforms, it’s a must.
As you have a consistent brand helps you to reach more customers in a short time. With compatible branding material, you could outperform the competitor. It’s a must-have for most companies who want to build more vital branding.
Makes Product Sell More
A product with a realistic and appealing shadow attracts more visitors. As a result, the visitors start exploring your product page and its information, which gives you more sales. In such cases, if you place an effective funnel, it would work more effectively.
A better product image also increases attention to your business. Using the product image on a marketing campaign or a social media ad will be successful. Most of the experienced market has tested it out. This is why you must check the effects as well.
Attracts a Higher Number of Website Visitors
As visitors start checking out your product image, you get higher web visitors. It works great for both organic and paid visitors. For example, visitors would organically get into your product image as it looks natural. It would be a massive boost for your eCommerce web platform.
On the other hand, when you are running an eCommerce social media ad, It would be great as well. You will likely get higher clicks, attention, and more because shadow increases the realistic vibe of your product image. If you retouch your product photo properly and then add a realistic shadow, you will witness the magic. So, your webpage receives a higher number of visitors. And you could utilize the web traffic as well.
Optimizes your Website
Along the shadow-making process, photo editors try to make your image lighter. The lightweight images help you to help rank better or search results. Plus, these images will load a lot faster than other images. As a result, you will get a lower bounce rate. Visitors would stay on your page longer.
Optimizing your website speed and facility will improve the SEO. Hence, you have more chances to get more organic traffic. Plus, visitors would only get bored for a short loading time. It’s an entirely beneficial scenario for you and the product page visitor.
Make The Product Look Luxurious
When you add shadows to product images, it makes them look more luxurious. For example, if you have a show of Jewelry, adding shadow improves its look. Making your products look posh would lead you to better sales and value. Customers will feel more value in your product.
You would get to see shadows in most of the luxurious brand ads. Because they try to make their products look more stylish, if you want to make your product look more elegant, try having the shadow do service.
Gives You Edge Over Your Competitor
Compared to other online shops, your web page will stand out. Becoming images with shadows makes the image look more appealing. On the other hand, shops that do not have shadows on their product photos will get a bit lower attention.
Adding shadow to product images is necessary for getting ahead of your competitor. It’s a proven formula for online shops, and it always works. Hence, It gives you the advantage to utilize to make more sales.
Types Of Product Photography Shadows You Can Apply
Let’s talk about the drop shadow types. These are the common types you could see on an average product image. Any of them should stay on the photo when doing product photography.
Natural Shadow
In the natural shadow, the light is coming from a specific direction. And the shadow will be according to the light source. Creating the shadow effect in real life and software is easy. Natural Shadow is one of the most popular shadow effects on product images.
Drop Shadow
In drop shadow, the product creates a subtle shadow right underneath. In the mentioned setting, we have a light right above the product. As a result, it proves the product’s appearance, and it looks fantastic.
Reflection Shadow
When a product sits on a reflective surface, it creates a reflection shadow. These kinds of shadows are used in luxury products. Sunglasses, perfume, and jewellery are the most used products for reflection shadows. But creating these sorts of shadows is more challenging than others.
How To Add A Drop Shadow To A Photo In Photoshop
Here’s a brief tutorial on adding a drop shadow in a Photo. Right into the photoshop Shadow making tutorial, you could apply the shadow in simple steps.
Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop
First, open your image in Photoshop. You can do this by going to File > Open or dragging and dropping the image into the Photoshop workspace.
Step 2: Duplicate the layer
Next, duplicate the layer by right-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel and selecting “Duplicate Layer.” This will create a copy of the layer we will use to add the drop shadow effect.
Step 3: Add a layer style
With the duplicated layer selected, click the “Layer Style” button at the bottom of the Layers panel and select “Drop Shadow.” This will open the Layer Style dialogue box.
Step 4: Adjust the settings
You can adjust the settings for the drop shadow effect in the Layer Style dialogue box. You can change the angle, distance, size, opacity, and colour of the shadow to your liking. You can also add a noise effect to the shadow to make it look more realistic.
Step 5: Apply the effect
Once satisfied with the settings, click “OK” to apply the drop shadow effect to the duplicated layer. You can now see the drop shadow behind the object in the Layers panel.
Step 6: Fine-tune the effect
If you want to fine-tune the effect, you can select the duplicated layer and use the Move tool to adjust the layer’s position. You can also adjust the layer’s opacity to make the shadow more or less visible.
Tips for Adding a Drop Shadow to a Photo in Photoshop
Here are some tips to keep in mind when adding a drop shadow to a photo in Photoshop:
Use the right settings
Adjust the drop shadow effect settings to suit the image and the intended purpose. A subtle drop shadow may work best for some photos, while a more pronounced effect may be needed for others.
Experiment with the angle
Try different angles for the drop shadow to see what looks best. The angle can make a big difference in the overall effect.
Don’t overdo it
Avoid adding too many drop shadows to an image, making it look cluttered and amateurish. One or two shades should be enough in most cases. If you don’t feel confident enough to do it yourself, you seek professional help. Some highly professional image editing companies use expert editors trained to do this service.
Use layer masks
If you only want the drop shadow to appear on a specific part of the image, use a layer mask to hide the shadow in other areas.
FAQs
Let’s talk about some of the common questions you might encounter.
What Is Saturation In Photo Editing?
The saturation in photo editing refers to the intensity of colour. You could improve the colour interest in your products with a slight increase in colour saturation. Software such as Photoshop helps apply these kinds of photo effects.
What Is The Importance Of Shadow In Photography?
Adding shadow will bring balance to your product photography. These kinds of effects contrast the photos. As a result, you could attract more attention. This is why you should have a bit of shadow in your photography projects.
Should Product Photos Have Shadows?
No, it would be best if you did not have shadows in all project photos. For example, the ghost mannequin product photos should not have shades. Moreover, in such cases, product photos are not mandatory. Hence, you should check out your product image and apply shadow accordingly.
Conclusion
Wrapping up the roundup on the benefits of shadow making for product photography. Getting yourself familiar with the benefits is a must. Utilizing the advantage will improve your online store and its sales. With better deals, you could scale your business.
Hence, always go for professionals when it comes to eCommerce product photos. If you have hundreds of product photos to add shadows to, professionals can help you. It would make your life easier.
