Product Camera 2013 the simple way to professional product shots

Could this help you produce better product photographs for your store?

Put an end to your ecommerce product photography nightmares

We love discovering new apps, particularly those that solve a real problem in a clever way. And, we’re especially interested when we come across an app that can help make our clients more productive. In Camera 51’s Product Camera app, we’ve found an app that ticks both those boxes.

So what exactly is Product Camera?

Product Camera is a photography app that has been specifically developed for eBay shop owners and e-commerce site owners. If you’ve got an online store, you really should take Product Camera for a test drive.

Now, before you say, “Not another camera app”, we know exactly what you’re saying. Every App store is littered with hundreds of photography related apps, but this one is a little bit different. It does one thing really well.

It helps you create professional looking product shots at the click of a button from your Android phone. (Ed - worry not Apple fans - an ios version is scheduled for release early this year - 2016). It does this by ‘magically’ stripping away the background from the image to showcase your product without any clutter.

Why is this important?

If you’re an e-commerce store owner selling a physical product online, you’re already well aware of the importance of your product images. It really can make or break your online store success. Think of it from your perspective. When you’re buying online, would you be put off if the image was a bit naff? I know I am.

Trust us, we’ve worked on enough e-commerce sites to know that quality photography helps you achieve quality sales results.

Traditional Product Photography

Traditionally there are two ways to create great product images.

Option one is to invest in creating a mini-studio. A typical set up would include a Digital SLR camera, a flash set-up and a white box to act as the stage. There are some great guides on how to do this on a budget, but it can get quite expensive if you’re not careful.

The second option is to do take a decent enough photograph and use photograph-editing software to isolate the image and remove the background. There are lots of software tools out there that can accomplish this. Photoshop can do this fairly easily, but it’s a fairly complicated beast that comes with a steep learning curve and equally steep price.

What does it do?

While both of those methods work, they’re expensive and time-consuming. Product Camera is, in our opinion, a far simpler option. But what does it do?

The app scans your image, identifies the product you’re focussing on and then strips away the background to leave a professional looking product shot on a white background. It also optimises the focus and adds a subtle soft shadow so that the final image looks classy, and not ugly.

For this to work, you need to make sure your product is set against a contrasting and ideally plain background.

Have a look at this video to see Product Camera in action for yourself. We think you’ll be impressed.

And if you’ve got any unwanted Christmas gifts from a distant relative who doesn’t really ‘get you’, then what better time to give the app a test run? Take a picture of the offending item with Product Camera, let it do its magic and upload the image to eBay. What could be simpler? Just don’t tell Aunty Beryl!