You spent hours creating the perfect Teachers Pay Teachers product and now it’s time to market your product. A picture of worth a thousand words, but a stunning photo is worth a thousand clicks to your website. Here are the simplest product photography tips for teachers that you can implement as quick as today.
Seven Product Photography Tips for Teachers:
1. Clean your camera lens
You place your phone on 20 different surfaces every day. They may not be the dirtiest surfaces, but your lens picks up even the smallest particles of dust. It’s amazing what wiping your camera lens can do for your photos. You’ll see less of a ‘hazy’ effect and will have more clarity in the photo. This will also help when it comes time to editing because the photo will be more clear.
2. Place the light in front of the image and not behind it
I see this mistake pretty often with product photos (and Instagram posts in general). Natural light will always be your best lighting (IMO), but it’s only powerful if you understand how to use it. The easiest ‘trick’ is to place the light in front of your subject/product and not behind it. Take a look at this very simple unedited image I created (just now) to prove the effect.
If using artificial light, remember that shadows will affect the photo so you need to be careful if your arm placement and where you are going to place the light so that it’s not too strong.
3. Snap from different angles for variety
Some of the best photos are not taken from the angle everyone else is taking their pictures from. Give yourself variety and snap pictures not only from an above flat lay (most common), but from the side, zoomed in on details, etc. This will help you in the long run create more content to promote the product across various channels.
Here is an example of Yari, Sweet Tooth Teaching’s Instagram feed, who participated in Teacher Marketing Academy:
4. Take vertical, square, and horizontal dimensions
If you are taking the time to set up your product and take photos, give yourself time back next time but taking more than a square image. Why? Because those other dimensions can come in hand for fresh Pinterest Pins, a snippet for a blog post, etc.
5. Incorporate your brand colors
Having a strong brand ensures your audience knows who posted the picture without even reading the name. This also creates awareness which then supports advocacy in the long run. Your channels will look more cohesive and people will know what to expect. Here is an example of how Kristin, School and the City uses her brand colors in product photos:
6. Edit with similar filters for a cohesive brand
Similar to using brand colors, when you edit using similar filters you are able to create consistency where the lighting of the photos creates your brand. Here are two opposite examples that achieve the same effect:
Kim, Elementary in the Mitten:
Molly Maloy, Lessons with Laughter:
I use VSCO to edit my photos and talk more about the transformation using VSCO here. Molly uses Snapseed and details how to use this via her IG story highlight here.
7. Use simple props to enhance the photo
I’m not telling you that you need to buy every prop under the sun, but a few branded colors or props can enhance your black and white paper picture and add pops of color and dimensions to your photos. In Kristin (School in the City’s) post above, you’ll notice that she uses a branded colored clipboard to add color with this prop.
Some other examples include:
- Plants
- Coffee mugs
- Colored notebooks and colored pens
- Books or a bag
- Erasers or Target Dollar Spot nicknacks
Another easy example is to use scrapbook paper or contact paper to dress up the underneath the paper.
Hopefully these product photography tips for teachers will help you when you batch your next set of photos. I’d love to see before and after shots as you enhance!
