Process Product Catalog Photos On Your Smartphone: Top 8 Apps

The previous article was about making product photos for your online shop and image file specs. Today we will talk about how to make such photos beautiful and optimize them on mobile phones.

As you create a product in 2can Shop, keep in mind the visuals. Show the customer how proud you are of your product and your business.

May your customers fall in love with your product at the first sight and buy it at once. Help them visualize how great these fashionable sneakers would look on their feet, or how the delicate almond cakes melt in your mouth perfectly complementing the aroma of a coffee cup.

No need to invest in an expensive camera and master complicated software to make a visually appealing photo. We will tell you how to do all this with your smartphone.

What can you do through image processing?

Style consistency. Your photos should share identical visuals and colors. It helps convey the mood of your product.

Attract the customer’s attention. Bright, crisp, and high-contrast images with the right white balance are the best fit (the colors of the photo should match that of the actual product). It would be great to develop your branded color palette. The customers will associate the colors with your shop.

Remove defects. Even nearly perfect photos often need some editing to remove stray threads, unnecessary creases, or stains. Just know when to stop: if the customer gets a product that does not look like the online catalog photo, they are unlikely to come back.

Adjust the size and aspect ratio. This is highly important for image optimization. For more information please refer to the previous guide.

How to make high-quality, marketing photos? Let us look at a few professional tricks. Anyone can use them.

Image Processing: 8 Secrets

We have highlighted the key factors to improve your photo and make it more appealing to the customer.

Lighting Conditions. Take photos in daylight, near a window, or outside. Daylight is great for any photo. Sunset or cloudy conditions add softness and make the colors more authentic.

Color Reproduction. The most common error when taking marketing photos is the overuse of filters/presets as the product color becomes unrealistic. Filters can be used, but make sure the colors are not drastically distorted.

Contrast and Sharpness. The higher the contrast, the clearer the image. High-contrast, bright images attract more attention than soft ones. But remember: color saturation increases with contrast. You can reduce it in a photo editor to make the colors authentic.

Style. Your style should be consistent. Use an identical color palette. The environment should match the product color and complement it, not distract.

Quality. Avoid blurry, low-resolution photos. Most modern smartphones, and not just the latest models, provide excellent image quality. Just remove some noise and add sharpness.

Product Preparation. No one wants to look at wrinkled dresses or poorly presented dishes. It is much easier to prepare a garment and steam the fabric than remove the creases, stains, or crumbs in a photo editor.

Scale. It is better to render the product size on the photo: few customers read the specifications. If you are selling a watch, add one more photo to show how it looks on the wrist so the customer would see its size. Several photos of the same product should match each other. Make sure the size of the product is about the same in each photo.

Details. You can’t touch or try the product on when shopping online. Help your customer: take photos from multiple angles and show more details.

Tip. To focus on a certain area in a photo, just sharpen it a bit. The area will be emphasized.

Top 8 Image Processing Apps

You can improve photos on your smartphone. Let us take a look at the top photo editor apps available for iOS and Android.

1. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The best application for high-quality color correction, but the learning curve is steep. There are free and paid versions. Available for PCs and mobile devices. The software can create, edit, store, and share photos. You can install so-called presets. They are filters that can be found on the Internet. Choose the preset you like, and you will process your photos in one tap. Anyway, a preset still has to be adjusted to the light conditions of a specific photo.

2. VSCOCam. A popular photo and video editor. A great tool for color correction with all the basic settings and many filters. There are paid and free versions. The free trial period is 7 days only (annual subscription: US$19.99).

3. Snapseed. A full-featured, professional yet intuitive photo editor from Google. One of the best free applications for color correction. There are all the basic color and light correction tools, and some filters.

4. FaceTune. A fast, versatile editor. Mostly used to correct portraits and selfies, but it can handle any photo. The app easily removes extra threads, stains, and creases or adds sharpness to a certain area.

5. TouchRetouch. An app to quickly remove unnecessary objects (such as logos, watermarks, dust, dirt, and threads). The app is priced at US$1.99. A one-off payment looks like a good deal.

6. Foodie Camera. An app for making professional food photos. It offers excellent editing tools. There is an automatic blur effect. The app includes a huge selection of filters specifically designed for food photos.

7. Union. An app to conveniently join photos on iOS devices. It can add effects, remove the background, and supports layers. The subscription costs US$1.99 per week, US$3.99 per month, or US$19.99 per year.

8. Magic Eraser. A simple application to remove the background. Very handy to process lightbox photos. The app automatically detects the object and removes the background. You can correct the result manually.

How to post photos to 2can Shop?

Now let us see how to post photos in 2can Shop. Easy:

1. Go to my2can.com and sign in if you haven’t.

2. Go to the Shop section.

3. Go to the catalog (top menu).

4. Select a product or create a new one.

5. Add an image (you can add up to 7 photos).

You can also specify the product marking, category, catalog number, etc. If you are the manufacturer, you can specify the name of your business (shop, cafe, restaurant…) Shop supports any screen size and is mobile-ready. The images look great on small and large screens.

Guideline on how to create an online shop

Try experimenting by trial and error. It is the only way to gain experience and deliver excellence. We hope these tips will help you make great photos and attract new customers.

Decorate your 2can Shop in style, and share your success stories with us!