Preparing and completing a good shoe shoot requires more than simply putting your favorite pair of shoes on a set and taking a few shots. Whether you are a shoe company or a seller, your shoes need great visual content so that you can use them for marketing, branding, and, most importantly, online sales.

However, due to the competitive nature of your business, you must ensure that you get the most important and unique photos of your shoes possible so that you stand out and get more attention than your competitors for all your products on your e-commerce site.

We came across certain areas where shoe photographers often face a dilemma. Do they have specific problems, such as how to make shoes look good in pictures? How do you make the shoe the focal point? How do you take great photos of shoes on a white background?

In this article, we will cover all the details that can answer such questions.

To make the operation run smoothly and get the desired results as quickly as possible, here are some basic tips and tricks for impressive shoe photography that you should keep in mind before and during the shoot to make it creative shoe photography. Now let's dive into the most impressive shoe photography techniques and ideas.

How do you make shoes look good in pictures?

Any product must look good in pictures as this will help market the product and convert the viewer into a potential buyer. To do this, you must take care of the camera, the lens, the lighting, and the background of your shoe photography. Let's look at your camera settings and lighting arrangements when you are doing your shoe photography.

Cameras and lenses

Both the camera and the lens can have a major impact on the outcome of your shoot. And, if you want commercial photos that thousands of people can see, choose a professional full-frame camera, which can record images at a higher resolution and create excellent results in a variety of shooting situations.

1. Again, the conditions of your shoot will dictate the lens you should use. However, as shoe photography does not require such a shallow depth of field, you can use a lens other than a fixed focal length lens.

2. Your product should not be distorted by the lens you are using. To avoid this, make sure you shoot at a high enough f-stop to keep everything in focus. Your depth of field will also be affected.

3. Another thing to remember is that you can use any shutter speed you like by mounting the camera on a tripod.

Mounting your camera on a tripod will help you to reduce your ISO, so you don't end up with noisy images but with great clean images with good overall sharpness.

5. Shutter speed is irrelevant because you have chosen an excellent aperture, and your camera is on a tripod.

Lighting your product

Lighting for footwear photography is as important as any other type of product photography. You will need very even lighting in order to make the shoes stand out in the image to produce beautiful footwear photographs to create and apply to your creative shoe photography ideas.

1. The light should come in from all sides and shine on the shoes.

2. Keep contact with the shadows on the soles of the shoes.

3. When designing your lighting setup, make sure the light is not too harsh or too soft. This is because bright lighting may cause your photo to be overexposed in some areas and underexposed in others.

4. Also, with soft lighting, taking detailed directional photos of your shoes will be very difficult, which leads us to the next point.

5. If your shoes have such characteristics, you may wish to highlight accents such as metalwork in the photo. You may therefore want to include a white trolley or a white reflector.

6. Look for a wide reflector when adding the front fill. Make sure it is not too bright, and if it is, reduce the exposure.

7. If you want to illuminate the front area of the shoe without ruining the image by over-illuminating the front of the shoe, add a little light to the background. Then, after focusing, take the shot. Lighting should be even and pleasant.

8. Remember that for the few qualities of shoes, the shine is the key factor. With this type of material, you must observe the angle of the shot and how reflections work for it. Footwear photography can create or interrupt reflections.

Cameras, lenses, and lighting are not enough to make shoes look beautiful in photographs. Shoes must be properly staged to look better and shine. Now let's look at it.

How do you need to stage your shoes for good shoe photography?

Preparing your shoes

You must organize each shoot component in advance to avoid any unforeseen problems during the production process. On the other hand, footwear is the most important aspect of creative shoe photography techniques and ideas to consider.

1. Make sure the shoes are spotless and shiny so that they look their best in the right light.

Now, getting your shoes in tip-top condition before you start shooting will not only help you produce stunning photos faster but will also save you time in post-production.

3. Make sure you have all the necessary equipment to clean your shoes and get them in tip-top shape for the shoot so you can save yourself more unnecessary effort during the shoot.

4. You need to have a keen eye for detail when taking photographs of shoes. Your photos will impress buyers more if you pay more attention to detail. So make sure you take some close-ups of your illustrations.

Avoid touching your shoes with your bare hands as it can leave fingerprints and marks on the surface of your shoes, making them not shine and look unattractive in your pictures.

Backgrounds

The background you choose can have a major impact on the overall look and feel of the final photo in creative shoe photography. White backgrounds are good for shoe photography.

1. When choosing a background, make sure it doesn't take the viewer's attention away from the shoes.

2. However, this does not exclude the possibility of using a white background. Other backgrounds are also helpful if they complement the shoes.

3. For footwear product photography, a white background is considered ideal. A background that is too busy may divert attention from the actual product, which needs to stand out.

4. Choose a neutral background that allows your item to take center stage. A white background will provide a nice contrast between the color of the shoes and the white background.

5. It is important to remove all extraneous items from the frame. Having a lot of things in the frame will only confuse the viewer. Also, as you want the focus to be on the shoes, the frame should be as simple as possible.

Cropping can help you improve your composition and highlight your subject more effectively.

7. However, if it suits the situation, place a few props here and there.

Angles are important

To avoid your shoe photos becoming monotonous, try different perspectives and angles, just as you would with any other type of photography.

1. When photographing shoes, the angle of the shot is important.

2. Show all the intricacies and sides of the shoe in an effective perspective so that your customers have a solid idea of what they are buying.

3. Of course, the angle you choose is entirely up to you. However, there are some basic angles that are perfect for taking photographs of footwear and from which you can draw inspiration:

4. It may be helpful to choose some basic perspectives for your footwear photographs.

5. Can you look at it from the side? Take a picture of just one shoe from the side to create a side view. Like this, go ahead and add a second shoe to the picture.

6. Turn the shoe slightly to one side. Focus on the first shoe before shooting. This is a close-up view focusing on the front shoe.

7. Take care to clean all the shoe elements in advance so that they look both cute and stylish. Let's say you want a polished look. Again, place the shoes in a position and photograph them from the front.

8. Pay attention to the first pair of shoes. The shape and size of the product are very important.

9. Show the full potential of the shoe. If you are shooting off-foot, you will need to pack the shoe to keep its shape. The shoe needs to be filled with old clothes or cotton to show the true contours of the shoe. It is also important to let the shoe stand on its own to develop unique shoe photography ideas.

10. A shoe lying on the floor does not look good when photographed from all angles. So, in order to make it look professional, you must follow these procedures for creative shoe photography techniques.

Reflection and focus

As a product photographer, you have to think creatively and outside the box when photographing footwear items. Adding shadows or reflections to an image when shooting is one of the most creative photographic ideas.

Shadows and reflections give images a natural touch and make them look elegant and sophisticated. Not every photographer uses these shoe photography tips and tricks when photographing shoes.

However, if you want your shoe photography to stand out, consider including reflections in your photos.

Place the footwear on the top side of the product and pour some water over the product. This will result in a mirror image. Shoes should be placed correctly as they don't look good elsewhere. However, it will help if you choose the correct positioning of the shoes.

When taking indoor photos, place the shoes on a box or solid-colored floor.

Let the shoe model stand in front of the water as well. There will therefore be a reflection.

When photographing shoes, you must always bear in mind that you must focus on the shoe. Activate the camera's autofocus mode and use the focal length lens to help you focus on the shoes. This will make your footwear stand out, so you will be able to take some great footwear photos.

Some ways to style shoes

White backgrounds

A white background is perfect for shoe photography. It helps to show the original color of the shoe in its best light.

Matching shoes with other complementary items

This type of shoe photography is well-known among Instagram sellers. Keep the color of the shoe as the subject of the photo by keeping the other items matching the color of the shoe.

Floating shoe photography

It offers a better perspective on shoes, especially sneakers.

Using models

Models may not always be budget-friendly, but they make shoes look more impressive. Customers always want to see how shoes fit and look on someone's feet.

Retouching in post-production images

Each product needs to be retouched in pictures before they are placed on an e-commerce site. But make sure they keep their colors and textures natural and don't over-edit them.