How to Take and Setup Photos and Images
So many different suppliers, so many different products and so many different ways they all provide images of their products. I'm going to try to explain the best way to take images and the best way to supply them.
Image Naming Conventions
The best way to name your images is by their product code. Without fail this is the best way to procede when naming your images.
If you have multiple images for a product thats great! Just make sure you reference them in your data file and name them appropriately.
Many SEO's will want to rename the images based on the product name as this aids in keyword usage and image search traffic. If you supply them as per product code then they can easily change this should they wish too.
| Product Code | product_full_image | product_thumb_image | extra_image_2 | extra_image_3 | extra_image_4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NND34 | NND34.png | NND34.png | NND34_2.png | NND34_3.png | NND34_4.png |
Why do we recommend PNG's?
We recommend PNG images because they can have transparent background which allows for more design options. Also PNG's can be converted to JPG's with white backgrounds easily but a lot of work is involved in making JPG's into PNG's with transparent backgrounds.
Supplying JPG's is ok. There is nothing wrong with it. We just prefer to work with PNG's on sites.
Colour Variations
All ProMart 2.0 websites come with a directory scanner that automatically picks up files that are in a folder and adds the filename and colour to the database using the following format.
product-code_light-blue.png
Points to note
- All in lowercase.
- No special characters i.e. use -and- rather than -&- or -/-
Angled and Arty Shots
Lovely, looks really nice. However, if supplier A's images are all set to an angle and supplier B's are not then all the products will look like they don't belong together. I strongly recommend taking the image of the product upright and straight on. Preferably with the print area on show so that the image can also be used as a artwork visual.
Take a look below at all the variations that I have seen on notepads alone.
The main problem is that if they are taken at an angle, then they are harder to edit. If they are taken straight on at a 90 degree angle, then your client can then choose to put them at an angle by applying a simple photoshop batch process filter/warp. If they are all at various different angles then its unrealistic and not practical to sit there and resize and try to warp them back to a straight on shot.
Image Formats and Sizes
You should provide all images in square dimensions. If you only want to supply 1 image per product then use the highest resolution ones you have. Image resizing programs are ten a penny, but none of them can up-sample image files adequately.
If you want to save your client the hassle of resizing your images then you can provide a full catalogue of images for your clients to use then you can supply a disk with 3 folders on it.
| Column Title | Naming Convention | Notes | URL Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| product_full_image | product_sku.jpg | 500 x 500 Pixels in jpg format. | /data/images/fullsize/ |
| product_thumb_image | product_sku.jpg | 100 x 100 Pixels in jpg format. | /data/images/thumbs/ |
| product_hires_image | product_sku.jpg | Any size in jpg format. | /data/images/hires/ |
Additional Images
| Column Title | Naming Convention | Notes | URL Path |
|---|---|---|---|
| extra_image_2 | product_sku_2.jpg | 450 x 450 Pixels in jpg format. | /data/images/extraimages/ |