AI product photography for beginners: How it works, free tools, and benefits
As a small business owner, you’ve got a million things to do—and while product photography can be fun and creative when you’re trying to grow your brand, time is of the essence. But the quality of your images is equally important, so rushing the process without the right tools can lead to poor product photos and lost sales.
Enter AI product photography—a useful, time-saving, and affordable solution to help you create beautiful images that lead to more sales and engagement. Whether you need an AI-generated background or need to remove backgrounds entirely, if you’re not up to date on AI product photography, you risk falling behind the competition.
“Photoroom elevates photography,” says Marcus Aliaga, founder of ALLTRUEIST. “It helps my brand stand out from the vast field of competitors.”
In this article, you’ll learn what AI product photography is, how it works, and its benefits. Plus, you’ll walk away with a few tools you can start using today (for free).
Table of contents
What is AI product photography?
How to create AI product photos: tools for small businesses
Benefits of using AI to create and edit product photos
Incorporate AI product photography into your business today
What is AI product photography?
AI product photography uses artificial intelligence to enhance, modify, or even create product images. Instead of relying solely on traditional photography methods (think tripods, lighting, and expensive cameras), you can now use software (like Photoroom) that's powered by AI to greatly improve your product photos. Considering that 75% of online shoppers rely on product photography to make purchasing decisions, getting it right is crucial to boost sales and customer retention.
“Photoroom can take credit for my increase in sales.” — Owen Lloyd, Amazon Seller
“Photoroom helps me with my 6-figure online business and also helped me launch my social media platforms,” says Amazon Seller, Owen Lloyd. “Sales were awful before Photoroom. On a good day, I’d sell three bottles of perfume. Now, a normal day is at least 50 bottles, that’s around 16 times more sales than before. Photoroom can take credit for my increase in sales.”
GET STARTED: Create stunning product photos in seconds with Photoroom’s free AI-powered tools. Use the web and mobile app (Google or Apple) today.
The mechanics behind AI in photography
Machine learning. AI systems are trained using large sets of data, in this case, tons of images. Over time, the system learns to recognize good from bad, clarity from blur, and so forth. Think of it as training a new employee, but instead, it's software. The more it “learns”, the better it gets at enhancing your product photos.
Image recognition. This is about the software's ability to identify and differentiate between objects within a photo. Say you upload a picture of a candle for your e-commerce store. The AI can detect the candle, its color, and even its texture. With that, it can then optimize the image to make sure the candle looks its absolute best.
Automated adjustments. Based on what the AI “knows” from its training, it can automatically make adjustments to your photos—things like brightness, contrast, and even removing unwanted backgrounds. If you don’t know the ins and outs of Photoshop, this is a lifesaver.
PRO TIP: Remove backgrounds in seconds with Photoroom’s Background Remover. Then choose a new one from a range of templates or enter your prompts in AI Backgrounds to customize your product photos using AI tools.
How it works
Let’s say you have a home products and decor business. It’s important to create real-life, high-quality photos showing how customers can use the products in their homes. A quick and easy way to do this is with AI product photography tools like Photoroom.
Consult Photoroom’s help center for a step-by-step tutorial on how to remove a background.
Further reading: 14 product photography ideas to boost online sales
How to create AI product photos: tools for small businesses
Now that you know what AI product photography is and how it works, it’s time for the fun part—putting AI tools to work. Photoroom has various features you can use to remove backgrounds, change backgrounds, add shadows, add text, and more. Let’s look at a few of them in detail:
Remove Background
Instantly remove image backgrounds and replace them with one of Photoroom’s background templates or enter a prompt to create your scene using the AI Backgrounds tool. It’s even possible to remove a background from hair in a photo.
Instant Backgrounds
Choose from a range of templates categorized by trend, mood, surface, and countless other options, or enter a custom prompt to create your background using AI Backgrounds. If you generate a custom background, a list of image options will instantly appear, and you can continue clicking Generate 4 more until you find one you like.
The AI Backgrounds tool always adapts to your product photos—taking the image, angle, and lighting into consideration. For this reason, you might get a slightly different image each time.
Let’s see what scenes it creates using these custom prompts:
Pretty cool, right? Upload and create images with beautiful backgrounds in under a minute.
PRO TIP: Save even more time using AI tools to edit your product photos in batches with Photoroom.
AI Shadows
Adding shadows to your images gives them depth and makes your products stand out. Use AI product photography tools like AI Shadows to generate studio-quality images in seconds.
Let’s look at this AI tool in action:
“My products look more expensive, natural, and effortless.” — Marcus Aliaga, founder of ALLTRUEIST
“AI Shadows make my images look realistic,” says Marcus Aliaga. “They don’t have that generic look, so everything on my website looks like it’s photographed in a professional studio. My products look more expensive, natural, and effortless.”
PRO TIP: Use an existing shadow template or customize the shadow effect from Photoroom’s web app.
Add text to photos
Studio-style images are a great option if you want to add text to photos. For example, if you want to post a giveaway on Instagram or create a digital flyer for an upcoming event, adding text to the image is a great way to share all the details in one place while enticing potential customers with high-quality product images. Here’s how you can navigate these tools on the web.
Try one of the Photoroom styles
Or add your text style
Consult Photoroom’s help center for a step-by-step tutorial on how to add text.
Benefits of using AI to create and edit product photos
Using AI tools to enhance your product photography has many benefits. Let’s review them:
Efficiency and speed. Quickly edit and optimize images (individually or in batches) and get professional results.
Cost-effective. Hiring a professional photographer every time you launch a new product gets expensive (you could spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on each shoot). With AI tools like Photoroom, you can do it yourself using your smartphone or desktop, either for free or at a low monthly subscription cost to unlock Pro features.
Consistency. Customers should recognize your brand when they see your product photos. This builds awareness and trust. AI product photography helps you maintain a consistent look and feel for product listings, and with Photoroom, you can choose from a range of templates or create your own styles.
Personalization. The option to enter your own prompts to create backgrounds lets you personalize your product photos to match your branding.
Testing and iteration. The faster you can create images, the faster you can share your products with potential and existing customers. You can quickly test different backgrounds and styles to see which ones result in the most engagement and sales.
Increase engagement and sales. Online shoppers rely heavily on product images while making purchasing decisions. Using AI tools makes it easier to create professional, engaging photos for your website or social media to boost sales.
Incorporate AI product photography into your business today
If customers can’t touch, feel, and try your products in person, photos are the only way to show them how to use your products and the benefits they’ll experience after making a purchase.
Now, you’re equipped to create high-quality images for your product pages, social media, and email campaigns. With Photoroom’s AI product photography tools, you’ll save time and money so you can focus on growing your business.
Create realistic studio-quality product photos from your smartphone or desktop with AI Backgrounds.
Remove image backgrounds and replace them with a Photoroom template or a custom AI-generated background.
Make your products pop with AI Shadows.
Enhance your images and share your brand story by adding text to your product photos.
Get started now with Photoroom’s AI photo editing tools. Whether you sell clothing, furniture, beauty products, or jewelry, use Photoroom’s web and mobile app (Google or Apple) to elevate your product photos. Choose from a range of free tools or upgrade to Photoroom Pro to access useful features like Batch Editor, HD quality, Smart Resize, and more.
AI product photography FAQ
Can I use AI for product photos?
Yes, you can automate editing and retouching by leveraging machine learning algorithms. The right AI tools can analyze and enhance product images, fix imperfections, remove and replace backgrounds, and adjust colors and lighting.
How do I create an AI product photo?
You can use AI product photography tools like Photoroom to create your images. Upload images and select from a range of features to remove backgrounds, add a new background, add text or shadows, and improve lighting.
How much does it cost to generate an AI image?
It depends on the tools you use. Photoroom offers a range of free AI tools to get you started and you can upgrade to the Pro plan for an affordable monthly subscription price.
If you want to know how to remove the background from a logo, enhance your product photography, or remove a person from a photo on an iPhone, then read our other blog articles.
