Month: December 2021

Product photography isn’t cheap, but it’s a priceless investment for ecommerce businesses. Professional photographers that focus on product photography have niche knowledge and specialized equipment to highlight the best features of the items they’re photographing.

If you own an ecommerce brand, you’ll want to hire a pro with product photography expertise. To avoid sticker shock (or get stuck with bad images), we’ll break down the costs of product photography and why it’s worth it to invest in a knowledgeable photographer.

In this article:

• How much does product photography cost in 2021?
• How much brands pay for product photography in 2021
• Factors impacting product photography costs
• Product photography costs: a rundown
• Where to save money vs. where to invest
• Moving forward with your product photography

How much does product photography cost in 2021?

Product photography costs vary depending on several factors including the type of product, the number of products you need photographed (most photographers discount bulk orders), the style you’re looking for (e.g., white background or lifestyle), and your turnaround time.

To give you a better idea of product photography rates, here are a handful of pricing structures (from real companies):

Products on White Photography charges anywhere between $29.99 and $39.99 per photo.

ProductPhoto.com is a bit more affordable, with product photography pricing available as low as $7 per image.

And Soona charges a starter pack of $39 for two images.

Finally, Squareshot has pay-as-you-go as well as membership plans which grant subscribers access to a certain number of monthly photos at a set price depending on their plan. The $39/month subscription gets you $40 per image pricing and two rounds of revisions, while the higher tiered plan costs $159/month plus $35/image.

You’re going to find a wide range of prices, partly due to differences in what’s included in the base cost.

You’ll find that many individual photographers don’t post their rates on their websites. Many times, you’ll need to reach out with information about the project. You might find some pricing, though. Denver-based photographer Leigh Germy, for example, charges $100/hour for product design—while her portraiture photography goes for $300/hour.

How much brands pay for product photography in 2021

To find out what real-world ecommerce brands pay on average per photo, we surveyed some business owners to get their insights.

 

Celestial Silk

Estimated cost per photo: $25–$80

CEO and founder of pillowcase brand Celestial Silk Danielle Jackson says she uses a combination of outsourced and in-house product photography. Whenever they need live models in the shots, they outsource the photos at $80 apiece. But for more straightforward and less complex images, they shoot in-house at about $25 each.

 

Lēto Foods

Estimated cost per photo: $90–$250

Lēto Foods, which sells smoothies for pregnancy health, knew the importance of investing in high-quality product photography to successfully launch their ecommerce brand. For most of the images, founder and CEO Amanda Gorter and her team shipped their products to an ecommerce photography company and paid $90/shot. They also worked with a local photographer and food stylist to come up with more creative and special shots—investing closer to $250/image for these.

Cooper’s Treats

Estimated cost per photo: $40–$60

Premium dog treat company Cooper’s Treats uses a photographer who charges $40 per shot plus a flat startup fee, which works out to be a total of about $50 per image. The photographer also sends over images they haven’t culled as the top shots, offering them at half the price. Cooper’s Treats receives edited images, though sometimes they have to crop for a specific use case like Facebook ads or marketing emails. Owner Alex Willen sometimes drives the products from San Diego to their photographer in Los Angeles, and other times they mail the products for about $30–$40.

Carigu

Estimated cost per photo: $9–$28

Australia-based chef gear and accessory brand Carigu outsources their product photography. The images are priced differently depending on the style of the shot. Traditional ecommerce photos—white background, for example—cost them about $9 per image. For more creative lifestyle shots, they pay closer to $28 per photo.

Moriarty’s Gem Art

Estimated cost per photo: $10

Jeff Moriarty of Moriarty’s Gem Art prioritizes product photography because it’s so important for capturing the details in their jewelry—essential for online shoppers looking for these types of items. They hire a local photographer to come to their business every week or two to take both photos and videos of their products. The photographer charges $50 per hour and gets about 5 shots per hour, coming in at about $10 per shot. Each shoot takes 4–6 hours, yielding 20–30 shots for a $200–$300 investment.

“The results of [our photographer’s] work are amazing. It leads to improved sales and conversion rates, so we will continue to invest in her.” – Jeff Moriarty, Moriarty’s Gem Art

Quality Logo Products

Estimated cost per photo: 75¢–$15

Quality Logo Products sells customizable promotional goods and takes a hybrid approach to their product photography. They invest more in unique photography, including 360-degree shots, for best selling products. For less popular items, they outsource the shots and skip the 360-degree views. On average, in-house product photos cost about $3 per regular image and $15 per 360-degree shot. Outsourced shots are much more affordable at about 75¢ apiece. “Our in-house production quality is also significantly higher than that of outside vendors, so it’s worth the money and effort,” says co-founder/president Bret Bonnet.

The Hussl Co.

Estimated cost per photo: $1.16

The Hussl Co. CEO Chase Scroggins hired a “skilled but amateur photographer” for $75/hour to shoot product images for his apparel company. He hired a model and also modeled the clothes himself. The photoshoot took two and a half hours (that’s $187.50 for the photographer) and he ended up with 162 usable shots, 20 of which have been useful for marketing materials and product listings.

Factors impacting product photography costs

Here are a few things you’ll want to note:

• White background: Is this included or an extra cost?
• Clipping path: Do they provide this with each image?
• Worldwide Royalty Free Unlimited Use: Are there image restrictions or licensing fees?
• File types: What is included in the base price?
• Turnaround time: Most pros charge extra for rush projects.
• Retouching: Do they include any basic edits?
• Travel fees: If travel will be required, discuss those fees right away.

Choose your photographer (or photography company) depending on your needs: Take your time frame, outsourced tasks, and products into account. And you don’t want to just go with the most affordable option. Budget is, of course, something to keep in mind, but product images can make or break an ecommerce venture.

Product photography costs

A lot goes into those pretty product shots. Photography equipment and space are expensive, an assistant might be necessary, and cameras and lenses require regular cleaning and appropriate storage. On top of that, there are yearly business costs (like marketing material and a website) and costs for photo editing software.

While pro photographers probably don’t want to calculate how much they’ve invested in their business, we’re going to break it down below, so you know exactly why and how photography fees are set.

Equipment

For most product photographers, equipment will make up the bulk of their expenses. Professional-quality cameras, lenses, and lighting tools are expensive.

Camera body

Estimated cost: $3,000–$5,500

Contrary to what most consumers imagine, professional-grade cameras are sold without lenses—and they’re expensive. A decent camera body will start at about $3,000, and many cost more.

We surveyed a small group of professional product photographers and found that over 60% of them spent between $3,000 and $5,500 on their main camera body. And most professional photographers own at least two camera bodies (a main one and a backup), although the backup camera might be cheaper or older.

Pro-quality camera bodies are built with more durable materials, they’re weather-sealed, have higher burst rates, larger buffers, better autofocus capabilities, dual memory card slots, and have GPS and WiFi technologies included. They’re also compatible with a wide assortment of high-grade lenses.

Lenses

Estimated costs: $1,000–$20,000

While most photographers will have just a few camera bodies, they’ll likely have a plethora of lens options. High-quality used lenses start at around $1000 each, and new lenses start at around $1500 each (and that’s considered a rather affordable price point). Generally, the jump from mid- to high-range prices is what separates enthusiast-quality lenses from professional-quality.

It’s not unusual for new, pro-grade lenses to go for $5,000 to $12,000 or more per lens. The photographers we surveyed spent anywhere from $10,000 to over $20,000 on their collection of lenses.

More expensive lenses usually have higher-quality glass, better sensors, more features, a faster autofocus motor, more effective subject isolation, and are weather resistant. The glass elements that are used in professional lenses go through more rigorous testing and have a more rigid inspection process. They typically have faster, constant aperture lenses that produce better images in low-light situations and product images with better color quality.

Props

Estimated costs: $1,000

To keep ecommerce product shots interesting, pro photographers keep a multitude of props handy. The cost varies greatly from a few bucks (think garage sales or thrift shops) to hundreds of dollars.

Bigger or more elaborate props like backdrops, floor drops, and rugs, can add up quickly. And due to the nature of product images, having a variety of blocks and boxes to work with is a necessity. Even if those props cost under $100 each, many product photographers probably have around $1,000 dollars worth of props at their disposal.

If you want to learn more about product photography props, take a look at this great resource: How to Prop Up Products With Blocks to Create Eye-Catching Product Photos.

Lighting

Estimated costs: $15,000

Lighting might be one of the most expensive additional items that pro photographers use. Why? Getting a great product image in a studio setting requires more than a good flash. Photographers also need to have light meters, reflectors, stands, boom arms, reflectors, balancer cards, and grips. The photographers we surveyed have spent over $15,000 on lighting equipment.

Curious about how that breaks down? A cheap stand costs about $100, but many quality stands cost over $500, and boom arms can cost around $1,000. A nice flash runs around $500 to $1000—the same goes for a nice light meter. Professional-quality light reflectors will be about $100 each. And the list goes on. Plus, professional photo studios will need multiples of most of these items, so it gets expensive quickly.

Miscellaneous equipment

Estimated costs: $1,000–$10,000

Along with lighting equipment, there are a whole bunch of other necessary items. Filters ($10 to a couple of hundred dollars), at least one camera bag (around $200), a shutter remote, spare batteries, and camera and lens cleaning supplies. Compared to other costs incurred, these are small-ticket items for photographers, but they’re absolutely necessary.

“My camera bag has roughly $8,000 worth of gear in it at any given moment,” says photographer Brendan Williams. There isn’t a shortcut to becoming a professional product photographer. It takes skill and usually a hefty financial investment, not only for equipment but also for studio space, employees, business expenses, and more.

Studio fees

Estimated costs: $500–$800/day

The cost of studio space depends on whether it’s rented or owned and the photographer’s location. If you own the space, the cost will depend on your mortgage situation. The photographers that we surveyed noted that a typical studio rental fee costs about $500 to $800 per day. Studio rental fees may or may not include some equipment use.

“Note: if you hire a professional photographer, they’ll likely have all this equipment. Likewise, if you’re outsourcing the whole thing (for example, shipping your products to a studio like Products on White Photography, you won’t need to pay for any of this equipment).”

People

Estimated costs: $25–$500+ per hour

When you’re paying for product photography, you’re not just paying for one photographer. The cost likely covers assistants, administrative staff, stylists, and possibly models.

One larger product photography company that participated in our survey said they regularly employ a few contractors and probably spend around $80,000 per year on their account manager, assistants, bookkeeper, etc.

Here’s an average breakdown of some of the manpower costs (just for the day of the shoot):

• Photography assistants: $15 per hour
• Models and talent: $50 or more per hour
• Hair and makeup stylists: $50 or more per hour, each
• Photo stylist: $25 or more per hour

Beyond shooting days, most businesses also have support, admin, or bookkeeping staff.

Hiring a photographer

A good photographer isn’t cheap, and hopefully, now you realize why. It’s a lot more than taking a few pretty pictures (although yes, you want to hire someone who can do that).

Interested in hiring a product photographer? Make sure you do your due diligence before making a decision: How to Hire a Product Photographer: 11 Questions You Need to Ask.

Professional photographers use different pricing systems:

• Hourly: $100 or more
• Day rate: $500 or more
• Packages: varies
• Subscription: varies
• Per photo: $25 or more (save money by buying a package)

Thoroughly review any prospective photographer’s rates and pricing structures. You’ll want a plan that will work with your ecommerce business as-is and the option to change plans as your business grows.

Are you a photographer that wants to explore a package pricing structure? Here’s how to build, price, and sell product photography packages.

Photographers work either freelance or in-house, which can impact pricing and the amount of work they can handle. Expect the same quality no matter how a photographer has set up their business, but understand that a solo freelance photographer will only be able to handle a certain amount of work. In-house photographers usually have a team to lean on.

Regardless of whether they work for themselves or a larger company, photographers that do high-end commercial work need to have an inventory of equipment and people at their fingertips.

Business expenses

Estimated costs: $2,900–$3,700

Like other companies, photographers have regular business costs:

• Business registration: $300–$600
• Computer: $1,500+ or more
• Website: $300+
• Marketing: $300+
• Insurance: $500–$1,000

One professional product photography company we surveyed spends over $10,000 per year on business costs. Again, this will vary depending on whether the photographer works freelance or in-house at a larger studio.

Post-processing

Estimated costs: $120–$700/year

In the grand scheme, software subscription costs are low-cost for product photographers. Photoshop, Lightroom, Canva, are all less than $700 per year each (and Canva is currently an affordable $120 a year). The real cost of post-processing is time.

Photo editing takes a skilled person and a lot of time. Of the product photographers that we surveyed, photo editing was one of the most commonly outsourced tasks—simply because of time constraints.

Image source

Outsourcing photo edits to a professional team like Path is a great way to keep costs down and maintain your high-quality standards. (Path pricing is transparent and straightforward with costs starting at 25¢ per image.) And outsourcing tasks such as photo editing can be especially helpful if you’re working with a freelance photographer (or you are a freelance photographer).

Storage

Since pro photographers have to maintain and share countless files, they also have to pay for image storage and organization solutions:

• Digital asset management (DAM) system: $350+ per year (a 2018 survey found that $51,999 was the average yearly DAM cost)

[cta text=”Get tips on setting up and organizing a DAM” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/digital-asset-management-how-to-organize-product-photography-files”]

• Server space: $100–$300 per month for a smaller business
• Memory cards: around $100
• Memory card reader: around $20–$80
• Portable storage drive: roughly $100–$800
• Tech resources for maintenance: varies
• Cables for image transfers: around $10–$50

Where to save money vs. where to invest

Product photos aren’t something you want to skimp on, but there are a few ways to save a bit of money.

Moving forward with your product photography

That product photography quote that you received is probably looking a lot more affordable now. (Ahem, photographers, the new year would be a great time to raise your prices.)

Producing high-quality product images is expensive, but there are plenty of reasons it’s so costly. Those images are an investment in your ecommerce company and, for photographers, they’re the result of years of experience, a vast network, and a strategically built business.

You’ve set up your company. You have a website with products your customers want. Now it’s time to prep product photos for your site. You’ve done everything right thus far, so it’s essential that you find the right provider for clipping path services.

While choosing your clipping path provider, you’ll likely do some research about their pricing, turnaround time, and customer reviews. But some companies participate in dishonest business practices and solicit fake clipping path service reviews—from their employees, friends and family, or even bots. So when you look up clipping path service reviews, you need a keen eye to distinguish fraudulent versus genuine customer feedback.

In this article:

• Why it’s important to look up clipping path reviews
• Where to find clipping path service reviews
• How to spot fake or biased clipping path service reviews
• Path clipping path service reviews
• Next steps to finding a clipping path service provider

Why it’s important to look up clipping path reviews

Choosing the wrong clipping path provider could seem to be a simple mishap, but worse things could happen than lost money or more work fixing the edits yourself. In some cases, untrustworthy clipping path service providers may use or even sell your images elsewhere. And if your employer owns the rights or you’ve sold them to a client, this can put you in a legal jam. Worse, you could put your bank and credit card information in the wrong hands.

But don’t worry, there are many ways to protect yourself from these worst-case scenarios. Taking a few minutes to research clipping path service reviews can save you valuable time and alleviate potential issues.

[cta text=”Why choosing the right clipping path partner is important” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/how-to-choose-the-best-clipping-path-service-provider”]

Where to find clipping path service reviews

To avoid these worst case scenarios, put on your investigator hat and do some online sleuthing to find out whether the company is reputable. Many clipping path companies feature reviews on their own website, but for honest, unvetted reviews, you’ll want to visit third-party sites as well.

To start, do a simple Google search for “clipping path service reviews.” You can also type the name of the company followed by the word “reviews” to see what people are saying about them on the web. Make sure to thoroughly browse the results on Google—that means going past page 1.

Next you can check third-party sites for validated commentary. Here are a few to start with:

• Trustpilot
• Facebook
• Upwork
• Fiverr
• G2 Crowd

Here’s an example of one of the clipping path service reviews on G2 Crowd for a company. It’s the only review available, so it’s best to take it with a grain of salt and validate with opinions and reviews from other sources. However, G2 has validated the reviewer, so take it as another piece of your research through this vetting process.

 

Another trick? Search the company name again, but plug in the word “scam” at the end instead of “reviews.” If you have a repeat fraudster on your hands, this should show you the truth.

As a bonus, taking a deep dive into a company’s reviews may not only help prove their validity but also reveal their customer service response quality. The responses from service providers to reviewers can provide insight into the company’s customer care practices and further help you in your decision process.

Image source

 Pro tip: Remember to not only look at the overall review ratings, but the quantity of reviews. A company called Clipping Path Creative, for example, has a 3.8-star Trustpilot rating, but there are only tworeviews. Compare that to Path’s 5,000+ Trustpilot reviews with an average “Excellent” rating. It’s clear who is the more reliable choice.

 

Also worth noting: Trustpilot calls out that they’re unable to verify how Clipping Path Creative has gotten their reviews. So they could all be fake.

How to spot fake or biased clipping path service reviews

Unfortunately, there are tons of fake clipping path service reviews out there. While third-party sites do their best to monitor and prevent fraudulent customer reviews, it’s impossible to catch all of them. That’s why it’s important to stay vigilant.

Keep an eye out for these tells:

Watch for reviewers with generic names like John Smith or lots of random numbers in their names.

• A spike in the number of reviews over a short period of time can indicate a targeted campaign to boost a company’s rating.
• Fake reviews are often over-the-top in their praise, while honest reviews tend to discuss both the good and the bad.
• Use of more personal pronouns, like “I” and “me.” A study conducted by Cornell University found that fake reviewers use extra pronouns and fill their reviews with unnecessary details and scene-setting to sound more convincing.

You might also find biased reviews. For example, competitors may post reviews that position their own services more favorably than their competitors. Make sure you check a variety of sources and look for common customer praise and complaints.

Path clipping path service reviews

We like to share our favorite customer reviews on social media, but you can check our Trustpilot page for an unfiltered view of all our reviews.

Next steps to finding a clipping path service provider

Now that you’ve thoroughly researched and vetted clipping path service reviews, you can move forward with the outsourcing process by gathering quotes from your chosen providers. You can sit back and feel confident about spending money on a worthwhile expense while focusing on other tasks.

Check out these other articles to help find a high-quality yet affordable clipping path service provider:

• How to Choose the Best Clipping Path Service Provider
• Outsourcing Your Photo Editing? Here’s How to Find the Best Option
• How to Know It’s Time to Outsource Photo Editing
• Should You Outsource Photo Edits or Do Them In House?: A Complete Guide

At Path, our team of professionally trained photo editors is ready to assist you with all your editing needs.

[cta text=”Learn more about Path services and how we can help you get back to the work you love” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/pages/how-it-works”]

Clipping paths are powerful tools that allow you to remove or “clip” an item or product from its background when other methods won’t work. This method is particularly useful when you have a product featured against a complex or multicolored background.

How do you create a clipping path in Photoshop?

1. Set up your Pen tool
2. Draw a path around your product
3. Save your path
4. Create a clipping path
5. Create a selection from your clipping patha>
6. Create a clipping mask

Step 1: Set up your Pen tool

You’ll need to use the Photoshop Pen tool to create your clipping path. If you’ve ever used the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator, you’ll notice that Photoshop’s Pen tool is almost the same.

Before you can start to use the tool, however, you’ll need to ensure your settings are correct so you actually create a clipping path and not a shape.

In your image document, select the Pen Tool. You can find it in the Toolbar, or you can type “p” to select it automatically. If you don’t see the Pen Tool, it may be hiding behind the Freeform Pen Tool, the Curvature Pen Tool, the Add Anchor Point Tool, the Delete Vector Point Tool, or the Convert Point Tool.

 

At the top of the application window, in the Options Bar, you’ll see settings for the Pen Tool. Select “Path” and choose “Combine Shapes.” See the image below for reference.

Step 2: Draw a path around your product

If you’re familiar with how the Pen Tool works, drawing a path around your shape should be pretty straightforward. If you’re new to the Pen Tool, we’ll give you the basics to get you started with this powerful tool.

[cta text=”Pen Tool Tutorial | Photoshop for Ecommerce Brands” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/how-use-pen-tool-photoshop-beginner-tutorial”]

With your Pen Tool, click with your mouse once along the edge of the image you want to “clip.”

Click again to place the next point, but don’t release the mouse button quite yet. Instead, pull the mouse along the edge of your object to create a curved path. Once you’re satisfied with the shape of the curve, you can release the mouse button.

Continue along the edge of your object in this manner until you’ve created a path all the way around the object.

To complete the path, hover your Pen Tool over the starting point until you see a circle appear right next to the Pen Tool. That’s your cue that you’re about to close the path. Click on your first point to close the path.

If you want to modify or tweak the path by adjusting any of the points you’ve placed, you can do so using the Direct Selection Tool.

 

[cta text=”4 Photoshop and Clipping Path Shortcuts to Bookmark” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/clipping-path-photoshop-shortcuts-editing-ecommerce-photos”]

Step 3: Save your path

Once you’re happy with the path you’ve created, go to your Paths panel in Photoshop 2021. If you don’t see the panel, you can select Windows > Paths to bring up the Paths panel.

Once in the panel, click on the Work Path you’ve just created (if it’s not already selected). Then click on the panel’s menu and choose Save Path.

 

Tip: Give your new path a name that identifies the object it’s outlining. This is good practice as you may find yourself working in a file that requires multiple clipping paths.

Step 4: Create a clipping path

Traditionally, a true clipping path is a path created in Photoshop and can be read in other applications. For example, you can create a clipping path around a product photo in Photoshop without damaging your original image, and then import that image into design software such as InDesign or Illustrator, and the background of your image will be automatically “clipped.”

For this step, we’ll go over how to create a clipping path the “traditional” way. In the next step, you’ll learn how to use the path you created to remove a background directly in Photoshop.

To create a traditional clipping path, simply click on the saved path you just created in your Paths panel. Click on the panel menu again and choose Clipping Path.

You won’t see a difference in your Photoshop document, but if you save your image in a PSD file format, and then place that image into InDesign or Illustrator, you’ll see the clipping path doing its job.

Step 5: Create a selection from your clipping path

For ecommerce use, you’ll most likely need to remove a background entirely from your product image within Photoshop. And now that you’ve created your path, the next part is easy. First, make sure you’re in a layer you can edit appropriately. Go to your Layers Panel. If you don’t see the panel, you can select Window > Layers from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.

[cta text=”Photoshop Layers Tutorial: A Beginner’s Guide ” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/photoshop-tutorial-beginningers-guide-using-layers”]

Make sure the layer containing your product image is unlocked. If your image is in a locked Background layer, simply double click on the layer to make it Layer 0. Click OK.

In your Paths panel, make sure your new Path is selected. Then, from the Panel’s menu, choose Make Selection….

Check and make sure Feather Radius is set to 0. Click OK.

Now, choose Select > Modify > Contract from the dropdown menu at the top of the application window.

In the dialog box that appears, set the contract radius to 1. Click OK.

By doing this, you’ll move your selection just slightly inward, so you don’t end up with any background artifacts showing up in your masked image.

[cta text=”Clipping Path vs. Masking: What’s the Difference?” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/blogs/tips/clipping-path-vs-masking-difference-comparison”]

Step 6: Create a clipping mask

For this next step, you’ll need to go back into your Layers panel.

Make sure your layer containing your product image is selected in your Layers panel. At the bottom of your Layers panel, you’ll see a little icon that looks like a black rectangle with a circle cut out of the middle of it — the Add Layer Mask icon. Click on that icon.

You’ve now created a Layer mask that isolates your product image from its background.

By using a mask, you are isolating the product image in a non-destructive way. Your original background is still there should you need it in the future, but it’s now masked.

You can easily place another background under your Layer 0 to put your product into another setting, or leave it on a transparent background.

[cta text=”Not enough time or patience to handle the clipping paths yourself? Outsource them to Path, your virtual clipping path studio” button=”Learn more” link=”https://pathedits.com/pages/clipping-path”]

How to Make a Carousel in Photoshop 

Throughout the photography community, Instagram carousels are one of the biggest trends that everyone raves about.  Carousels are a great and easy way for creative individuals to showcase MORE than 10 photos across the allowed ten swipes of an individual IG post in a very artistically pleasing way.

Today, I will be showing you how to create a carousel in Photoshop that will give you both easier control over your image layout and improve the quality of your showcased images too. 

Read below to get started:

Step 1. Create Your Base Layer

When your Photoshop is up and running, go to the top menu bar and select File>New to open a new document. 

An Instagram post has a maximum height of 1350 pixels by 1080 pixels, so go ahead and enter 1350 into Height.  Then, depending on how many swipes you want your carousel to be, multiply that number (i.e. your swipes) by 1080 and enter that number into Width.  For this example, I want 4 swipes, so I will multiply 4 by 1080 which equals 4320. 

Make sure next to “Width” the drop-down box says “Pixels”.  Once you are ready to continue, click “Create”.

Step 2. Open Your Images

Next, open all the images you want to include in your carousel.  To open your images, go back to the menu bar, and choose File>Open.  Select your photo and hit Open.  Repeat for each of the photos you want to include.

Step 3: Bring Images to the Base Layer

Notice that you now have your base layer as the first tab and your other images will show in the following tabs.  In the tabs, click on the first image you opened up.

At the bottom right hand side of this photo, hover your cursor over the background layer, click and hold down, and then drag the photo to hover over your base layer.

When you hover over the base layer, it will bring the carousel document to the forefront.  Drop the background layer onto the base layer.

­Next, you will have to resize the image to fit the layer.  To resize your image, press CTRL + T (for PC) or CMD + T (for Mac).  Grab the white squares at the corner of your image and drag to resize and make smaller.  Once you are happy with your image size, click enter to confirm.

Go ahead and repeat these steps for ALL OF YOUR IMAGES until your base layer looks something like the image below (with all images sized down to fit across the white background).

Step 4: Create Your Grid

Now that you have all of your images on the Base Layer, you will want to turn on the Photoshop grid to see WHERE Instagram will cut off your carousel document with each swipe.  To turn on the grid, press CTRL + apostrophe (‘)(for PC) or CMD + apostrophe (‘)(for Mac).

Next, in the top menu go to Photoshop, Preferences, and select “Guides, Grids, & Slices”.

This will open your Preferences screen.  In the Grid section, confirt that your “Gridline Every” is set to 100 and Percent.  Now, remember how many swipes you initially chose.  Enter that number into the “Subdivisions” box and then click OK.

For my example, I entered four because I want my carousel to have 4 swipes.

Step 5: Snap Your Grid

As you rearrange the photos on your Base Layer you will want them to “snap” to the grid you just created. 

Snapping will help you see where the end of EACH photo in your carousel will be.  To turn snapping on, go to the main menu and select View>Snap To.  Make sure there is check mark next to Grid. 

Step 6: Create Your Desired Layout

Now you are ready to play around with the layout of your Instagram carousel.  To move your images around, click on the photo you want to move and drag it where you want.  To change the image size, press CTRL + T (for PC) or CMD + T (for Mac) as I mentioned previously.  Grab the white square at the corner of your image and drag to resize. 

Make sure to take note of where your grid (or swipe) will be cut off when you post your carousel in Instagram.  This is a good place to start if you don’t know how you want your carousel to look. 

If there’s a photo you want to move but another image is on top of it or the other image is cutting off part of what you want to have shown: go to the layers channel at the bottom left side of your screen and click on the layer of the photo you want to move to the top.

Now, click and hold that image layer and drag it upwards until a blue line appears above the image layer of the photo that was cutting off your other image.  The blue line will show you where your layer will be dropped.

That particular photo layer will now be above the other one and image will no longer be hiding underneath.

Step 7: Slice Your Grid

Next, to prepare you document for Instagram, you will need to slice your grid.  On the left side tool bar, choose the three dots at the bottom of your choices.  Click and hold down on the triangle below the three dots until a new tool bar opens.

When the new toolbar opens, click on the Slice Tool:

Now click above the top left side of your carousel and drag across your first grid section until it snaps at your grid mark.  Repeat this slicing process for all the grid sections you already created.

Your carousel document should now look something like this.  Note: there will be a blue box above the starting point of each slice.

You can double check that you sliced at the right spots by clicking on the sliced lines and attempt to drag them.  When you do this, it will tell you the width of each particular slice, which should be 1080 pixels.

Step 8: Save Your Carousel

Next, you will want to save your carousel by going to the main menu and selecting File>Export>Save for Web (Legacy).

Name your carousel in Save As.  Choose from the far right where the photos will be saved too.  Then double check in the bottom part each section to make sure the following options are selected:

• Format is set to “Images Only”.
• Settings is set to “Default Settings”.
• Slices is set to “All Slices”.

Once that is done, click Save to save each slice as its own image.

You are now ready to post your carousel to Instagram!  Within Instagram, use their multiple photo option to select and display the carousel images you created.

To further inspire you, I’ve include some examples of visually appealing and successful carousels that I created for my own Instagram.

HAPPY CAROUSEL CREATING!

Additional Reading Just For You:

1. How to Edit Instragram Photos in Lightroom

2. Instagram Marketing Tips for Photographers

Do you have any questions or comments about Creating an Instagram Carousel in Photoshop?  Just leave us a comment below – we would LOVE to hear from you!  And PLEASE SHARE this post using the social sharing buttons (we really appreciate it)!

How to Successfully Update to the Latest Version of Lightroom

I have successfully updated MANY versions of Lightroom (and other software) and completed lots of operating system upgrades.  But last week, I had a VERY DIFFICULT experience that taught me that EVEN I AM NOT IMMUNE FROM THE DIFFICULTIES OF UPDATING LIGHTROOM and my computer’s operating system.

Last week, I saw the big Lightroom update and was really excited.  So I opened my Creative Cloud looking for the update and found my computer wasn’t eligible for the update.

WHAT?  NOT ELIGIBLE?

With a few clicks I found that the reason that I wasn’t eligible to update was that my OPERATING SYSTEM WAS TOO OLD.  Suddenly, there are two updates that needed to happen in order to have the newest version of Lightroom.

**FUNNY SIDE NOTE: The reason my operating system was out of date is that Lightroom didn’t work well with some of the previous operating system updates, so I stuck with the old version.**

I knew this update process could take some time but it ended up taking A LOT LONGER than I originally planned because I ran into trouble updating my operating system.

It was really messy, but I wanted to share some tips from my experience, so that whether you are updating Lightroom, Photoshop, your operating system (or all three), the process will go more smoothly for YOU!

Step 1: Back Up EVERYTHING

You might be excited to update your Lightroom RIGHT AWAY, but whatever you do, DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. 

• Backup your photos.
• Backup your files.
• Backup your Lightroom catalog.
• Backup your Lightroom presets.
• Backup EVERYTHING!

I am usually pretty good at doing back ups, but I was SO excited to update my Lightroom this time, I missed a few things.  And when my update took a turn for the worse, unfortunately those things were permanently lost.

Luckily, the losses were minor because I have a pretty good backup system in place.  But those losses could have been completely avoided if I had been a little more diligent about BACKING UP EVERYTHING!

Step 2: Plan Time for the Update

Updates take time, so make sure you set aside enough time in your schedule.  If you ONLY need to update Lightroom or Photoshop, those updates should take around 30-40 minutes.  But if you also need to update your operating system, keep in mind that could take several hours or more.

• Don’t plan your update when you are in the middle of editing a session or multiple sessions for clients. 
• If you are a professional photographer, don’t update in the middle of your busy season.
• Don’t update when you have deadlines to meet or other pressing work that needs to be done.
• Wait to update when you have enough time to devote to it and won’t be in a complete panic if the update doesn’t go according to plan.

Step 3: The Update Went Smoothly (If it Didn’t, See Step 4!)

Congratulations!  This is how we want ALL updates go.  Now, take some time to learn about the new features and practice using them so they can speed up your workflow.  There will be many experts to guide you through these updates.

Check to make sure that everything in the update is working correctly.  If you are updating Lightroom, open your Lightroom catalog and make sure that images are showing up how they should and make sure that you can see all your Lightroom presets.

Step 4: The Update Didn’t go Smoothly

Unfortunately, sometimes updates DON’T GO SMOOTHLY and it can happen when updating Lightroom, Photoshop and/or when you are updating your operating system (which can be even more problematic).

It doesn’t matter which update is causing problems, but when/if it does, make sure to get some help to keep things moving along.  The help may come in the form of using Google to search any errors that come up or find others that had the same issue and asked questions/shared solutions in forums or on their website.

If you can’t readily find answers or the things you are trying aren’t working, it’s probably time to reach out to customer service for whichever product you are trying to update.

No one enjoys working with customer service because it usually involves multiple calls and spending a lot of time on hold (I speak from experience).  However, unless you are an expert or know an expert in the computer field, reaching out to customer service may be the ONLY WAY to keep your install process moving along.

Final Pep Talk

Don’t be afraid to update Lightroom, Photoshop or your operating system.  YOU CAN DO IT!

Generally, most updates install smoothly and problematic updates will be the rare exception.  But either way, IF YOU ARE PREPARED before you begin your update, it won’t matter if it goes smoothly or not – all your data and images will be safely protected and cared for.

Do you have any questions or comments about Preparing to Update Lightroom?  Leave us a comment below – we would LOVE to hear from you!  And PLEASE SHARE this post using the social sharing buttons (We really appreciate it)!