Hero shot may define different concepts depending on the industry, but it’s a relative newcomer to product photography. Cinematography and web design have used the term for years, meaning either the first appearance of the main character or the pivotal shot on the web landing page, respectively.

When it comes to e-commerce, “hero shot” is used more often to define a central shot in a series or category that carries some emotional weight.

In this piece, we offer a recap of an insider viewpoint by Mitya Kovalenko, co-founder of Squareshot, with 10+ years of product photography experience on the topic.

Read on to find out:

• What a hero shot is and how it fits into commercial photography
• How hero images are used in marketing and e-commerce
• The key benefits of incorporating hero shots into your visuals
• The distinctions between a hero shot, a commercial image, and a standard product photo

First things first, let's define this term in e-commerce photography.

What is a hero shot in e-commerce photography?

The hero shot is a product image enriched with props, background, and the best possible light. It infuses mood, imparts brand spirit, and provides context to the photographed item. It is mostly used for social media and category pages in an online store. The hero shot focuses on a single key feature of the brand, offer, or product, requiring fewer resources than a full commercial shoot.

Or, as Mitya puts it:

It's like a demo version for the bona fide commercial shoot. You tie the idea behind the hero image to one facet of the brand only, you tell a mono-sided story about the product, not necessarily spending tons of money and time to produce it. Whereby a proper fully-fledged commercial shoot usually takes lots of team effort, time, and capital for preparation in terms of its alignment with storytelling, marketing strategy, and brand identity. So, it’s a hybrid of the product image and a commercial photo.

What are the characteristic features of the hero images?

Product as the centerpiece of the composition

You will usually have one central product you are trying to sell or familiarize the audience with. It can also be a group photo but is much less common. There are no rules about how much of a product goes into the final picture, but more often than not, it's a full-sized product facing the camera at a slight angle or directly.

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Photo 1: Tom Ford, Photo 2: Christian Louboutin x Maison Margiela, Photo 3: Loewe, Photo 4: Alohas

Strategic use of ambiance and context

Unlike a run-of-the-mill product image, a product hero shot will have some mood and brand identity infused into it. It provides context to the item in focus.

Photos: Squareshot

Thoughtful selection of props, backgrounds, and creative lighting

How do you infuse the intangible spirit into a piece of visual content? It's usually a combination of the props, textures, color of the background, positioning, and the concept of the shoot.

Photo 1: MiuMiu, Photo 2: Jil Sander, Photo 3: Arket, Photo 4: Max Mara, Photo 5: Cartier

Optimization for social media engagement

While hero images are also used to illustrate a product category in an online store, they are most often shot to convert social media into website traffic. Their appealing aesthetics make them stand out in the feed, capturing the viewer’s attention and driving them to an online store.

Positioning between standard product images and high-end commercial visuals

The price point further reveals the mid-point of hero shot product photography — it’s basically more emotion-driven than product images but still less thorough than commercial photos. This is reflected in the pricing, too.

You only throw one creative idea into such images, enough to make them pop in a social media channel's newsfeed but not profound and all-embracing enough to represent the entire brand or collection.

So, the hero image pricing is usually just a formula:

Hero shot price = product image price + price for props + extra editing surcharge

Photo 1: Sacai, Photo 2: NEOUS, Photo 3: Alaїa, Photo 4: en route jewelry

Where do you use them most?

Hero shots for e-commerce can be used across different channels:

1. In an online store as one of the product photos

In this case, there are 3 scenarios:

A hero shot is used as the first image. However, it can sometimes feel overwhelming when displayed on a category page. With so much creativity at play, users may struggle to grasp the product’s core functionality at a glance.

A hero shot is used as the final image. In this case, you get the emotional impact at the end of scrolling through the product image collection, but you can still enjoy the neat category page with uniform product images.

Photo: Rhode

Hero shots are strategically placed within product pages or category feeds, where standard product images dominate. E-commerce brands use them to catch visitors’ eye and drive clicks to specific items, making them a powerful tool for highlighting standout products. This approach can be especially effective for boosting sales of slow-moving or seasonal items nearing the end of their cycle.

2. In an online store as a category image

Depending on your online store's architecture and navigation, the category may have a page or a submenu devoted to it. Hero images belong nicely to category images, as they are functional enough and still convey an emotion.

Photo: Le labo

3. On social media

The most frequent and purposeful use of this type of product image is social media. Facebook, Instagram, and X are all highly entertaining, so a mere white background product image will fail to attract attention.

Photo 1: Yuzefi, Photo 2: Toteme

In this visually competitive environment, visual content must have a bright, eye-catching composition and a creative angle to fight for the user’s attention.

4. For blog pieces in outreach campaigns and influencer marketing

If you do influencer marketing or provide your pieces for articles like “20 gifts for Mother’s Day under $50”, hero images will perfectly illustrate your story.

Commercial image vs. Hero shot vs. Product photo

The difference between the product image, hero shot, and proper commercial photo is mostly in the level of creativity invested in it. The more creative the image, the more likely it is to be more expensive to produce. Marketplaces and online stores will mostly use uniform product photos that are highly functional and feel orderly when lined up on a category page.

Below is a quick comparative table of the differences between the three types of visuals.

Stages of production of the hero shots for e-commerce and social media

There are some particulars when it comes to planning and developing creative images, with most of the routine being the same as regular product photoshoots.

1. The search for the central idea, inspiration, and references

It all starts with an idea. Create a hero short for a specific occasion, like Christmas or Halloween. Sometimes, you need to create a hero shot to represent the entire collection, for example, a skiing collection. You may also want a more creative shot to represent your collection based on the products it's produced from.

In either scenario, it all starts with a little brainstorming and a search for references that resonate with the spirit of your product.

2. The search of props and the background

Once the idea is approved, the team will find the right props and backgrounds for the shoot. You may want to combine several techniques to translate your idea: specific items to accompany your main product, colored or textured background, use of specific lighting and shadows, unusual positioning of the objects, etc.

3. Shooting process

The next stage is fairly technical and involves all the regular stages of the shoot preparation.

We have set them out in the tiniest detail for you in this piece:

E-commerce Product Photography Insider Guide: from zero to hero.

4. Post-production and editing [Social media format prep]

Every e-commerce photographer knows to take as much care during the shoot itself so as to minimize the post-production stage.

Still, even the simplest product images require some tweaking with size, exposure, format, shapes, background, or ghost mannequin removal. Hero shot photography may require extra effort due to its overall higher level of complexity.

Naturally, as social media is the primary application of this type of visual content, you need to provide different formats per the recent guidelines for each channel.

If you decide to position your product at an unusual angle or buy hard-to-get props to make a hero shot of your products, you can be sure this piece of visual content is the best value for money. We recommend that our clients take hero shots for their key category products. They serve well to attract potential buyers from social media channels, reinforce brand awareness, and drive that CTR up.

Afterword

Product images are like 3D images in a vacuum — users only get to see the product and have no context. Commercial visuals may have minimal products but are sure to be penetrated with the spirit of the brand and emotional connotation.

To sum it up, hero shots combine the emotional impact of a commercial image with the cost-effective execution of a product photo. They offer a dynamic, in-context representation of the item, almost like a 3D visual brought to life.