Minimalist creative product photography: why it might be right for you + examples | Omi.so

If you’re planning to commission product shots anytime soon, it’s likely the words ‘minimalist’ and ‘creative’ are both in the brief.

Most successful product shots, particularly packshot photographs, strike a balance between minimalism and creativity. They show off a product in a distraction-free setting, but with a little imaginative flair to signal its brand’s character.

That usually means a product against a plain background, with one or more of the following customizations:

Experimental lighting
Camera angles
Subtle props

If a product photograph successfully registers as both minimalist and creative, the audience will barely think of it as photography at all — their attention will be fully focused on the product and its vibe.

This article is partly a love letter to minimalist product photography and partly a guide to up your eCommerce product photos. It’ll inspire you to ensure your future product photography efforts are explicitly minimalist and creative, and will suggest a way to achieve this coveted aesthetic for far below the market rate.

Minimalist creative product photos of cosmetics products, on blue abstract, with pink background, and dark blue setting and podium

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Why minimalist creative product photography sells

Creative minimalism is a convention of the product photography genre for a reason. Here’s why this look and feel performs so well with customers.

Minimalist product photos build trust, thereby increasing conversions

Clear, simple images communicate trustworthiness, which in turn increases sales.

When product photographs rely on props and backgrounds too much, it sends the message that the product can’t sell itself. Your audience will ask themselves — whether consciously or not — “What are these people trying to manipulate me into believing?”

Sure, lifestyle shots with relevant props and background encourage users to associate your product with a particular, desirable way of living. But the vast majority of your product images should be clear and simple, so your audience knows what to expect when they click “add to cart”.

It gives your products a premium look

It’s classy to be understated. Consider leading brands that use a creative minimalist aesthetic: Apple, Aesop, or COS. They’ve all got premium reputations — high price tags and higher quality standards. Whilst minimalist product photography is usually cheaper than prop-stuffed photoshoots taken on location, this aesthetic is, ironically, very much the visual language of top-end consumer goods.

Collage of elegant minimalist photos of jewelry on white podiums, on dark glass, and champagne flute in black abstract

When you go all-in on creative minimalist product photography (i.e. “less is more”), users associate your product with luxury and confidence.

It offers more scalable, cost-effective production

Creative, minimalist photography is, generally speaking, cheap to execute and easy to replicate. It requires few props and styling changes, thereby lowering production costs. If you’ve got a large or expanding catalog, choosing this aesthetic will help you maintain a cohesive brand look across product lines and channels.

What’s more, a minimalist art direction can easily be templated — great for A/B testing or fast turnaround updates.

Collage of Esthederm marketing photos, a website banner, product reveal shot on instagram, and instagram collage with woman and packshots

Beauty brand, Esthederm, used Omi for stripped-back product images in their launch campaign.

Examples of high-performing minimalist creative product photography

Here’s some real-life examples of the best of this genre — all of them made with the Virtual Photography Studio, Omi.

Minimalist creative shots, metallic tube on reflective brown, NOOĀNCE cosmetics in pastel setting, Brainologist supplements on rock podium

Minimalist creative shots in action: NOOĀNCE cosmetics in a pastel setting to complement product packaging. Brainologist supplements on rock podium for a grounded, straightforward feeling. Generic metallic tube on earthy reflective brown.

Black Honey website imagery, creative minimalist abstract aquatic floral shots for navigation on website

Maison Black Honey uses Omi to create simple, classy product scenes. 9 out of 10 customers believe these 3D visuals are real photographs.

Elegant minimalist shots of Clarins cosmetics in golden, reflective, dark setting. One product bundle and one serum

Clarins is known for their simple, elegant product photography, and used Omi for these.

A more cost-effective way to produce creative minimalist product photographs

Product photography costs can quickly swallow your marketing budget. Studios alone typically charge $150-300 per hour, before you factor in lighting kits, stylists, file management experts (yes, that’s a thing) and post-production costs. If you’re shooting for a minimalist aesthetic — you basically just want your product against a plain background — these costs might not gi.

Why spend all that money to produce an image with such limited creative scope?

There is an alternative to create images with a high-end, creative minimalist feel without the price tag: virtual product photography.

Omi, for example, works by turning your product into a 3D model, or Digital Twin. Then, you drag-and-drop objects in the Virtual Photo Studio to take photorealistic product shots, with full control over the accessories, backgrounds, composition, and lighting.

You can experiment with composition or new background colors almost instantly. And, if you want simple changes such as a new camera angle, you don’t need to book a new shoot. There’s also a 6,000+ item strong library of props — offering plenty of scope for that small creative detail.

When you’ve developed the perfect image, you can save your settings as a template for the next SKU. Or, the next thousands SKUs — it really is that scalable. Not to mention, using Omi typically saves 70-90% of the costs of traditional product photography.

A brief afterword

There’s a lot to love about creative minimalist product photography: it feels sumptuous, whilst showing your product in a clear way that communicates transparency to your customers.

However, if you’re pursuing it with traditional photography methods, this stripped-back aesthetic does not come with a stripped-back price tag.

Virtual product photography is the fastest, most scalable way to nail the creative minimalist aesthetic without sacrificing craft or blowing your budget.