When you’re selling products online, first impressions happen fast—and they almost always happen visually. If you’re an ecommerce brand or product photographer, you know how important it is to get every detail just right. One of the most overlooked (but critical) details? Symmetry.
Humans are wired to crave symmetry. It signals beauty, balance, and trust—exactly the feelings you want to trigger when someone lands on your product page.
When you think about symmetric photos, think ecommerce photography for apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, electronics, and anything presented in a clean, controlled environment. Symmetry matters even more in apparel photography, especially for things like ghost mannequin shots where structure, balance, and form all drive buyer confidence.
Why you need symmetric product photos
Studies show that 87% of online shoppers believe enhanced product content is helpful to them during their shopping journey. In today’s competitive landscape, delivering symmetric, polished images isn’t optional—it’s the bare minimum.
Here’s why:
Aesthetic: Symmetry creates a polished, professional look that immediately elevates your brand.
Easybrowsing: Balanced images are easier to process visually, making it faster for customers to evaluate and compare products.
Visualtrust: Symmetry builds instant credibility and makes your brand feel more reliable.
Emotionalappeal: Symmetrical compositions feel satisfying, calm, and complete — all things that lower buying friction.
Performancemetrics: Symmetrical product photos often convert better, boosting both clicks and sales.
That’s where Path comes in. Our expert editors apply symmetry with care—enhancing your product’s natural design without making it look artificial or over-edited.
When and how to use symmetric ecommerce photos
Highly detailed products
If you sell jewelry, electronics, watches, or anything intricate, symmetry highlights the craftsmanship and premium quality you’re trying to showcase.
Highlight centerpiece items
Hero images, like your main PDP photo or homepage feature, need to feel instantly strong and balanced. Symmetry gives products that commanding presence.
Premium products and brands
Luxury brands know: symmetry is a visual shortcut to higher perceived value. It signals attention to detail, care, and sophistication.
Selling symmetrical products
When you sell mirrors, tech gadgets, skincare bottles, apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics — basically anything designed with balance in mind — your photos should mirror that symmetry. It reinforces design quality and makes browsing intuitive.
Bonus: Ghost mannequin shots especially benefit from perfect symmetry to create clean, realistic apparel displays.
Marketplace product photography
Symmetrical product photos aren’t just nice—they perform better in marketplace search results and listings, helping you stand out in crowded spaces. If you sell on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc., you might even be required to use symmetric product photos.
Marketing and advertising campaigns
Symmetry draws the eye and keeps viewers engaged. Whether you’re designing social media ads, web banners, or print catalogs, symmetric images create irresistible visual flow.
High-end retouching
Good symmetry editing polishes natural flaws—like a slightly crooked seam or uneven laces—without making your product look artificial. It’s subtle, invisible craftsmanship that makes a major difference.
Tips for symmetric product photography
Here’s the key to mastering symmetry without overdoing it:
✅ Keep the product’s natural shape and design intact.
✅ Center lines, balance proportions, and adjust visible angles carefully.
✅ Use symmetry to enhance authenticity—not to create a fake-looking “clone.”
🚫 Don’t force symmetry where it doesn’t naturally exist.
🚫 Avoid warping, pinching, or unnaturally stretching parts of the product.
🚫 Stay away from edits that make products feel sterile or “too perfect”—buyers can tell.
Get it perfect, every time
Symmetry isn’t just about making your photos look good—it’s about building trust and driving sales. In ecommerce, symmetry is a small investment that delivers a big payoff.
Ready to sharpen your product photos with perfect symmetry? At Path, our expert editors specialize in balancing precision with authenticity. We’ll polish your product images so they feel clean, credible, and irresistible—all with quick turnaround times, industry-leading accuracy, and deep ecommerce expertise.
Well over a decade ago, I wrote an article predicting the death of the DSLR. I got quite a lot of criticism for such an idiotic prediction, and yet, here we are today, with only one company, Pentax, still making DSLRs and even then to a fairly niche market. My article was about the fact that companies would stop making them, not that DSLRs would suddenly disappear, and that has proved to be true.
The rise of mirrorless cameras was a juggernaut that, like the rise of digital, was unstoppable and inevitable. However, just because a technology is redundant doesn’t mean that it becomes irrelevant.
The technology in DSLRs may not be as feature-packed as current mirrorless cameras, but the sensors were, in many cases, as good. In fact, some modern mirrorless cameras still share the same sensors as their older DSLR equivalents.
Today, I want to examine why buying or owning a DSLR in the mirrorless era still makes sense.
Mirrorless cameras far outnumber DSLR sales these days. By FOX ^.ᆽ.^= ∫
The Cost of DSLRs is Attractive
Does it seem to you that the price of cameras has increased exponentially? I think that whilst the price of high-end professional cameras has not increased much from the DSLR days, there seems to be a dearth of cheaper, budget-friendly mirrorless cameras.
Back in the DSLR days, there were excellent cameras such as the Nikon D5000 that could be bought for well under $1000, with a lens. There is very little in that price range today.
However, if you are looking to get into photography or you are on a tight budget, there is now an incredible range of used DSLRs on the market. Not only that, many camera companies have had to update their lens mounts to enable newer technologies, and so the used lens market is equally as buoyant.
For newer photographers looking to start learning without spending a king’s ransom, there are some amazing deals to be had. For $200-$300, you can get an 18-24mp pixel, well-specced DSLR body, and a little more will get you a decent lens to go with it.
High end DSLRs can be had for less than the price of a budget mirrorless. By AS Photography
For more advanced photographers who want something a bit higher grade, a few hundred dollars will get you into the Nikon D4 or Canon EOS 5D IV, both incredibly robust and capable cameras.
There has never been a better time to invest in a DSLR, especially if money is a little tight.
About Optical Viewfinders…
I will be honest with you, I love the electronic viewfinder on my Sony a7Rv. However, even today, it is exceptional, with a very high MP count and low lag. There are many that lament the demise of the reflex optical viewfinder for good reason.
They certainly had some major advantages, they were generally much brighter than EVs, did not suffer from lag, and some will say, gave you a connection to your subject – although personally I don’t subscribe to that. However, one of their biggest advantages is that they require little to no power, with the exception of the fairly limited exposure information.
There is still a lot to be said for an optical viewfinder. By Victor Ralda
There are some disadvantages that we should mention. Whilst bright, it could be a struggle in low light to nail focus. Modern electronic viewfinders can boost the gain and allow you to see in much lower light, however, this is at the cost of extra lag. It’s also worth noting that not all DSLRs had great viewfinders. On more budget cameras, particularly APS-C, the viewfinder was often smaller, with less coverage and less brightness.
With that said, there is still a lot to be said for a reflex viewfinder, especially given the cost of used DSLRs.
Durability and Handling is Superior!
As mentioned above, it is possible to buy a professional-level DSLR for a few hundred dollars these days. Whilst that might not be a good choice for a beginner, for experienced photographers who are using their cameras day in and day out, in all weather, it can make perfect sense.
The reason for this is simple durability. All professional DSLR cameras are built like tanks, sturdy, metal bodies, often made from lightweight magnesium alloys and high-level weather sealing.
A modern professional mirrorless camera will, of course, have all of this, but it will set you back $4000 plus for the body alone. As mentioned earlier a pro-level DSLR, even a late model, can cost less than $1000 and could easily last another 10 years if looked after. Even the mid-level DSLRs, such as the Nikon D800, were incredibly well built and came in even cheaper than the pro models.
Another advantage, to some, of the DSLR is the handling. Many mirrorless cameras can feel quite small in the hand, whilst even mid-range DSLRs feel chunky and often have very nice, deep grips on them. If you have larger hands, you may well find a DSLR more suitable.
Remember that I said that the viewfinder did not require power? Will it’s a little more complex than that.
Because the viewfinder is optical, the camera’s sensor does not need to stay on all the time the viewfinder is being used. This is one of the primary reasons that battery life is much better on DSLR cameras.
Battery life on mirrorless cameras has improved and will continue to do so, but it is still a long way off matching an older DSLR.
Like lenses, there are also plenty of used camera batteries on the market, as well as third party vendors, meaning you can power your camera for a lot cheaper as well as a lot longer.
In a similar vein to cost, there will be many photographers that are still shooting with their DSLRs. Social media and, to a certain extent, peer pressure can tempt people to part with cash they don’t necessarily have despite having a decent DSLR system already.
If your camera is giving you great results and is well-maintained, why feel that pressure to get on the GAS treadmill? There are arguments that as DSLRs become less and less common, it will be harder to buy accessories for them, however, that time is a long, long way off. Look at the number of film cameras and lenses still available on the used market. Even if something fails on your DSLR, there is a good chance there will be plenty of spares and repair models available, and there are always plenty of camera technicians to repair them for you. Even in the worst case scenario, you will only need to replace like for like, all your lenses will still continue to be valid.
The demise of the DSLR as a new camera has happened, and it is unlikely that there will be any renaissance. However, we had a good 20 years of the DSLR and there are literally millions of them available as used bargains. If you are looking to get into photography or perhaps get into more professional-level gear, yet are on a budget, a used DSLR system makes very sound financial and practical sense.
Let me start by saying, many who are interested in photography always want to know if they should buy a real camera or not… the answer is simple: if you are interested in photography, and you are not happy with your phone, for whatever reason, buying a “real” camera, could be an interesting way to continue exploring your photography hobby.
One myth of getting a “real” camera is that it’s always about getting “better quality” pictures. While that is often true, getting a real camera isn’t just about getting a higher quality picture. A major reason for the real camera is also to give you something to think about with regards to your photography. And in thinking about it, you may find that there are things you would like to do with the camera that become part of your personal style or exploration of photography.
I think that if you focus only on the “quality” aspect of the hardware you start to miss out on the bigger picture of being a photographer. Quality is one of those things that tends to even out quite a bit over time. Even today a lot of the latest cellphones can take great pictures when conditions allow for it.
That is why I started www.learnphotographyskills.com. I really wanted to expand on the skills that photographers can have instead of focusing solely on the quality of the camera. A lot of the information that is out there is more about gear than skills.
And a lot of the skills that are shown out there, are not real skills. Skills are not necessarily a thing that is super entertaining. But when you go on these websites such as Instagram, there’s a very strong focus on entertainment and attention grabbing. Just because something is entertaining, doesn’t make it good or correct. Should you waste time trying to learn or understand silly skills that are just used to get likes on Instagram? Or should you invest in getting real knowledge that is going to allow you to create your own concepts?
It’s a chicken before the egg situation. If all you do is seek out the end results, you’re putting the chicken before the egg. But you can’t make your own chickens, if you don’t learn about the egg. You know what I mean? Getting real skills is getting eggs. When you invest in skills, you’ll have the ability to create your own concepts that people can find entertaining rather than just chimping out and doing a monkey see monkey do copycat of some junk you saw on Instagram.
Not everyone will agree with me on that, in fact, many people will find it annoying. The reason is usually because they don’t have the skills, and they know they don’t. So, if the world is based on skills, they lose. Therefore, these people will often advocate against learning skills, against investing in your hobby, against real active participation in the learning process. These people who think like this are everywhere. They’re on Youtube, they’re on Instagram, they’re on Facebook. They thrive on these platforms where thought is minimized, and action is maximized. Action without thought is the survival characteristic of people on social media.
If you really want to get good at any subject, it’s important to realize that it’s not an overnight kind of thing. You’ve got to have a fundamental understanding of the subject as your foundation. Having a strong foundation allows you to grow in more directions than you would without that foundation. That helps you be a better problem solver when you’re out there in the field.
People often think photography is “easy”. Well, imagine the stress of having to photograph something that is only going to happen once in a lifetime? Such as a wedding or maybe a championship match between two baseball teams. And what are you going to tell your boss when he asks if you got a shot of the player hitting a home run, but you missed it because your shutter speed was wrong? You can’t rewind the clock. You can’t undo. You can’t try again. There’s only ONE SHOT in photography, and that’s what makes photography hard. And that’s why you need to make sure your skills are rock solid if you want to be a photographer.
If you want to start on this journey, check out my Manual Mode Bootcamp. It could be the thing that changes your life!
This article provides all the information about SD cards and USB card readers that you could possibly need. The reasons why things could be messed up with your data transfers are listed below. Please read each section carefully in order to make sure you understand exactly what is going on.
#1 Your SD card is actually slow
SD cards have been around awhile and because of that there is a chance you dug up an old card somewhere that is older and slower than any of your other cards. In this case there’s not a lot you can do, and since the SD card standard is really old, if you’ve been doing media stuff for awhile there’s every change in the world you have a slower card.
The original SD cards don’t have any extra naming on them, it’s just “SD”. SD cards have been introduced according to size class, below are the different size classes currently offered:
Maximum Capacity
2GB
32GB
2TB
128TB
Date Introduced
1999
2006
2009
2018
Size classes are a broad category for different SD card technologies that show what the maximum possible size is supported by each technology. Since 2018 most new cameras should support the largest size class for SD cards which is SDUC. These labels should be printed somewhere on your SD card, so, if you see SDHC which was introduced in 2006, you may have an older and slower SD card.
The most important rating related to speed is the Bus Interface type. Look on your card to see if it has a UHS Bus Logo on it as shown in the chart below. If there is no logo your card is probably an older and slower technology. If your card one of the bus logos in the chart below, then you should get the associated Bus Speed. However, that doesn’t mean that you’ll get those speeds for bursts or sustained writes, although you should something in that range for bursts because there is obviously no point in supporting a faster bus speed if the memory in the card doesn’t support the bus speed.
Bus Interface
Bus Logo
Bus Speed
SD
SDHC
SDXC
SDUC
Default Speed
12.5 MB/s
yes
yes
yes
yes
High Speed
25 MB/s
yes
yes
yes
yes
UHS-I
50-104 MB/s
no
yes
yes
yes
UHS-II
156-312 MB/s
no
yes
yes
yes
UHS-III
312-624 MB/s
no
yes
yes
yes
SD EXPRESS
985-3983 MB/s
no
yes
yes
yes
Bus speed does not guarantee sustained writes. It guarantees that the card can write in a burst at up to that speed. For sustained writes you’ll need to refer to the following chart which is called the VIDEO SPEED CLASS.
With the Video Speed Class, it’s purely about sustained writes specifically for something like recording video. Sustained writes tend to be a lot lower because these writes are limited by the flash memory in the SD card as opposed to the card’s bus.
#2 you’re using an old USB port or an old USB hub
Assuming you have determined that you have a relatively fast SD card to work with we can now move on to the next possible issue, your USB port or hub. From 1996 to 2014 there were 4 speed classes of USB introduced and they all used the same familiar rectangular USB plug known as a USB A connector. USB 3.2 introduced in 2017 uses only the new USB C type port. However, just having USB C does NOT guarantee USB 3.2 speeds! USB C is backwards compatible all the way to USB 2.0 so a USB C device could support any of the USB specifications from 2.0 all the way to the upcoming USB4… To try to state that as clearly as possible, USB 3.2 and USB4 ONLY support USB C, but USB C supports ALL USB versions going back to USB 2.0. Now, depending on the age of your computer you will probably be stuck with a USB port that is pretty slow. Here is a chart to help you make sense of that:
Version
USB 1.0
USB 1.1
USB 2.0
USB 3.0
USB 3.1
USB 3.2
USB 4
Date Introduced
1996
1998
2001
2011
2014
2017
2019
Maximum Transfer Speed
1.5 MB/s
1.5 MB/s
60 MB/s
625 MB/s
1,250 MB/s
2,500 MB/s
20GB/s – 120GB/s
With USB 2.0 things are further confused by the fact that there were different speeds of connections possible with 60MB/s being the maximum but slower connections being very common due to device limitations. The point being that your USB 2.0 device could be running at USB 1.0 speeds depending on whether the device, such as your card reader or USB hub, actually supports USB 2.0 High Speed.
There are two types of USB 3.1. USB 3.1 gen 1, and USB 3.1 gen 2. USB 3.1 gen 1 runs at the speeds shown above in the chart, but USB 3.1 gen 2 is a USB 3.2 speed protocol for USB 3.1 connectors. For instance, if you buy a USB A to USB C cable that says it is USB 3.1 gen 2 it will give you the USB 3.2 speeds.
Using the above chart you can see that any and all computers made before 2011 had USB 2.0 at best, so if your laptop or desktop is from 2011 or earlier this could be your reason for slow transfers.
The annoying thing is that even on new computers there are often still USB 2.0 ports. That is because many devices like a mouse and keyboard don’t need anything better than a USB 2.0 port. So, even though you might have a newer laptop a common theme I have seen is that a laptop might have 3 USB ports on it but 2 of them will be USB 2.0 and only 1 of them will be the newest USB 3.1 or USB 3.2 or whatever. If you are confused which one is which you can check your laptop case for a text label, try looking at the side or bottom of the laptop near the USB port in question, or you can also check your computer’s online user manual. If all else fails, try calling customer service.
Another common issue is that if you use an old USB 2.0 hub with a new USB 3.1 port you will only get the USB 2.0 speeds. So, if you are using a hub and getting slow speeds, try plugging your card reader directly into your computer and see if that improves things at all.
Of course the opposite is also true. If you plug a brand spanking new USB 3.2 hub into a USB 2.0 port, again, you only get the USB 2.0 speeds.
If you want the full speed of the USB port the card, the card reader, the cable, the USB hub, and the USB port on your computer all have to support the same maximum speeds.
Speaking of cables, this is yet another tricky situation with USB devices. Many companies are out there are selling non-standard cables, so watch out. As I said earlier USB C is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and newer so just buying a USB C cable is no guarantee you will get the high speed transfers. You have to make sure that the USB cable you buy specifically supports the speeds you are trying to achieve.
Usually, devices and cables that support these standards will sport the “SuperSpeed” logo as a sign that they’re officially rated to achieve those speeds.
That just about covers the possibilities with USB devices and cables so on to the next possibility!
#3 Your card reader is slow
Card readers have to support all features of the USB connection and the SD card. You can’t just plug a UHS-III card into a card reader that only supports UHS-I. If you do that you will only get the UHS-I speeds at the most. The same is true for the USB support. If the reader only supports USB 3.0, you’ll be stuck with USB 3.0 speeds no matter what port you plug the card reader into.
#4 Your computer HDD is slow
That is because there are literally dozens of things you have to know about how computers work just to transfer data from a card to a computer HDD.
Even if you have the fastest USB, the fastest USB cables, the fastest USB card reader, and the fastest CFExpress cards in the world, when all that data gets downloaded onto your computer it still has to be saved onto the HDD or SSD and if the storage device in your computer is slow guess what?? Your transfers will still be slow. The fact is that while a CFExpress card can manage about 1,700 MB/s read speeds and the USB 3.2 spec can support that, the fastest mechanical hard drives will generally write to disk at about 170 MB/s, or about 10 times slower than the fastest cards.
In order to fix that problem, you have to get a faster SSD in your computer. Typically, that is going to be an NVME SSD. The good news is that as of the writing of this article 8TB SSD drives are currently available. So, using SSDs for media storage is finally possible.
If you have an older laptop you may be limited to SATA 3, that interface is limited to 600 MB/s which is still fast enough for most transfers you might encounter. But, if you are trying to transfer terabytes of data from your cards 600 MB/s may not be fast enough. 600 MB/s works out to about 32 minutes to transfer 1TB if that helps you decide whether you need to buy a new NVME enabled laptop or desktop.
IF you have a desktop computer with free PCIE slots you can purchase an NVME expansion card for your computer.
#5 Transfers are still slow even though you know all of the above should be correct
In the case that you have verified all of the above should be correct to enable high speed transfers to your computer, there are rare situations where your drivers are incorrect. Usually Windows will automatically install the correct drivers but sometimes things get messed up. You also could try reinstalling your operating system.
Another unfortunate possibility is a hardware failure of some sort. A cable may be failing or a USB port may be failing on your computer. In those cases try another port, USB hub, or even another computer and see if you get different results. It may seem crazy, but I have had USB ports fail on my computer from overuse. They usually don’t stop working entirely. What I experienced is that the port would become intermittent during transfers, slowing down to just a few KB/s then speeding up for a few seconds before slowing down again.
I have learned from experience that many of these USB related products have questionable performance characteristics either due to buggy chipsets or just being sold as something they are not. Don’t automatically take your cable and USB hub’s performance claims 100% at face value. Test them out on a system you know works properly. This is especially true if you went cheap and got one of those weird Amazon brands for a lot less money than seems normal (I speak from experience).
If all else fails, call an expert and see if they can help you figure out where the issue may be.
#6 SD cards aren’t fast enough for your needs
The highest read speed for SD cards as of writing is 300MB/s. Future cards may be faster, or they may not. To get faster transfers to your PC you’ll need CFExpress Type B cards, or you can use an external recording device that uses CFExpress Type B or SSD (NVME) drives to save your video and photo data.
Troubleshooting:
Problem: Transfers start out fast then slow down.
Answer 1: The computer HDD may be too slow to sustain a large file transfer.
Answer 2: The USB port may be failing. One sign of a USB port failure is highly irregular transfer speeds or extremely slow transfer speeds that never get faster.
Answer 3: The SD card, computer SSD, or USB port may be overheating due to excessive use or other problems.
