After six years of running an online shop for handmade leather goods, I've noticed a disturbing pattern in my own sales data: products photographed on a white background sell about 40% slower than the same items styled in a 'messy' flat lay with props. Yet most small businesses I talk to still insist on sterile, uniform product photos. I believe we're overvaluing consistency and undervaluing the emotional pull of lifestyle imagery, even though my sample size is just my own shop and a few friends' stores. So the question stands: is a clean, consistent product photo actually better for conversion than a styled one that shows the item in use?