Shooting on a background that looks white to your eye but samples as light grey, which reads dingy next to compliant competitor images.
Photo types and platforms
Product photo
Also called product photography, ecommerce photo or catalogue image. Here is what it means, when it changes what you export, and what people get wrong.
Photo types and platformsRuns on your deviceUpdated 10 August 2026
The short answer
A product photo is an image made to sell a specific item, showing it clearly enough that a buyer can judge what they are getting. Most listings use a set: a clean main shot on white, detail crops, a scale reference and an in-use image. Marketplaces set their own rules for the main shot.
Updated
The short version
Product photo at a glance
| Quick fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Safest aspect ratio | Square 1:1 |
| Colour space | sRGB for web and marketplaces |
| Main image background | Pure white required by Amazon and Walmart |
| Text and logos | Banned on Amazon main images and on eBay pictures |
| Typical set | 5 to 8 images per listing |
Slide the table sideways to see every column.
What separates a product photo from a nice picture of an object?
A product photo has a job: remove doubt. The buyer cannot pick the item up, so the image has to answer colour, scale, material and condition on its own. That makes it a functional image first and an attractive one second.
A photo that flatters the product but hides the seam, the fastening or the true colour costs you in returns even when it wins the click. Because of that, most sellers shoot to a repeatable recipe instead of chasing one perfect frame.
Which shots does a complete set need?
- Main shot. The whole product, square on, on a clean white background, filling most of the frame.
- Detail shots. Close crops of stitching, texture, ports, clasps or print quality.
- Scale shot. The item beside something familiar, or held in a hand, so nobody misjudges the size.
- In-use or lifestyle shot. The product in context, selling the outcome rather than the object.
- What is included. Every part laid out, which cuts pre-sale questions and disputes.
What do the major marketplaces ask for?
| Platform | Published guidance for images |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Amazon's product image requirements state the main image needs a pure white background (RGB 255,255,255), the product filling 85 to 100% of the frame, at least 1000 px on the longest side to enable zoom, and no text, logos, watermarks or borders |
| eBay | Minimum 500 x 500 px, about 1600 x 1600 px recommended, up to 12 MB per file, up to 24 pictures per listing, no added graphics, badges, logos or watermarks |
| Etsy | At least 2000 px on both width and height recommended, first photo at least 635 px wide, files over 1 MB may fail to upload |
| Shopify | Up to 5000 x 5000 px (25 MP) and under 20 MB; 2048 x 2048 px displays best for square product images; zoom needs images larger than 800 x 800 |
| Meta / Instagram Shop catalogue | Minimum 500 x 500 px, 1024 x 1024 px recommended, square 1:1, JPEG or PNG, max 8 MB |
| Walmart Marketplace | 2000 x 2000 px at 300 ppi recommended for zoom, pure white main-image background (RGB 255,255,255), max 1 MB per file |
These figures move. Check the platform's current official requirements page before you submit a catalogue, because a rule that changed quietly will fail your upload or suppress your listing.
How do you keep a whole catalogue consistent?
Consistency is what makes a grid of listings look like a shop rather than a car boot sale. Fix the camera height, the distance and the lighting, then leave them alone for the whole shoot. Shoot in sRGB so the colour a buyer sees matches the colour you approved.
The finishing pass is where volume bites: dozens of files all need the same background, the same square crop and the same size ceiling. Batch editing in a tool such as Photomop handles that pass in one go rather than file by file.
What people get wrong about product photo
Each one is a real failure mode, not a style preference.
Uploading a photo that is exactly at the platform minimum, which switches off zoom and leaves no room for the site to crop.
Adding a price flash, a badge or a brand watermark to the main image on a marketplace that prohibits them.
Changing the lens distance between products so a mug and a jug look the same size in the grid.
Questions people ask
Product photo, answered
The follow-up questions people search for once they have the definition.
How many photos should a listing have?
Use as many as the platform allows that each say something new. Five to eight is usual: main shot, two or three details, a scale shot and one in-use image. eBay allows up to 24 pictures per listing. Repeating near-identical angles adds nothing and slows the gallery down.
Can I use my phone for product photos?
Yes. A modern phone easily clears every marketplace pixel minimum. The limiting factors are lighting and a steady, repeatable camera position, not the sensor. Shoot in daylight or with two diffused lights, keep the phone on a tripod, and lock exposure so frames match.
Do product photos need to be square?
Not always, but square is the safest default. Most marketplace grids and thumbnails are square, so a square source avoids the site cropping your composition for you. Shopify and Etsy accept other shapes, while Meta's catalogue guidance asks for 1:1.
Should the product touch the edge of the frame?
No. Leave a small margin so nothing is clipped when a platform crops or rounds the corners. Amazon's requirements ask for the product to fill 85 to 100% of the frame, which still leaves breathing room at the edges.
Same cluster
More from the glossary
Neighbouring entries, so every term in the set is one hop from every other.
Profile picture
A profile picture is the small image that represents a person or a business on a platform.
PPI
PPI, pixels per inch, states how many image pixels are packed into each inch of output.
Progressive JPEG
A progressive JPEG stores the image as a series of scans that each add detail, so a rough version of the whole picture appears first and sharpens as more data arrives.
From the studio
Tools that do this
Each one runs on your own device, so the photo stays where it is.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. Every link opens the specification, standard or documentation the claim was read at.
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