How to take product photos at home that work on every marketplace

To take product photos at home that work on every marketplace, use your phone's main camera at full resolution, soft window light from the side with a white card to fill the shadows, and a curved sheet of white or light grey card behind the product. Shoot the full list of angles, labels, details, scale, contents and in-use shots in one session, leave a margin round the product for cropping, and check every photo at full size before you pack up.

You do not need a studio, a camera or a photographer to take product photos that work on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, eBay and your Shopify store. You need a phone, a window, a sheet of white card and an hour without interruptions. What makes the difference is not equipment. It is a handful of habits: soft light, a plain background, a steady phone and a complete list of shots.

This guide walks through those habits in the order you will use them, from setting up to checking the photos before you put the product away.

What size do product photos need to be for marketplaces?

Product photos need to be larger and cleaner than any single marketplace's use, because they will be cut out, cropped, resized and placed into different layouts for each marketplace. The marketplaces' size figures give the target:

A recent phone camera takes photos far larger than any of these, so size is rarely the problem. Sharpness, light and framing are.

Which phone camera settings matter for product photos?

A phone is enough for product photos, with these settings checked before you start:

• Clean the lens. A thumbprint on the lens gives every photo a soft haze that no editing removes.
• Use the main camera, not the wide or zoom lens, and leave the zoom at 1x. Move the phone closer instead of zooming.
• Turn off filters, beauty modes and portrait mode. They change colours and blur edges, and a cut-out needs crisp edges.
• Turn on the grid, if your camera has one, to keep the product level and centred.
• Shoot at full resolution in the camera's standard photo mode.
• Turn off the flash. It makes hard shadows and bright reflections.

Then, for each shot, tap on the product to focus. Most phone cameras let you tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, so the camera does not change its mind between shots.

How do you light product photos at home?

Light product photos at home with a window to the side and a white card opposite it. Light is the single biggest difference between a photo that looks professional and one that does not.

Use a window. A large window on a bright cloudy day, or one that the sun does not shine through directly, gives soft, even light for free. Set up a table beside the window, so the light comes from the side.

Fill the shadow side. Stand a sheet of white card or foam board on the other side of the product, facing the window. It bounces light back into the shadows. Move it closer for softer shadows, further away for more shape.

Turn off the room lights. Ceiling lights are usually warmer in colour than daylight, and mixing the two gives one side of the product a yellow cast.

At night, two identical lamps with daylight bulbs, one either side of the product at the same distance, do the same job. Put a sheet of baking paper or a thin white cloth in front of each, kept clear of the hot bulb, to soften the light.

What background should you use for product photos?

Curve a large sheet of white or light grey card up from the table to the wall behind, so there is no line where the table meets the wall. That smooth curve is called a sweep, and it gives you a smooth, studio-style backdrop at home.

Three tips:

• Light grey often cuts out better than white. A white product on a white background has no edge for the cut-out to find.
• Keep the background bigger than the frame. Edges of card or a corner of the room in the shot mean more cleaning up.
• Leave space behind the product. A product pushed against the card casts a hard shadow on it.

Amazon's main image needs a pure white background, but you do not need to get pure white in the camera. The background is replaced when the product is cut out. What matters at the shoot is a clean edge.

Which product photos should you take, and in what order?

Take these eleven product photos in an order that keeps the setup the same as long as possible:

1. Front, square on, the whole product, filling most of the frame.
2. Three-quarter view, the front and one side together, from slightly above.
3. Each side that looks different, and the back.
4. Top and bottom, if a shopper would want to see them.
5. Labels, each one flat and square on (more on this below).
6. Details: texture, stitching, a clasp, a button, a connector.
7. Scale: the product beside a hand or a familiar object.
8. Packaging: the box front and back.
9. Contents: every piece in the box laid out on the background, not overlapping.
10. In use: the product being used, by you or a helper, in a tidy real setting.
11. Each colour or size, with the same angle, light and distance as the front shot.

Our shot list explains what each of these becomes in your listing.

How much of the frame should the product fill?

The product should fill most of the frame, with a margin on every side for cropping. Every marketplace crops differently, and a cut-out needs the whole outline. eBay's photo tips suggest the product fill 80 to 90% of the final image, and Amazon's main image asks for 85% or more. Both figures are about the final image, after cropping, so shoot a little wider than that and crop later.

Keep the phone level with the middle of the product for straight-on shots. A phone tilted down makes the top of a product look wider than the bottom.

How do you photograph labels and textures?

Photograph labels square on, flat, without glare and sharp to the corners, because labels are where product photos most often fall short. They prove what the product is, and for food, supplements and cosmetics, the marketplaces look at them.

• Square on. Hold the phone parallel to the label. A tilt makes one end of the text smaller and blurrier.
• Flat. For a round bottle or jar, take several photos as you turn it, so every part of the label faces the camera in one of them.
• No glare. Move the light to one side until the shine leaves the label. A sheet of black card held out of shot can kill a reflection.
• Sharp to the corners. Tap to focus on the text and check the corners at full size.

For textures such as fabric, wood grain or brushed metal, move the light further to the side. Light that skims over a surface shows its texture; light from the front flattens it.

How do you photograph shiny, clear, white or small products?

Shiny, clear, white, dark, very small and soft products each need a little more care:

• Shiny metal and glossy plastic reflect everything in the room. Surround the product with white card on three sides, so the reflections are white too, and shoot from slightly to one side.
• Clear glass almost disappears on white. Use light grey behind it, and put a strip of black card just behind each edge, out of shot, to give the glass a dark outline.
• White products need a grey background and slightly brighter light, so the edges stay visible.
• Dark products lose their detail in shadow. Bring the white card closer, and check that the camera has not made the background grey to compensate.
• Very small items such as rings or beads need you closer than the camera wants to focus. Step back until the item is sharp, then crop in later; a sharp small image beats a blurred large one.
• Soft goods such as clothing and bedding look best smoothed and shaped: steam out creases, and stuff a bag or a hat with tissue so it holds its form.

What are the most common product photo mistakes?

Hard shadows, colour tints, reflections and cropped edges are the most common product photo mistakes, and each has a quick fix:

What should you check before packing up a product shoot?

Before you put the product away, look at every photo at full size on a bigger screen if you can:

• Is each one sharp where it matters?
• Is the whole product in every shot that needs it?
• Can you read every word on every label?
• Do the colours match the product in daylight?
• Do you have every colour and size?

Reshooting a single shot the same day takes a minute. Setting everything up again next week takes an hour.

Can you edit product photos for marketplaces?

You can edit product photos for light, colour and a clean background, but never change the product. Whatever you do with the photos next, keep them real. Etsy asks for original photos of the actual item, not renderings or stock photos. eBay does not allow added borders, text, artwork or watermarks on any photo. Amazon's main image must show the actual product being sold.

What do you do with product photos after the shoot?

After the shoot, choose, name and keep your product photos, then build each marketplace's image set from them:

1. Choose the best of each shot and delete the rest, so you do not mix them up later.
2. Name them by product and shot: "mug-front", "mug-label", "mug-scale".
3. Keep the originals. Every edit and every marketplace version should start from them.
4. Build each marketplace's image set from them: a main image on white, lifestyle, size, features and contents images.

How Commicorn helps

Upload the photos from this list, and Commicorn does the rest:

• Light corrected without AI. Each photo is corrected for light as it arrives, never turned or cropped, and you can always go back to the original.
• A main image on white. The Hero shot cuts out your product and places it on pure white, filling the frame, with its pixels never redrawn.
• Every other image. Lifestyle scenes, callouts, Dimensions, What's in the set, Detail and Size chart images, built from your photos.
• Each marketplace's rules. Images sized and chosen for each marketplace you sell on, with plain photos for eBay and real photos for Etsy.

Upload the photos you took and get a full image set. Start free.

Questions sellers ask

Can you take marketplace product photos with a phone?

Yes. A recent phone camera takes photos far larger than any marketplace's figure. Use the main camera at 1x and full resolution, with filters, portrait mode and the flash turned off.

What is the best light for product photos at home?

A large window on a bright cloudy day, with the light coming from the side and a white card opposite to fill the shadows. Turn off the room lights, so daylight and warm bulbs do not mix.

Do I need a pure white background when I shoot?

No. Amazon's main image needs pure white, but the background is replaced when the product is cut out. At the shoot what matters is a clean edge, and light grey often cuts out better than white.

What size should product photos be?

Larger than any single use: Walmart recommends 2,200 pixels, Etsy about 2,000 on the shortest side, and Amazon's zoom needs over 1,000 on the longest side. A recent phone's full resolution covers all of them.

How do you photograph clear glass products?

Use light grey behind the glass, and put a strip of black card just behind each edge, out of shot, to give the glass a dark outline.