Product photos are the single biggest trust signal on a storefront you don't control through copy — and you almost certainly already own everything you need to take good ones: a smartphone, a window, and a plain sheet or wall. Here's the entire process, step by step.
Step 1: Light — the one thing that matters most
Skip artificial lights entirely and shoot near a large window on an overcast day or in open shade — direct sun creates harsh shadows and blown-out highlights that no amount of editing fixes cleanly. Position your product so the light comes from the side or slightly behind the camera, never directly behind the product.
Step 2: Background — plain, consistent, and clean
A large sheet of white poster board, curved gently where it meets a table (a "sweep"), removes distracting corners and gives you the seamless white background customers expect on a marketplace. For lifestyle or flat-lay shots, a plain neutral surface — wood, linen, or a solid-colour mat — works just as well. Whatever background you choose, use the same one across your whole catalogue for a consistent, professional storefront.
Step 3: Camera settings that make phones look professional
- Clean your lens — genuinely the most-skipped step and the easiest fix
- Turn the flash off always; it flattens texture and creates harsh reflections
- Tap to focus directly on the product before shooting, don't rely on auto-focus
- Shoot in your phone's highest resolution/RAW mode if it has one — you can always downscale later
- Use a tripod or lean against something solid; even small handshake blur is highly visible when customers zoom in
Step 4: Angles that sell
- One straight-on "hero" shot for the primary product image
- A 3/4 angle to show depth and dimension
- A close-up of texture, fabric, or a key detail (stitching, buttons, materials)
- A scale reference — held in a hand, worn, or next to a common object — since size is the #1 reason for returns
- A lifestyle or in-use shot, even a simple one, for the product description gallery
Step 5: Light editing, not heavy filters
Free tools like Snapseed or the built-in editor on your phone are enough: nudge exposure and white balance so the background reads as true white or your chosen neutral, straighten the horizon, and crop tight with consistent margins across your whole catalogue. Avoid saturation filters — customers want to see the product's true colour, and mismatched colour is one of the most common return reasons.
Upload at the right size
StoreKit's image guide (Settings → Image Guide in your dashboard) shows the exact recommended dimensions for product, collection, and banner images so your photos display crisply without slowing down page load.