Product Photos With Your Phone: A Practical Guide for Small Shops

1. Light: the most important rule

• Use daylight, next to a window. Light coming from the side gives the product shape and texture.
• Avoid direct sun. It creates hard shadows and washes out colours. Cloudy days are ideal; or hang a thin white curtain in front of the window.
• Turn off the room lights. Yellow bulbs mixed with window light give photos strange colours.
• Don't use the flash. It flattens the product and creates glare.
• A white card on the other side bounces light back onto the product and softens shadows. It costs next to nothing and makes a big difference.

2. Background and setting

The simplest and safest background is white or light grey. A large sheet of card, curved from the table up to the wall, gives you a background with no line in the middle. An ironed bedsheet works too.

Use the same background for every product. When customers browse a category, consistent photos make the shop look tidy and trustworthy. Photos on different backgrounds, even if each is nice on its own, make it look random.

3. The phone: how to hold it and what to change

• Wipe the lens. It sounds silly, but a phone in your pocket collects grease and dust, and a "blurry" photo often comes from just that.
• Keep it steady. A small tripod is cheap; a few books or a glass as a prop will do. Use the 2–3 second timer so pressing the button doesn't move it.
• Don't use digital zoom. Move closer, or use the 2x/3x lens if your phone has one.
• Tap the product on screen so the phone focuses on it, and lower the exposure a little if the white background looks "burnt out".
• Keep the phone at the same height and distance for similar products, so they look the same size on the page.

4. Which photos each product needs

One photo is rarely enough. A good set for most products:

1. Main photo from the front, on a clean background. This shows in listings and search results.
2. A 45-degree angle, showing shape and depth.
3. The back or side, especially if there's something important there (a zip, a label, a plug).
4. A close-up detail: the material, the stitching, the texture, the ingredients label.
5. The product in use or next to something familiar, so customers understand the size: a bag in a hand, a candle on a table, a jar next to a spoon.

If the product comes in several colours, photograph each one separately. A customer who receives a different colour from the photo sends it back, and returns cost money.

5. Editing: a little, and honest

• Crop and straighten the photo so the product is centred and lines are straight.
• Adjust light and contrast slightly, so the background looks white rather than grey.
• Don't change the product's colours. The photo should show what the customer will receive. A photo that's "better than reality" turns into a complaint.
• Use the same format for all of them: e.g. square (1:1) or portrait (4:5), depending on your shop.

The editing tools that come with your phone are enough for all of this. You don't need expensive software.

6. Preparing them for the website

A phone photo can be several megabytes. In an online store, dozens of photos like that make the page heavy and slow, especially on mobile. Before you upload them:

• Reduce the dimensions. For most shops, around 1200–2000 pixels on the longest side is enough.
• Compress them. The WebP format usually gives the same quality at a much smaller size. Many platforms do this automatically; ask or check.
• Name them clearly: "brown-leather-bag-front.webp" instead of "IMG_4821.jpg". It helps in Google Images.
• Write the alternative text (alt), a short description of the photo. People with visual impairments rely on it, and Google uses it to understand images.

Why does this matter? Because a shop with beautiful photos that loads slowly loses customers before they see the photos. More in our guide to website speed.

When a professional photographer is worth it

For products that shine or reflect (jewellery, glass, metal), for photos with models, or for the main images of a campaign, a photographer with lighting equipment is worth it. But many shops start with a phone, learn what sells, and invest in a photographer later, for the products that deserve it.

One last rule: don't use photos taken from the internet or a supplier's site without permission. Besides the legal problem, dozens of other shops have the same photos, and customers have no reason to choose you. Your photos are part of your brand. If you're opening an online store, they're one of the best investments of time you can make.