How to take great product photos at home

Most small sellers shoot their products on a kitchen table, and most of the difference between amateur and professional-looking results comes from four things: soft light, a seamless background, a steady camera, and consistent editing. None of them needs expensive gear.

This guide walks through a home setup that costs little more than a sheet of poster board, then the phone settings, angles and shadow handling that make the photos look deliberate, and finally how to edit them to the pure white background that marketplaces ask for, or to a transparent cut-out for your own site.

What you need

• A light source: a large window, or one or two continuous lights with softboxes.
• A backdrop: a sheet of white poster board, foam board or thick paper big enough to curve behind the product.
• Bounce cards: two or three pieces of white foam board to fill in shadows.
• A table near the window, and some tape or clamps.
• A phone or camera, ideally with a tripod or a stable stack of books.
• Optional: a sheet of tracing paper, a white shower curtain or a thin bedsheet to soften harsh sunlight.

Step 1: build a sweep

A sweep is a backdrop that curves from the table surface up the wall with no visible corner. Without the corner, there is no horizon line behind the product, and the background reads as one smooth tone that is easy to turn pure white in editing.

Amazon's seller guide describes the simplest version: clip a thin, flexible but sturdy sheet of white material to the table, and tape the other end to the wall behind it, so it curves rather than folds. For small items, drape the material over a chair placed against a wall.

Tips:

• Make the curve gentle. A tight fold creates a line and a shadow; a wide curve does not.
• Keep it clean. Dust and creases on white paper show up in close-ups. Replace the sheet when it gets marked.
• Leave space behind the product. Moving the product forward on the sweep, away from the curve, lets the background fall off evenly.

White is the usual choice, because marketplaces want white main images. eBay's tips also mention solid colored studio backgrounds, which work better for light-colored items that would disappear against white.

Step 2: get the light right

Light does more for product photos than any camera. The goal is large, soft, even light: big light sources make soft shadows and gentle highlights; small ones make hard shadows and glare.

Window light (free)

1. Put the table and sweep next to a large window, with the window to one side of the product, not behind it and not behind you.
2. Shoot during the day, but avoid direct sun on the product. If sunlight comes straight in, diffuse it by hanging a sheet or tracing paper over the window, as Amazon's guide suggests.
3. Place a white bounce card on the side opposite the window to lift the shadows.
4. Turn off the room lights. Mixing daylight with warm bulbs gives you two colors of light and an orange or blue cast that is hard to fix later.

Window light changes through the day, so shoot a batch in one session and keep the setup the same for every product.

Softboxes or LED panels (repeatable)

If you photograph products every week, continuous lights make the results identical every time, day or night. Amazon's guide recommends a main light in front of the product and a second light behind or above it, with white foam board bounce cards to fill shadows. Note where each light stands, by marking the floor with tape, so you can repeat the setup exactly.

Use lights of the same type and color temperature, and avoid the camera flash. Both Amazon and eBay say to turn the flash off: it creates hard reflections and flat, harsh shadows.

Step 3: set up the phone camera

A modern phone is more than enough for marketplace photos. A few settings make the biggest difference.

• Use a tripod, or prop the phone steady. Amazon recommends a tripod to prevent blur, and it keeps framing identical across a series.
• Use the rear camera, as Amazon's guide advises. It is better than the front camera on every phone.
• Clean the lens. A fingerprint smear is the most common cause of hazy product photos.
• Do not zoom digitally. Move the phone closer instead, or switch to a built-in telephoto lens if your phone has one, which also reduces distortion on small products.
• Turn off filters and styles. You want neutral color you can edit consistently. eBay's tips say to avoid filters.
• Set white balance on the white background. Amazon's tip for smartphones is to tap the white background so the camera balances to it.

Lock focus and exposure on iPhone

The camera adjusts focus and exposure every time you move, which makes a series of shots look inconsistent. On iPhone, Apple's guide says to tap where you want to focus, drag up or down next to the focus area to adjust exposure, then touch and hold the focus area until you see AE/AF Lock to keep those settings for the next shots. Tap the screen to unlock.

A white background often fools the camera into underexposing, making white look gray. Drag exposure up until the background is bright but the product's details are not blown out.

Other useful iPhone settings from Apple's guide:

• Grid and Level: Settings > Camera > Grid and Level, to keep the product straight and centered.
• Timer: 3, 5 or 10 seconds, so tapping the shutter does not shake the phone.
• Aspect: choose 1:1 if you sell on platforms with square images, so you can frame for the final crop.

Android camera apps have similar controls for tap to focus, exposure and grid lines, though names vary by manufacturer.

Step 4: angles and composition

Marketplaces reward clear, standard angles over creative ones. Amazon's guide notes that standard angles are preferred over overly creative angles and positioning.

A good basic set for most products:

1. Front, straight on, at the product's own height. This is usually the main image.
2. Three-quarter view, turned about 45 degrees, to show depth.
3. Side and back, especially if there are ports, labels or closures.
4. Top down, for flat items like cards, jewelry and folded clothing.
5. Details: texture, stitching, labels, size markings.
6. Scale: the product in a hand or next to a familiar object.
7. In use: a lifestyle shot in a real setting.

For used or handmade items, show flaws honestly. eBay asks sellers to show all sides plus close-ups of textures, tags, labels and any blemishes, damage or wear, and to make the first photo their best, since it appears in search results.

Fill the frame. eBay asks you to center the item and fill as much of the frame as possible, and Amazon's guide suggests the product fill 85% or more of the frame. Leave a little even margin so you can crop to each platform's shape.

Step 5: control shadows

Shadows tell the eye the product is sitting on something. A complete lack of shadow can make a cut-out look pasted on, while a big dark shadow looks messy.

• Soft contact shadow: a light, soft shadow directly under the product looks natural. Diffused window light plus a bounce card usually gives exactly this.
• Too dark: move the bounce card closer, or add a second card.
• Hard edges: the light is too small or too direct; diffuse it or move it closer to the product, since a closer source is effectively larger.
• Reflective products: glass, metal and glossy packaging show the room. Surround them with white cards so the reflections are white, and turn the product slightly until hot spots disappear.

Step 6: edit to pure white or transparent

Even with a good sweep, the background in the photo will be light gray, not white. Marketplaces mean something exact by white: Amazon and Walmart use RGB 255, 255, 255.

To pure white

1. Crop and straighten to your final aspect ratio, usually square.
2. Adjust exposure and white balance until the product's colors are accurate.
3. Make the background pure white. Either brighten the background until it reaches 255, or cut the product out and place it on a pure white canvas. Cutting out gives cleaner results, because brightening also washes out light-colored products.
4. Check with an eyedropper in your editor that the corners read 255, 255, 255.
5. Export a JPEG at the size each platform wants. The product photo size reference lists them.

To transparent

For your own website, banners or marketplaces that allow lifestyle composites, export the cut-out as PNG or WebP with a transparent background. Do not use transparent PNGs on Etsy: Etsy says they are not supported. See PNG vs JPEG vs WebP for which format to use.

Keep one honest photo

Etsy's October 2026 policy update requires at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background in each listing; other photos can be edited if they still represent the product accurately. It is a good habit everywhere: shoot one natural photo of every product before you edit the rest.

A quick checklist

• Sweep curved, clean and wrinkle-free
• Window to the side, diffused, room lights off
• Bounce card opposite the light
• Phone on a tripod, rear camera, lens cleaned, no zoom or filters
• Focus and exposure locked, background bright
• Standard angles, product filling the frame
• Edited to RGB 255 white for listings, transparent PNG or WebP for your site
• One unedited photo kept

Editing a whole shoot faster

Cutting out every photo by hand is the slowest part of the job. removebackground.dev can take a whole shoot, up to 100 images at once, and give you JPGs on pure white or transparent PNGs, so you can spend the time on lighting instead.