Product Photo Checklist: What to Check Before You List
Before you list, check five things on the downloaded file, not the preview: the product is sharp at full size, colours match the real item, margins are even, the background edge is clean, and the size and format suit your marketplace. Fix what you can, and reshoot anything blurry or off colour.
Why check the file, not the preview
A small preview hides most problems. A soft edge, a colour cast or a missing corner of a cord only shows when you open the photo at full size, and that is how a shopper sees it when they zoom.
So run this checklist on the file you will actually upload. Open it from your downloads folder, zoom to 100 percent and look at it next to the real product. It takes about a minute per photo and saves returns, questions and awkward reviews.
1. Sharpness
Zoom in on the parts a buyer cares about: labels, stitching, texture, buttons and any small text. They should look crisp, not smeared.
If the original photo is already soft, editing will not save it. Camera shake and missed focus mean the detail was never captured. Reshoot with the phone resting on something steady, tap to focus on the product and use more light.
In Product Photo Set, a message that a photo was enlarged, for example 2x, means the product was small in the frame and had to be scaled up to fill the shape. Enlarged photos lose crispness. Shoot closer or use a larger original instead.
2. Colour
Hold the real product next to your screen and compare. Common problems are a yellow or orange tint from indoor bulbs, a blue tint from shade, and whites that look grey.
The best fix happens before the photo: shoot by a window in daylight and turn off warm ceiling lights so the light is not mixed. Small corrections are possible in Photo Editor, but a buyer who receives a different colour than they saw has a fair reason to complain, so when in doubt, reshoot.
Remember that screens differ. Check on your phone as well as your computer, since many shoppers browse on a phone.
3. Margins and framing
Every product in a listing, and ideally in your whole shop, should sit in the frame the same way. Look for products that touch the edge, products that look tiny, and items that sit higher or lower than their neighbours.
In Product Photo Set, the Look tab controls this for the whole batch at once. Pick a Shape such as 1:1 or 4:5, set Space around product (the default is 12%), and choose a Position: Centre for most items, or Sit on bottom for things that stand on a surface, such as bottles or shoes. Every photo updates together, so you only decide once.
Marketplaces crop thumbnails in different ways. A little space around the product keeps it from being clipped in search results.
4. Background and edges
The background should be even, with no stray table edge, wall corner, dust or reflection. Choose White, Off white, Light grey or a Colour in the Look tab, and pick Soft shadow if the product looks like it is floating.
Then check the cutout edge on every photo. Tap a photo to open it up close and use Hold to see original to compare. Thin cords, handles, fur, glass, clear plastic and shiny metal are the hardest edges for any background remover, so look closely at those.
If an edge is wrong, press Fix edges in Remove Background. The photo opens in a new tab, where the Erase and Restore brushes let you repair it, and you download the fixed version from there.
Only the background should change. If a label, logo, texture or small flaw on the product looks different from the real item, do not use that photo. Buyers expect the product they see.
5. Size and format
Each marketplace publishes its own image guidance, including minimum size, preferred shape, accepted formats and sometimes a background rule for the first photo. Read the current guidance for every place you sell, because it changes.
In the Output tab, Long side sets the size: 1000 px, 1600 px or 2000 px. A larger size gives shoppers room to zoom, as long as the original photo has enough detail. Format offers JPG, PNG or WebP. JPG suits most listings. Transparent backgrounds need PNG or WebP, since JPG fills them with white.
After downloading, check the file size and dimensions. If a site has a file size limit, Compress Image can bring a photo under it.
When to stop editing and reshoot
Some problems are faster to fix with the camera than with any tool: blur, wrong colours from mixed light, a product that is cut off, and reflections of you or the room in shiny surfaces. If a photo fails the sharpness or colour check, reshooting is usually the honest and quicker choice.
Once a batch passes, press Save as my shop look so the same background, shape, margin and shadow load next time on this device. Your photos are processed in your browser and are not uploaded to SleekCut.