Shopify Product Photography: Phone Setup and Image Rules

Good Shopify product photography needs a window, a white paper background, a tripod and the camera you already own, a phone included. Shoot every product the same way, then upload square images of about 2048 × 2048 pixels with alt text, keeping the same aspect ratio for every main image. This guide follows Shopify’s own home-studio method and adds the rules the Shopify admin applies to product images.

The setup and the limits below come from the Shopify Help Center pages on product photography, media types and AI media editing, read on October 23, 2026.

The kit

Shopify’s guide lists seven things, and most of them are in your home already:

• a room with a window
• a camera or a smartphone
• a tripod
• a table, ideally 24 to 27 inches (61 to 69 cm) wide
• a white background: poster board, or a paper “sweep” on a roll
• tape or clamps
• white reflector cards, such as foam board or paper

For white products, the guide also suggests a black foam board, which adds a dark edge so the product stands out from the background. A paper roll pays for itself if you shoot often. When the bottom gets dirty, cut that part off and pull down fresh paper.

Set up the shot step by step

1. Put the table by the window, as close as you can without the windowsill casting a shadow on the set. Start with the window at 90° to the side of the table, then try 45° or straight on.
2. Avoid direct sun and switch off the room lights. Ceiling bulbs and the built-in flash add harsh shadows and shift the colors. The closer the product is to the window, the softer the light.
3. Curve the background. Tape the paper or board so it runs flat on the table and bends up into a vertical wall behind the product. The curve hides the line where table meets wall.
4. Place the product in the middle of the flat part, with room on the shadow side for a reflector.
5. Add the reflector. A white board opposite the window fills the shadows. A black board does the opposite and gives a white product a dark edge so it does not disappear into the background.
6. Set the camera. On most phones, tap and hold on the product to lock focus and exposure. On a camera, Shopify’s guide suggests auto white balance, flash off, the highest image quality, ISO 100, and the highest f-stop (smallest aperture) for the most depth of field. Then set the shutter speed until the preview looks bright enough, or add +1 to +1½ exposure compensation in auto modes.
7. Use the tripod and leave it where it is. A fixed camera keeps every product in the same frame. If your camera or phone has optical zoom, use it before digital zoom starts; digital zoom only crops the picture and lowers its quality. Without optical zoom, move the camera closer.
8. Rotate the product, not the camera, for the next angle. The framing stays the same and you edit less.
9. Check the first shots on a computer before you shoot the rest of the batch.

The shot list for every product

Decide the list once and shoot it in the same order for every product. A customer who opens two of your products in two tabs can then compare the same views: front with front, detail with detail. Where the photos sit on the page matters too, see product page UX.

Shoot the variant colors from the same angle as the hero shot so a customer switching colors sees only the color change. Shopify lets you attach an image to each variant (videos and 3D models cannot be variant media), and most themes switch to it when a customer picks that variant.

Shopify’s image requirements

How Shopify uses your images

• The first image is the featured image. It appears on collection pages, in the cart, at checkout and on your home page. Drag images in the Media section of the product to change the order.
• Use one aspect ratio for all main images. If some products are square and others tall, your collection grid has rows of different heights. Shopify recommends one consistent ratio for featured images.
• Upload one large file. Shopify makes the smaller versions your theme needs on its own.

Editing inside Shopify

Click any image in the product’s Media section to open the file editor. Shopify’s AI tools there do three jobs:

• Color background finds the product and replaces the background with a solid color or makes it transparent. If it picks the wrong subject, adjust it with Choose subject.
• Generate changes the background, setting or light from a short prompt. Shopify recommends 3 to 7 words, such as “wooden kitchen table, morning light”.
• Extend (under Crop and transform, desktop only) adds background beyond the edges, which helps when a tall photo has to become square.

Know the limits before you replace your originals. Generated images come out at about 1 megapixel, much smaller than the 2048 × 2048 Shopify recommends for product images. Every generated image carries an invisible watermark that cannot be removed. A transparent background is kept only if you save the result as a new PNG. Use Save as new to keep the original, and Revert to original if you overwrote it (for edits made after January 2024).

These tools fix a gray background or make a quick lifestyle variant. For a full catalog, a white sweep in good light still gives you sharper photos, and a retoucher or photo editor is better at removing dust and reflections.

Before you upload: file size and alt text

Shopify’s photography guide suggests keeping each image under 200 KB, without compressing it so hard that it looks blotchy. Its media page names PNG as the best format, but PNG is lossless, and a 2048-pixel photo saved as PNG usually runs to several megabytes. Our advice: export photos as JPEG or WebP, check the file size before uploading, and keep PNG for graphics and transparent backgrounds.

Add alt text to each image: in the product, click the image, then Add alt text and Save alt text. Shopify allows up to 512 characters and recommends 125 or fewer. Describe what a person would see:

You can also fill alt text in bulk through a product CSV file, and the media editor may suggest alt text for images that have none. Alt text is one part of a product page’s search signals; Shopify product page SEO covers the rest.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Mixing aspect ratios across the catalog, which leaves the collection grid uneven.
2. Leaving the room lights on while you shoot by the window. Warm bulbs mixed with daylight give white products a yellow or blue cast.
3. Using digital zoom instead of moving the camera closer.
4. Making a lifestyle photo the featured image in a collection where every other product sits on white.
5. Overwriting the original with an AI edit. Keep the full-size file and save edits as new.

For the rest of your product data, from variants to bulk edits, see our inventory and catalog guide.

Frequently asked questions

What size should Shopify product images be? Shopify recommends 2048 × 2048 pixels for square images. The maximum is 5000 × 5000 pixels, 25 megapixels and 20 MB.

How many images can a Shopify product have? Up to 250 images, videos and 3D models in total. Shopify says the limit cannot be raised.

Can I remove a background in Shopify? Yes. In the file editor, Color background replaces the background with a color or makes it transparent. Save transparent images as a new PNG file.

Do I need a professional photographer? You can start without one. Shopify’s own guide uses a phone or any camera, a window and white paper. A photographer is worth it for clothes on models, shiny or glass products, and large catalogs that need hundreds of identical shots.