Ryan Velting

Main image requirements confirmed per platform
Number of alternate angles defined per SKU
Detail and feature shots identified
Scale reference approach decided
Packaging photography included or excluded
White background vs. lifestyle use separated
Crop consistency and safe zones defined
File naming convention established
Delivery format and resolution confirmed
Batch size and turnaround timeline aligned
360° spin requirements noted
Approval process and stakeholders identified

Most e-commerce photography problems start weeks before the shoot, when the shot list is vague, platform requirements haven't been verified, and no one has agreed on what a finished image actually looks like. This guide is designed to close that gap before the first product arrives at the studio.

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SECTION 01

Defining Your Image Types

Every product listing needs more than one image, and each image has a different job. Knowing which images you need and what each one has to accomplish is the most important decision you can make before anything else.

Main Image

This is your first impression and, on most platforms, the only image a shopper sees before deciding whether to click. It needs to meet platform technical requirements and represent the product accurately and clearly. For most major platforms, the main image means a clean background, the product prominently in frame, and nothing that obscures or misrepresents what the buyer will receive.

Before the shoot, confirm whether your main image will be used across multiple platforms. Requirements vary, and a file approved on one platform may not meet the standard on another. Verify current specs directly with each platform before finalizing your setup.

Alternate Angles

Once a shopper clicks, alternate angles build confidence in the purchase. Plan these intentionally rather than defaulting to a few more shots from different sides. Ask what a customer needs to see to remove doubt. For most products that means front, back, side profile, and any angle that shows a feature the main image cannot.

Define the required angles per SKU before the shoot. Leaving this to the day of produces inconsistent coverage across your catalog.

Detail and Feature Images

Close-up shots that communicate what the product is made of, how it works, or what makes it worth the price. Material texture, hardware finish, label copy, port configuration, and stitching, if a customer would zoom in on it, it probably deserves its own frame.

Make a list of every feature your product team would want a customer to notice. That list becomes your detail shot list.

Scale Images

Scale is one of the most common sources of buyer confusion in product listings. If a customer cannot accurately judge how large or small a product is from the listing, they guess, and they sometimes guess wrong. A scale image can use a human hand, a familiar reference object, or a dimension callout. Decide before the shoot how you want to communicate scale and whether that approach needs to stay consistent across the catalog.

Packaging

If your product ships in retail packaging, that packaging is part of the purchase decision for some buyers and is required as a standalone image by certain platforms and retailers. Even where packaging imagery isn't currently required, having clean photography of it now gives you flexibility later. Clarify whether packaging is in or out of scope before finalizing your shot count.

SECTION 02

Platform Requirements and Technical Standards

Platform requirements are not suggestions. A file that doesn't meet specs gets rejected, and that costs time. Requirements also change, and they differ meaningfully between platforms. The information below describes what each platform prioritizes and where to find their current official requirements. Always verify directly before your shoot date.

What Most Platforms Share in Common

Across major e-commerce platforms, a few principles hold consistently: main images need clean backgrounds, products should fill the majority of the frame, files need to be high enough resolution for zoom functionality, and nothing should obscure or misrepresent the product. Beyond these fundamentals, the specifics diverge.

One thing that matters on every platform regardless of specs: color space. Images delivered in Adobe RGB display differently from sRGB images in a web browser. If your photographer works in Adobe RGB, confirm that files are converted to sRGB before delivery. It is a small step that prevents a noticeable and sometimes significant color shift between what you approved and what your customers see.

Platform Reference Guide

Where to Find Current Requirements

Platform requirements change. The descriptions below reflect general priorities for each platform. Always verify current technical specifications using the official links provided.

Amazon

Amazon has some of the most documented and closely enforced image requirements of any major marketplace. Main image standards, background requirements, and category-specific style guides are all managed through Seller Central. Non-compliant images can result in listing suppression.

Amazon Product Image Requirements →

Shopify

No platform-wide mandates for backgrounds or angles, but consistency across your store is critical. Mixed aspect ratios and inconsistent backgrounds create visual disorder in collection grids that erodes buyer confidence. Shopify's Help Center covers technical file requirements and media types.

Shopify Product Media Requirements →

Walmart

Walmart requires clean backgrounds for primary images, prohibits text overlays and watermarks on main images, and has category-specific style requirements that differ from general guidelines. Fashion categories in particular have distinct aspect ratio and orientation requirements. Current specifications are available through Walmart's Marketplace Learn portal.

Walmart Marketplace Image Guidelines →

Wayfair

As a home goods platform, Wayfair expects a mix of clean product silhouette shots and environmental or lifestyle imagery. Scale representation is especially important in their categories where product dimensions drive purchase decisions. Their supplier imagery overview is a good starting point, with additional requirements available through the Partner Home portal after onboarding.

Wayfair Supplier Imagery Overview →

Target

Target Plus is an invite-only marketplace. Image requirements are detailed and category-specific, and are accessible to approved suppliers through the Target Partners portal. If you are working toward Target placement, image standards will be provided as part of your onboarding documentation.

Target Supplier Information →

A note on marketplace-specific style guides: Most major platforms maintain category-level style guides in addition to their general image requirements. These category guides often override or extend the general rules and are where the most common compliance issues occur. Before finalizing your shot list, pull the style guide for your specific product category on each platform you sell through, not just the platform's general image requirements page.

SECTION 03

Consistency Across the Catalog

Catalog consistency isn't a visual preference. It's a functional requirement. When image framing, lighting, and crop treatment vary across your listings, it signals inconsistency to the buyer and creates maintenance problems as the catalog grows.

Crop Consistency and Safe Zones

Every product in your catalog should occupy the same relative position within the frame. If your standard is for the product to fill a defined percentage of the image with consistent padding on all sides, that standard needs to be documented and applied to every SKU regardless of product size. A small product and a large product from the same catalog should feel like they belong to the same visual system when viewed side by side on a collection page.

Define your crop ratio and product placement zone before the shoot and share it with your photographer in writing. This is not something to figure out in post-production.

Matching Existing Images

If you are adding new SKUs to an existing catalog, the new images need to match what is already live, not just technically, but visually. Background tone, lighting direction, shadow treatment, and product placement all need to be consistent with the existing set.

Bring reference images from your live catalog to the shoot, or share them with your photographer in advance. The further a new shoot is from your established look, the more disruptive the mismatch becomes over time.

Variants and Color Options

If your product comes in multiple colors, finishes, or configurations, each variant typically needs its own images. The question is how much variation is acceptable across variants and how to handle the photography efficiently.

For products where the only difference is color or finish, a consistent shooting setup with a documented lighting standard makes it practical to photograph all variants in a single session. For products where shape, size, or features differ by variant, each may need its own shot list. Clarify this before building your schedule and estimating costs.

SECTION 04

File Naming, Organization, and Delivery

How files are named and delivered matters more than most teams realize until they are trying to upload hundreds of images to a platform that expects a specific naming structure and nothing matches.

File Naming Convention

Establish your naming convention before the shoot and give it to your photographer as part of the brief. A clear convention prevents ambiguity and makes platform uploads and asset management significantly easier.

A workable standard typically includes the SKU or product identifier, an image type or angle code, and a sequence number. Whatever convention you choose, document it and apply it without exceptions.

Anchor every filename on the SKU or internal product ID
Define angle and image type codes in advance, such as MAIN, ALT, DET, SCALE, and PKG
Avoid spaces in filenames; use hyphens or underscores
Decide whether the convention is applied during delivery or on receipt

Delivery Format and Resolution

Be specific about what you need delivered. File format, color space, pixel dimensions, and whether you need high-resolution masters in addition to web-optimized files should all be agreed on before the shoot, not after.

If you have current or anticipated print needs alongside your digital catalog, request that separately. Print and web have different resolution requirements, and trying to derive one from the other after the fact is a workflow problem you can prevent entirely with clear upfront direction.

Batch Size, Scheduling, and Turnaround

High-volume catalog work has its own planning requirements. The shoot schedule, retouching time, and delivery timeline all need to be built around actual batch size, not estimates. A phased launch schedule that requires some products to deliver before others needs to be communicated before the project is booked.

How many total SKUs are being photographed?
How many images per SKU?
Is there a phased delivery requirement?
What is the retouching standard and how does that affect turnaround?
Who reviews and approves final files before they are uploaded?

SECTION 05

Retouching Standards and Expectations

Retouching is one of the most common sources of misalignment between what a client expects and what gets delivered. Being specific here before the project starts saves significant time and cost later.

What Retouching Should and Should Not Do

For e-commerce, retouching should enhance clarity, not alter reality. Dust removal, background cleanup, minor surface imperfection correction, and color calibration are standard. What retouching should not do is misrepresent the product. This is not only an ethical standard; on major platforms, images that misrepresent the product can result in listing suppression, negative reviews from returns, and account-level consequences.

Be explicit with your photographer and retoucher about what is acceptable to correct and what needs to remain exactly as it appears on the physical product.

Defining the Retouching Level

There is a meaningful difference between basic cleanup and full compositing work. Basic cleanup includes background isolation, dust removal, and color correction. Compositing work includes background replacement, shadow building, assembling product configurations that were not physically set up during the shoot, and infographic overlays. The cost and timeline implications are significant.

Be clear about what level you need before the project is quoted, and ask what is included in the standard workflow versus what is billed as additional work.

Color accuracy is non-negotiable for e-commerce. If a product ships in one color and the listing image reads as something meaningfully different, returns follow. Before approving final files, compare the delivered images against a physical sample under consistent lighting. Do not rely on an uncalibrated monitor for this review.

Section 06

360° Photography for E-Commerce

360° product photography has moved from a premium differentiator toward a more common expectation in many product categories. Understanding what it involves, and what it requires from your team, helps you decide whether and how to include it in your project.

What 360° Photography Actually Is

A 360° spin is a sequence of still images, typically 24 to 72 frames shot at equal intervals around the product, assembled into an interactive viewer that lets the shopper rotate the product on screen. It is not traditional video, though it can be exported as a looping video file for platforms that do not support interactive viewers natively.

The quality of a 360° spin depends entirely on the consistency of the photography. Every frame needs to be identically lit, identically exposed, and shot from a precise, repeatable position. This is a controlled studio production process.

Where 360° Adds the Most Value

Not every product benefits equally. The strongest value tends to be in categories where shape, proportion, and all-around appearance are significant purchase factors: tools and hardware, consumer electronics, footwear, bags and accessories, home goods. If your customer's first instinct is to want to see the other side of the product, 360° answers that question before it becomes a reason not to buy.

Products with distinctive profiles or multiple interesting angles
Products where fit, form factor, or proportion drives the purchase decision
Higher-consideration purchases where shoppers spend more time on the listing
Categories where competitors already offer 360° and yours do not

Platform Support and Delivery Format

Platform support for 360° varies. Some support it natively as an interactive viewer. Others accept it only as a looping video export of the spin sequence. A few do not support it at all in their standard listing format. Before committing to 360° photography, confirm how each platform you sell through handles it and what file format or delivery method is required.

Which platforms or channels will display the 360° content
Whether you need an interactive viewer, a looping video, or both
How 360° assets are uploaded and maintained in your product information system
Whether your current or planned storefront theme supports 360° display

What to Prepare for a 360° Shoot

360° photography requires products in genuinely shoot-ready condition. Because the camera captures every angle, every surface imperfection, fingerprint, assembly inconsistency, or label placement issue will appear in at least one frame. Pre-shoot product prep is more critical for 360° than for standard still photography.

Products should arrive at the studio clean, fully assembled, and inspected
Any surface treatments should be applied before the shoot date
Confirm whether the 360° is of the product alone or product in packaging
Decide on frame count, such as 24 frames as a starting point, 36 for smoother rotation, or 72 for very fluid movement
Clarify whether the spin is horizontal only or whether overhead angles are also needed

SECTION 07

Approvals, Stakeholders, and Go-Live Readiness

The approval process is where photography projects most commonly stall. Knowing who needs to sign off, in what order, and what happens when feedback comes back late is part of planning the project — not an afterthought.

Who Needs to Approve

For e-commerce imagery, approval often touches multiple teams: marketing or brand for visual standards, product or engineering for accuracy, legal or compliance for claims and representation, and sometimes purchasing or operations for packaging. Map out who has approval authority before the shoot, and make sure your photographer knows the timeline implications of a multi-stage review process.

Building Review Time Into the Timeline

A realistic project timeline accounts for at least one round of feedback after initial delivery, and often two. If your launch date is fixed, work backward from that date to establish when final files need to be approved, when they need to be uploaded and processed by the platform, and when photography and retouching need to be complete. Compress the production window if you have to. Do not compress the review window.

Go-Live Checklist

Before images go live on any platform:

Files are named according to the established convention
All files are in the correct format and color space for each platform
Main images meet platform-specific background and framing requirements
All required angles and image types are present for each SKU
Color accuracy has been verified against physical samples
Final approval has been obtained from all required stakeholders
Platform-specific style guide requirements have been confirmed for each category

Ready to plan your next product shoot?

I work with e-commerce teams and catalog-driven businesses on product photography that is consistent, platform-ready, and built for scale. If you have a project in early planning, I'm happy to talk through what it would actually take before you commit to anything.

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Ryan Velting Photography

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about me

I’m Ryan Velting, a commercial photographer with over two decades of experience. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I specialize in clean, consistent Product Photography—including 360° Product Photography—and Portraits for brands and professionals. Clients ship from across the U.S. to my West Michigan studio; I deliver sales-focused images in ready-to-use formats for web, social, and print. See recent Work or Contact me to start a project.

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What to Have Figured Out Before the Shoot