Product photo terms, with the rules behind them.
Short definitions of the terms marketplaces use in their image rules, each with what Amazon, Zalando, Google Shopping and others actually require, linked to the official page.
All terms
Adobe RGB
A wider RGB colour space made for print work, able to hold more saturated greens and cyans than sRGB. Online it shows correctly only where software reads its profile.
3 · Miinto, Etsy, Adobe Commerce→AI artifacts
Visible errors that generative AI leaves in an image, such as warped hands, melted lettering, merged straps or patterns that do not match the real product.
3 · Zalando, Wolf & Badger, Rakuten Ichiba→AI image labelling
Marking an image as AI-generated or AI-edited, either visibly on the image or invisibly in its metadata, such as IPTC or C2PA.
4 · Zalando, Amazon, Google Shopping, TikTok Shop→AI-generated image
An image produced wholly or partly by a generative AI model rather than captured by a camera. In e-commerce it ranges from a new background to a fully synthetic scene.
6 · Google Shopping, Zalando, Allegro, Walmart, Avocadostore, THE ICONIC→Alpha channel
The extra channel in an image file that records how visible each pixel is, from fully opaque to fully transparent. It is what a transparent background is made of.
5 · Etsy, Ecwid, Heureka, CDON, Hood.de→Alt text
A short written description attached to an image on a web page. Screen readers read it aloud, and search engines use it to understand the image.
→Aspect ratio
An aspect ratio is the relationship between an image's width and height, expressed as proportions such as 1:1 or 3:4; marketplaces set accepted ratios so product cards fit the listing grid consistently.
6 · Walmart, TikTok Shop, Zalando, ABOUT YOU, Amazon, Trendyol→AVIF
A newer image format that compresses photographs more tightly than JPEG and WebP and supports transparency. Support as an upload format is still uneven.
5 · eBay, Skroutz, PrestaShop, Wix, Webflow→Bit depth
The number of tonal steps each colour channel of an image can store. Web images use eight bits per channel; editing files often use sixteen.
4 · Walmart, Miinto, Pinterest, Jimdo→Clipping path
A closed outline drawn around a product in an image file. Everything outside the path is hidden, which separates the product from its background.
→CMYK
CMYK is a print colour mode that combines cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink; web product images use RGB, so a CMYK file may need conversion before it is added to an online marketplace listing.
4 · OTTO, Zalando, Hood.de, Best Buy Canada→Collage image
One image file that combines several pictures, such as a front and a back view or several colours side by side. Many marketplaces do not allow it.
3 · Cdiscount, Avocadostore, Mercado Livre→Colour correction
Adjusting the colours of a photo so the product on screen matches the product in hand: neutral whites, the right brightness and an accurate hue.
→Colour space
The defined range of colours an image file can describe, and the meaning of its colour numbers. sRGB, Adobe RGB and CMYK are colour spaces or belong to one.
5 · Lightspeed eCom, Squarespace, Wix, noon, Zalando→Colour variant images
Separate images for each colour of a product. Marketplaces link them to the colour choices on the listing.
4 · Amazon, Shopee→Colourway
One of the colour versions in which a style is produced. A jacket offered in navy, olive and black has three colourways of one design.
→Content Credentials (C2PA)
A signed record attached to an image that states where it came from and how it was edited, defined by the C2PA standard.
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Cut-out image
A product image with the background removed, delivered on transparency or placed on a new plain background.
4 · Galaxus, OTTO, Google Shopping, ABOUT YOU→Depth of field
The zone in front of and behind the point of focus that looks sharp in a photo. A shallow depth of field blurs the rest; a deep one keeps the whole product sharp.
5 · Walmart, eMAG, Vinted, Zalando, Tokopedia→Detail shot
A close-up of one part of a product, such as the fabric, a seam, a button, a clasp or a logo, shown large enough to judge its quality.
→Diffused light
Light that has passed through or bounced off a broad surface, so it reaches the product from many directions at once and casts soft-edged, faint shadows.
4 · Ricardo, noon, Vinted, CDON→DPI
DPI means dots per inch, a value stored in an image file that says how densely its pixels would be printed. On a screen it changes nothing.
4 · Trendyol, ABOUT YOU, Avocadostore, Best Buy Canada→Drop shadow
A soft shadow placed under or behind a product on a plain background, so that it appears to rest on a surface and not to float.
→EXIF data
Technical information a camera or phone writes into each photo: settings, date, device and often location. It also holds the flag that decides which way up a photo is shown.
→Exposure
How much light reaches the camera's sensor for a photo. Too much turns bright areas pure white without detail; too little leaves the product dark and muddy.
4 · CDON, Reverb, Fyndiq, Wolf & Badger→Fabric swatch
A small sample of a fabric, or a small image of it, that shows its colour, pattern and texture before a garment is chosen or made.
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Flat lay
A flat lay is a product photographed lying flat on a surface, from above. Some marketplaces require it for specific categories.
4 · Amazon, TikTok Shop→Focus stacking
A technique that merges several photos of one product, each focused at a different distance, into one image that is sharp from front to back.
1 · Tokopedia→Front crop
A front view of a model cropped below the eyes or the nose, or at the shoulders, so the garment rather than the face fills the frame. A standard fashion catalogue view.
4 · Zalando, ABOUT YOU, Allegro, AliExpress→Full-length shot
A photo that shows a model from head to feet, so the whole outfit, the length of the garment and its proportions on the body are visible.
3 · Allegro, AliExpress, noon→Ghost mannequin
A garment photographed as if worn, with the mannequin removed, so the clothing keeps its three-dimensional shape without a body or a visible mannequin.
3 · Amazon, TikTok Shop→Golden hour
Golden hour is the short period after sunrise or before sunset, when the sun sits low and its light appears warm, soft and directional; photographers use the term for that lighting condition outdoors.
→Grey card
A card of neutral middle grey, photographed in the light of the shoot to set white balance and exposure. One reading corrects a whole series of photos.
→Hanger shot
A photo of a garment hanging on a clothes hanger, usually against a wall or a plain background. It is common in resale and wholesale and is a frequent source photo.
4 · Avocadostore, Skroutz, noon, Vinted→HEIC
HEIC (High Efficiency Image Container) is the default iPhone image format. It stores photos in smaller files than JPEG at similar quality, but some marketplaces or editors do not accept it.
4 · eBay, Shopify, Amazon, Zalando→Hero shot
The one picture chosen to represent a product or a collection. It is shown first and largest on a product page, in a campaign or in an ad.
→ICC profile
A small block of data inside an image file that names its colour space, so that software knows which real colours the numbers in the file stand for.
3 · BigCommerce, Pinterest, Allegro→Image compression
Reducing the weight of an image file. Lossy compression discards detail the eye rarely misses; lossless compression keeps every pixel.
2 · Etsy, ABOUT YOU→Image cropping
Cutting away the outer parts of a photo to change its framing, its shape or how much of the frame the product fills. Cropping removes pixels; it never adds them.
6 · Zalando, Folksy, noon, Walmart, Squarespace, Best Buy Canada→Image dimensions
Image dimensions are the width and height of a picture counted in pixels; marketplaces set minimums, often recommend a size and sometimes set a maximum, so sellers can match each image to its destination requirements.
6 · Amazon, Walmart, Kaufland, bol, Cdiscount, OTTO→Image file format
The way an image is stored in a file, such as JPEG, PNG or WebP. Each marketplace lists the formats it accepts for product images.
6 · Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Google Shopping, Zalando, OTTO→Image file size
The weight of an image file in kilobytes or megabytes. Marketplaces set an upper limit per image, and a few set a lower one as well.
5 · eBay, Shopify, bol, Kaufland, Shopee→Image sharpening
Raising contrast along edges so that a photo looks crisper. It cannot restore focus, and too much of it draws bright and dark halos around the product.
5 · Zalando, Vinted, CDON, eMAG, ZALORA→Image upscaling
Image upscaling increases an image’s pixel dimensions while rebuilding edges and texture, aiming to make the larger version look sharp rather than stretched; the term describes how the enlarged file is produced.
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Image zoom
The marketplace feature that magnifies part of a product image on hover or tap. It only works when the image is large enough.
5 · Amazon, Kaufland, bol, Walmart, Mercado Livre→Image-to-image
Generating a new picture from an existing image plus written instructions. The source photo guides what the result contains: the product, its shape and its colour.
4 · Fyndiq, CDON, TikTok Shop, Tokopedia→Infographic image
A product image that adds callouts, icons, dimensions or short feature text to the picture, used in the gallery to explain what a photo alone cannot show.
5 · Avocadostore, Fyndiq, Wolf & Badger, Allegro, Shopee→Inpainting
Replacing a selected area inside an image with newly generated content, while the rest of the picture stays as it was.
2 · TikTok Shop, Wolf & Badger→IPTC metadata
Standard information fields stored inside an image file, such as creator, copyright and how the image was made. They travel with the file and are not visible in the picture.
2 · Zalando, Allegro→JPEG
The image format accepted almost everywhere for product photos. It keeps a photograph small by discarding detail the eye rarely notices, and it has no transparency.
6 · Amazon, noon, Falabella, Wolf & Badger, Tradera, Zalando→
Lifestyle image
A lifestyle image shows a product in use or in a real setting, such as a room, a street or a table, rather than on a plain background.
4 · Amazon, Google Shopping, Wayfair, Mercado Livre→Light tent
A cube of translucent white fabric placed around a small product and lit from outside, so light reaches it evenly from several sides and shadows stay faint.
2 · eMAG, noon→Line sheet
A document for wholesale buyers that lists every style of a collection with a plain image, a style number, colours, sizes and prices.
→Lookbook
A set of images that presents a collection as complete outfits, worn by models in a chosen mood and setting, for buyers, press or customers.
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Main image
A main image is the first image of a listing, shown in search results and category pages. Marketplaces set its strictest image rules.
4 · Amazon, TikTok Shop, Google Shopping, Kaufland→Mannequin shot
A photo of a garment or an accessory on a mannequin, a dress form or a bust, which gives clothing the shape of a body without a model.
6 · Zalando, eMAG, Skroutz, ABOUT YOU, Vestiaire Collective, Best Buy Canada→Megapixel
A megapixel is one million pixels. An image’s megapixel count is its width multiplied by its height, and some marketplaces cap it.
3 · Google Shopping, Shopify, Allegro→Mockup
A digital image that shows a design placed on a template product, such as a print on a blank T-shirt, before or instead of photographing the real item.
4 · TikTok Shop, noon, Tiki, Fyndiq→Model release
A signed permission from a person shown in a photo that allows the image to be used for stated purposes, such as advertising and product listings.
2 · Rakuten Ichiba, AliExpress→Neutral background
A neutral background is a plain, light surface such as white, off-white, light grey or beige, without a pattern or scene.
5 · OTTO, Ricardo, Shopee, Mercado Livre, Dafiti→Number of images
How many images a listing may or must carry. Marketplaces set a maximum per product or variant, and some recommend a minimum.
6 · Amazon, eBay, Trendyol, TikTok Shop, OTTO, Shopee→
On-model image
A product image in which the garment or accessory is worn by a person. Amazon requires it for the main image of adult clothing.
4 · Amazon, Google Shopping, Zalando, ABOUT YOU→Outpainting
Extending an image beyond its original edges with newly generated content, so that it fits a wider or taller format.
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Packshot
A packshot is a product photo that shows the item alone on a plain background, without a model or props; retailers use this format for consistent catalogue views, and Zalando uses the term for its product-only shots.
3 · Zalando, Kaufland, Google Shopping→Photo retouching
Editing a photograph after it is taken to remove flaws such as dust, creases, loose threads or a colour cast. In a product photo it corrects the picture, not the product.
6 · Zalando, AliExpress, GLAMI, Vinted, eMAG, Shopee→PNG
A lossless image format that keeps every pixel exactly and can store transparency. It suits cut-outs, graphics and text, and makes photographs heavy.
5 · Shopify, Big Cartel, OpenCart, ABOUT YOU, Jimdo→Product feed
A file or connection that sends a shop's product data to a marketplace or price comparison site, with each image given as a web address.
4 · Heureka, Ricardo, GLAMI, Trendyol→
Product fill
How much of the image the product takes up, measured along its longest side. Amazon asks for 85%, Google Shopping for 75–90%.
5 · Amazon, Google Shopping, Mercado Livre, Kaufland→Pure white background
A background whose pixels are exactly RGB 255, 255, 255 (#FFFFFF). Amazon, Walmart and TikTok Shop require it for the main image.
4 · Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Zalando→RAW photo
The unprocessed sensor data that a camera, or a phone in raw mode, can save instead of a JPEG. It has to be edited and exported before it can be used in a listing.
1 · Wix→Reflector
A light-coloured surface placed opposite the main light. It bounces part of that light back into the shadow side of a product or a model, without another lamp.
3 · Falabella, Wolf & Badger, Kaufland→Silhouette image
A silhouette image shows a product alone against a plain background so its outer shape is immediately clear; retail catalogues may call it a silhouette or silo shot, distinguishing it from a lifestyle scene.
2 · Kaufland, Wayfair→Size chart image
An image in the product gallery that shows a garment's measurements per size, usually as a table or as a flat drawing with measurement lines.
5 · Dafiti, Temu, Avocadostore, Fyndiq, Shopee→Softbox
A photographic light fitted with a fabric box and a translucent front panel, which turns a small, hard light source into a broad, soft one.
2 · CDON, noon→sRGB colour space
sRGB is the standard colour space for screens and the web. Images in other spaces, such as CMYK or Adobe RGB, can show the wrong colours on a marketplace.
3 · Zalando, OTTO, Amazon→Stock photo
A photograph licensed from a library for use by many buyers, rather than taken for one brand or one product. Its licence sets what it may be used for.
6 · eBay, Vinted, Ricardo, Trade Me, Reverb, CDON→Studio sweep
A backdrop that curves from the wall down onto the floor without a corner or a join, so a product or a model stands on a background with no horizon line.
4 · Walmart, eBay, OpenCart, Orderchamp→Synthetic model
A model in a fashion image who was generated by software and is not a photographed person. The garment shown is real; the wearer is not.
→Text on product images
Words, logos, badges, borders or price labels added on top of a product photo. Many marketplaces do not allow them, above all on the main image.
5 · eBay, Google Shopping, bol, Walmart, TikTok Shop→Text-to-image
Generating a picture from a written description alone, with no source photo. The software invents every object in it, including any product it is asked to show.
3 · Wolf & Badger, THE ICONIC, TikTok Shop→Three-quarter view
A three-quarter view shows a product or person partly turned away from the camera, with the front and one side visible.
→Thumbnail
A small version of a product image, shown in search results, category pages and carts. It is usually cut from the first image of the listing.
2 · Etsy, Allegro→TIFF
A format for high-quality master files, used in print, scanning and retouching. It can hold layers, extra channels and print colour, and its files are very large.
6 · Amazon, Google Shopping, Kaufland, BigCommerce, Avocadostore, Best Buy Canada→Transparent background
An image in which the area around the product is empty instead of white, so that whatever lies behind the image shows through.
→User-generated content
Photos, videos and reviews made by customers or creators rather than by the brand, often reused on product pages and in ads with their permission.
2 · Ricardo, CDON→
Virtual try-on
Software that shows a garment on a person who was not photographed wearing it. For sellers, it turns a product photo into on-model images.
2 · Amazon, Zalando→Watermark
A logo, text or pattern placed over an image to mark ownership. Major marketplaces do not allow it on product images.
5 · Amazon, eBay, TikTok Shop, Google Shopping, Walmart→WebP
An image format for the web that stores photographs in smaller files than JPEG and can also carry transparency, as PNG does.
6 · Google Shopping, eBay, Shopify, Amazon, Heureka, Cdiscount→White balance
The camera setting that decides which light counts as neutral. When it is wrong, the whole photo takes on a yellow, blue or green cast.
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