1. Where location photos belong
Most marketplaces ask for the product alone on a plain, usually white, background in the main image, and allow lifestyle and on-model shots in the additional images. Keep the first image plain and use location photos from the second image on, on your own shop and on social media.
Google Merchant Center accepts AI-generated images in image_link, additional_image_link and lifestyle_image_link, and asks sellers to keep the embedded metadata that marks them as AI-generated.
2. One place per collection
A collection shot in one place reads as one campaign: coastal rocks for summer linen, a city street for outerwear, a café terrace for knitwear. Changing the place on every product makes a category page look like a stock-photo search.
3. Choose the light, keep the colour
Golden hour, morning and overcast light each set a different mood. Warm light can make black look brown and white look cream, so compare every result with the garment before you publish: the colour in the photo is the colour the buyer expects to receive.
4. Poses that belong to the place
A model sits on the rocks, leans on the pier railing or walks down the street — a pose that uses the place looks like a campaign, a studio pose pasted into a landscape does not. Show the same model in several poses in the same place, so a product page reads as one shoot.
5. Accessories that never cover the product
Sunglasses, a watch or a small bag make a look complete. They stay off the product: nothing worn over it, nothing hiding a pocket or a print, and no logo that competes with yours.
Where a location image sits in the image set
The plain first image says what the product is; a second angle, the back and a close-up say how it is made. A location image says how the piece is worn and what kind of day it belongs to, and it reads most clearly after the plain views. One or two per product usually carry that message; a set made only of scenes lacks the even light and full length of a plain view.
Among the location images, a full-length frame comes before a closer one. Virtual try-on can deliver several poses of the same model in the same place as one campaign set. The scene can be ordered as a square, in two portrait shapes, as a vertical story or as a wide banner, so an image for a shop header is composed in that shape and not cropped from a listing image.
The scenes and light options that exist
Virtual try-on lists six locations: seaside rocks, wooden pier, city street, Mediterranean village, café terrace and garden. The brief describes each as one particular place and asks for no other people in the scene. Light has four settings: the scene's own light, morning, golden hour and overcast. Each location has a light of its own, and a chosen light replaces it. The light setting is used with these six locations only.
A place that is not on the list can be reached in two ways. Virtual try-on accepts an uploaded background image: the brief asks the tool to match its perspective, horizon and direction of light and not to redraw or restyle it. Canvas has no scene list and no model, size or pose setting; the scene is written in the seller's own words, and up to two reference images can show the setting, the light and the mood.
What to check in a location image before publishing
Colour comes first, because outdoor light is never neutral: low sun pushes everything towards orange, an overcast sky towards blue-grey. The brief states that the natural light is not to change the product's true colour, pattern or material, and the result still has to be compared with the garment in plain daylight, and with the studio image of the same product, since a buyer moves between the two.
Next, look for anything that covers the product: a hand in a pocket, hair over a shoulder seam, crossed arms over a chest print. With accessories switched on, the brief keeps them apart from the product: none worn on, over or in front of it, and none showing a logo or text. Last, check the contact with the place: feet on the ground, with a shadow that falls the same way as the others in the scene.
Checklist
- First image plain; location photos from the second image on
- One place for the whole collection
- Colour checked against the garment in every light
- Poses that use the place, the same model across the set
- Accessories beside the product, never over it
Sources
Checked 24 September 2026. Rules change; the official pages are the final reference.