It’s listing day, and Mel has 20 pieces on the rail.
She sells vintage from Manchester: denim, knitwear and 90s sportswear. She opened her own shop alongside Depop, Etsy and eBay, and selling is now her main job. (Mel is a composite of the sellers I talk to, not a real client.)
Every piece needs photos that work on her shop and on three marketplaces, and she has about an hour of good light left.
She doesn’t own a camera. She doesn’t need one.
Soft window light, a plain background, a steady phone and the same six shots for every piece get you most of the way. Add photos sized for the web, and your shop looks polished next to much bigger ones.
Here’s the setup, the shots, and how to get through a whole rail in one session.
Selling live or from a shop?
The same setup works for live sellers shooting drop pieces for a pinned post, and for shop owners photographing new stock in a corner of the stockroom.
What you need (under US$30)
You probably own most of this already. The rest costs less than one good sale.
| Item | What it does | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|
| Phone tripod or clamp | Holds the same angle for every shot | Under US$10 |
| White foam board | Bounces light into shadows, or works as a plain background | US$3 to US$10 |
| Lint roller | Lifts fluff, hair and dust | Under US$5 |
| Steamer or iron | Takes out creases | You probably have one |
Add a plain hanger or a cheap mannequin if you shoot shirts, dresses and jackets. Both are optional.
Set up once, shoot the same way every time
A fixed setup matters more than gear. When every photo has the same light and background, your shop looks like a shop, not a camera roll.
Light
Put your table side-on to a window, so the light falls across the piece. Direct sun makes hard shadows, so shoot when the sun isn’t shining straight in.
Turn the ceiling lights off. Mixing daylight and warm bulbs gives clothes a yellow or blue cast that makes colours look wrong.
Prop a white board on the side away from the window. It bounces light back into the shadows, so dark knitwear still shows its texture.
Background
Use plain white or a light neutral for the main photo, and use the same one every time. A white sheet, foam board or a pale wall all work.
Save styled backgrounds for extra shots. The first photo is the one buyers compare side by side with other listings, so it needs to be clean.
Phone settings
Five settings worth getting right:
- Clean the lens. A smudge softens every photo, and phone lenses pick them up from pockets all day.
- Use the main 1x lens. Wide lenses bend the edges of clothes.
- Tap to focus, then drag exposure (brightness) down a little. White backgrounds fool the phone into making everything too bright.
- Turn off flash and portrait mode. Flash flattens fabric, and portrait mode blurs edges it shouldn’t.
- Pick one shape and keep it. Square is easy to reuse across marketplaces. Portrait (4:5) suits clothes on your own shop.
Flat lay, hanger, mannequin or on-body?
Each style works for different pieces. The main thing is to pick one style per category and stick to it, so a page of knitwear looks consistent.
| Style | Best for | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Flat lay | Knitwear, tees, kids’ clothes | Fast |
| Hanger | Shirts, dresses, jackets | Fast |
| Mannequin | Structured pieces, coats | Medium |
| On-body | Fit and higher-priced pieces | Slow |
The six shots every listing needs
Buyers message you when a photo doesn’t answer their question. These six answer buyers’ questions before they ask.
Shoot them in the same order every time, so you never miss one. Here’s the list to keep by your setup:
1. Front (main photo, plain background) 2. Back 3. Close-up of fabric, print or detail 4. Brand and size label 5. Any flaw, with a finger or coin for scale 6. Measurements, with a tape measure across the piece
Add a styled or on-body shot when you have time. It helps buyers picture wearing the piece, but it doesn’t replace the six.
Showing flaws on preloved pieces
An honest flaw photo sells better than a surprised buyer. A small mark you showed is a fair price. A small mark you didn’t show can turn into a return, a dispute or a bad review.
Photograph each flaw in good light, close enough to see clearly, with a finger or coin next to it for scale. Name it in the description too: “small pull on the left sleeve, see photo 5”.
Keep the flaw photo in the first few images, where buyers will see it before they buy. Marketplaces take “not as described” complaints seriously, and a clear photo is your evidence.
Batch shooting for a drop or listing day
Shooting one piece at a time is the slow way. Working in batches, these three steps can turn a rail of 20 pieces into an hour or so instead of an afternoon.
1. Prep everything first
Steam, lint-roll, empty pockets and measure every piece before you take a single photo. Note flaws and measurements on a list as you go.
Stopping to steam between shots is what makes listing day drag on.
2. Shoot one shot type at a time
Shoot every front, then every back, then every label, and so on. You set each pose up once instead of 20 times.
Keep pieces in the same order on the rail, so photo 12 of each type is always the same jumper.
3. Edit with one preset
In a free editor (your phone’s built-in one is fine), fix brightness and white balance (how warm or cool the colours look) on the first photo, save it as a preset (a saved set of edits), and apply it to the whole batch.
Then crop everything to the same shape. Same light, same edit, same crop, and the batch looks like one shop.
Photos for Etsy, Depop, eBay, Vinted and Poshmark
The same photos work almost everywhere with a crop. The limits differ, so here’s what each marketplace allows.
| Marketplace | Photos per listing | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Up to 20, plus video | 2000px or larger; first photo square or landscape |
| Depop | Up to 4, plus a video | Stock photos get removed |
| eBay | Up to 24 | At least 500px; no borders, text or watermarks |
| Vinted | Up to 20 | UK, Europe and Australia; expanding in the US |
| Poshmark | Up to 16 | US and Canada |
Shoot for the strictest first: a plain background with the piece filling most of the frame. Then crop or reorder for the rest.
Since October 2026, Etsy asks for at least one unedited photo of the actual item on every listing, with a few exceptions. Your plain main photo, straight off the phone, covers that.
Etsy crops your thumbnails
Etsy shows the first photo as a square, portrait or landscape thumbnail depending on where it appears. Keep the piece centred with some space around it, so nothing important gets cut off.
File sizes that keep your shop fast
Big photos are one of the easiest speed problems to fix, especially for shoppers on phones. To see how your pages load on a phone, run the speed check in my SEO audit checklist.
For your own shop, export photos at around 2000px (pixels) on the longest side and compress them (make the file smaller with no visible change). Here’s how to resize and compress them with free tools. If your shop runs on WordPress, upload them as WebP (an image format made for websites), which Google says is 25–34% smaller than JPEG at the same quality.
WooCommerce makes smaller copies for product pages and thumbnails, and WordPress scales down anything bigger than 2560px. It doesn’t shrink the file you uploaded, though, so a 6MB photo still sits on your server. Resize before you upload.
Give every photo alt text that describes the piece: “Cream cable-knit wool jumper, 90s, flat lay”. It helps buyers using screen readers, and it helps Google understand the image.
When to pay for photos
For weekly stock, you can skip the photographer.
It’s worth paying for a few hero images: your home page banner, a seasonal campaign, or a high-value piece where every detail matters.
The same phone setup grows with you. If you add repeatable stock later, like a product you photograph once and sell many times, you shoot it once with the same light and it works for years.
Ready for your next listing day?
Here’s the whole routine:
- Side-on window light, ceiling lights off.
- One plain background, the same every time.
- A steady phone on the main lens.
- Six shots per piece, in the same order.
- Honest flaw photos, early in the listing.
- Batch prep, batch shoot, one edit preset.
- Photos around 2000px, compressed, with alt text.
Good photos are one part of getting found. If you want your photos, product pages and listings working together so buyers find your shop on Google and in AI search, that’s what my marketing service covers. See how online store marketing works.
FAQ
Quick answers about phone product photos.
Can you take good product photos with a phone?
Yes. Light and a steady setup matter far more than the camera. A phone from the last few years, a window and a white board can beat an expensive camera used in bad light.
What background is best for clothing photos?
Plain white or a light neutral for the main photo, kept the same across your shop. Save textured or styled backgrounds for extra shots.
How many photos should a listing have?
At least the six-shot list. For higher-priced pieces, use every slot the marketplace gives you, up to 20 on Etsy and Vinted.
Should I edit product photos?
Lightly: brightness, white balance and crop. Never hide flaws or change colours, and keep at least one unedited photo for Etsy.
Can I use AI to change product photos?
Cleaning up a background can be fine, and Etsy allows edited photos as long as they show the item’s colour, condition and size accurately. Never change the item itself, and check each marketplace’s rules before you rely on AI edits.