Product photos: the method for images that sell and load fast

Why the photo carries so much weight

Online, the buyer can neither touch nor try. The photo replaces the shop shelf: it has to answer “what does it really look like”, “how big is it”, “how is it finished”. A blurry photo, an over-retouched one or one that differs from the product received costs you twice: in lost sales, then in returns.

The photo matters to Google too. It is what appears in Google Shopping, Images and Lens; it is often the largest element on the page, the one that sets the perceived loading time. A well-made image serves both the sale and SEO.

The shots to plan for each product

For each product page, we aim for this set of images, in this order:

1. 1
   Main image: the product alone, from the front or at three-quarters, on a white or very light background, centred, with no text or logo on top. This is the one that goes to Google Shopping.
2. 2
   In use: the product being used, in its real setting, to help buyers picture it.
3. 3
   Details: material, stitching, fastening, connectors, label. What reassures on quality.
4. 4
   Scale: the product held in a hand or next to a familiar object, so its size is no surprise on delivery.
5. 5
   Variants: one photo per colour or finish actually on sale.
6. 6
   Box contents: what the buyer receives, accessories included.

Getting the shot right without a studio

A recent phone is enough for most products, provided you take care of the light and the consistency. What makes a shop look professional is above all that every photo looks alike: same background, same framing, same light.

• Light: a large window with indirect light, or two lamps of the same colour on either side. No direct flash.
• Background: a white sheet curved behind and under the product, to avoid a horizon line.
• Stability: a tripod or a rest, for sharp photos all taken at the same height.
• Framing: square format, with the product filling the same share of the image on every page.
• Colour: check on screen that the colour shown is the product’s colour; it is the most avoidable cause of returns.

Supplier photos: what we do, and what we refuse

In dropshipping or resale, the supplier’s photos are often the starting point. As they are, they raise three problems: they are the same as every other reseller’s, they carry logos, badges and overlaid text, and they are often heavy and of mismatched sizes.

Our method on our own shops: start from the supplier photo, cut out the product locally, place it on a plain background, crop it square, remove floating logos and badges, set aside text-heavy infographics, then export two light sizes. And three things we never do:

• Never an image loaded directly from the supplier’s site: it can disappear, change, or slow your page down.
• Never an AI-generated image to represent a product: buyers must receive what they saw.
• Never a photo that shows more than what is sold (accessories not supplied, a colour out of stock) without saying so clearly.

Formats, dimensions and file size: the technical settings

WebP is a format Google designed for the web. According to its documentation, a lossless WebP image is 26% smaller than a PNG, and a lossy WebP image is 25 to 34% smaller than a comparable JPEG, at equivalent quality.

For search, Google recommends several high-resolution images of at least 50,000 pixels (width multiplied by height) for merchant listings. For speed, the principle is never to send a phone an image meant for a desktop screen.

1. 1
   Export two sizes: a large one for zoom and desktop, a smaller one for thumbnails and mobile. We use 1,200 and 600 pixels square on our shops.
2. 2
   Encode as WebP, with a JPEG fallback if your platform needs one.
3. 3
   Declare the width and height of each image in the code, so the page does not jump as it loads.
4. 4
   Load the main photo straight away, and the others lazily (the loading=“lazy” attribute).
5. 5
   Name files with useful words: stainless-steel-bottle-750-ml-black.webp rather than IMG_4821.webp.

Alt text and the context of the image

Alt text (the alt attribute) describes the image for visually impaired people and for search engines. Write what the photo shows, simply: “Black stainless steel insulated bottle, 750 ml, cap open”. No keyword list, and no empty phrase such as “product image”.

Google also understands an image through the page around it: the title, the caption, the text next to it. A photo placed near the description that talks about it is better understood than an image isolated in a carousel.