Product Images

Types of product images

Type	What it shows	Where it is used
Packshot	The product alone on white or a neutral background	Main image on webshops and marketplaces, catalogues
Angles	Front, back, side, three-quarter, top	Product page gallery
Detail	Close-up of material, texture, label, connector	Product page, technical sheets
Scale	The product next to a person or a known object	Product page, so buyers can judge size
Lifestyle	The product in use, in a room, on a person	Product page, social media, campaigns
Variant	The same product in each colour or finish	Colour selector on the product page
Packaging	The box or packaging, alone or with the product	Marketplaces, retail listings
Group	A range or set shown together	Category pages, catalogues, sell-in decks

Common specifications

Each channel publishes its own rules, and they change. These values cover most cases:

• Background. Pure white (RGB 255, 255, 255) for the main image on most marketplaces; neutral or transparent (PNG) for catalogues and composites.
• Size. At least 1,000 pixels on the longest side for zoom on most webshops, and 2,000 pixels or more for the master file. Keep the full-resolution original and produce web sizes from it.
• Framing. The product fills most of the frame, with the same margins and camera height across a range, so category pages look even.
• Aspect ratio. Square (1:1) is the most common for product galleries; social formats such as 4:5 and 9:16 need separate crops.
• Colour. sRGB (IEC 61966-2-1) for the web. Print catalogues need a CMYK conversion made from the original, not from a web copy.
• File format. JPEG or WebP for the web, PNG when transparency is needed, TIFF or the camera RAW file as the master.
• Shot list. Agree on a minimum set per product, for example packshot, three angles, one detail and one lifestyle image.

GS1, the organisation behind barcodes, publishes a Product Image Specification for sharing product images between suppliers and retailers. It covers views, backgrounds, resolution and file names built from the product's GTIN.

Naming product images by SKU

Product images are found and matched by their identifier, not by their content. A naming convention that puts the SKU or GTIN first lets every system read the file:

10052-01_front.jpg
10052-01_side.jpg
10052-01_detail-01.jpg
10052-01_lifestyle-02.jpg

The SKU links the file to the product record in the PIM or webshop; the suffix names the view and orders the gallery. A file named "DSC_4471.jpg" has to be matched by hand. See file naming convention.

Day-to-day work with product images

• Launches. Packshots arrive weeks before launch and stay under embargo until the release date.
• Distributors. Each partner needs the images of the products it sells, in its own sizes. See distributing marketing assets to dealers.
• Variants. One master shot becomes a white-background packshot, a cut-out, several crops and a banner, each of which should stay linked to the master.
• Range changes. A discontinued product's images have to leave the webshop, the partner portal and the sales deck at the same time.

Product images in Freedam

• Filename parsing rules read the product reference, variant or angle from a filename at upload and write it to metadata fields. A data source can match product images to a catalogue spreadsheet by SKU.
• When a field such as the SKU is used for linking, each asset page lists the other assets of the same class with the same value, so a product's packshots and lifestyle shots appear together.
• Studio removes backgrounds, places the product on a solid colour or on scene presets such as a white or gradient packshot, crops to preset social formats and extends a crop beyond the image edge with AI. AI edits are saved as renderings of the asset and wait for approval; the original is never changed.
• The download dialog offers each image in the sizes your access allows, from small web copies to the original, and lists approved crops and social formats under Other versions. See rendition.
• Publishing channels give a website or CMS image links that do not expire, in widths from 128 to 5,120 pixels and in JPEG, PNG, WebP or AVIF, without publishing the original file.
• Export naming rules build the filename of each download, share download or ZIP entry from the asset's metadata, for example the SKU and the view.
• Templates place a product photo in a banner or social post, with text taken from the asset's fields, such as its name and article number.

Frequently asked questions

What size should product images be?

For most webshops, at least 1,000 pixels on the longest side so zoom works, in a square format. Keep a master of 2,000 pixels or more and produce smaller sizes from it. Marketplaces publish their own minimums, which are the ones to follow.

What is the difference between product photography and lifestyle photography?

Product photography in the narrow sense shows the product alone on a plain background, to describe it accurately. Lifestyle photography shows it in use, for scale and context. Most product pages use both.

Why do ecommerce images need a white background?

A plain white background puts the attention on the product, makes listings from different sellers look consistent and makes cut-outs easy. Many marketplaces require it for the main image and allow other backgrounds for the rest of the gallery.