Short answer: if your photo is the source for new scenes built around the real product, four results matter. Edges should be crisp all the way round, colour should match the product in front of you, label text should be readable, and shiny parts should have no blown-out white patches. Most camera-settings lists run to ten or more items because they are written for people who keep the whole shot. For a source photo, the mistakes that actually cause trouble are three: depth of field that is too shallow, white balance left on a guess, and shake.
The short answer: the settings that matter
The settings below are listed in the order to check them, and none of them needs new kit.
- Aperture: a smaller one, so the whole product is sharp from front to back.
- ISO: the lowest your camera offers.
- Shutter and support: a tripod or a steady surface, plus a timer or remote release.
- Exposure: manual or locked, so it does not change between products.
- White balance: set by hand, with one light source.
- Quality: the highest your camera offers, uploaded uncompressed.
Set them once and shoot every product with the same settings, so you can stop thinking about them.
Aperture: keep the whole product sharp
Shallow depth of field flatters a portrait and spoils a product photo. The front of the bottle is sharp, the shoulder has gone soft and the back edge has dissolved. The product then has no clear outline for a new scene to be built around.
Use a smaller aperture. We will not give you a magic f-number, because the right one depends on your lens and how close you stand. The test is simple: zoom into the photo and look at the nearest edge and the furthest edge. If both are crisp, you are done. If one is soft, close the aperture down a step and shoot again.
A blurred backdrop takes skill and a fast lens, and here it is wasted, because the background gets replaced anyway. What carries over is the product, so spend your effort on getting the product sharp.
A smaller aperture lets in less light, which brings us to the next two settings.
ISO and shutter speed: low noise, no shake
Set ISO to the lowest your camera offers. High ISO adds grain, and grain eats exactly the fine detail you want to keep: edge lines, label type and surface texture.
With a small aperture and a low ISO, the shutter will often stay open longer than you can hold the camera steady. That is where shake gets in. Shake is easy to miss because the photo looks fine on a phone screen and only falls apart when you zoom in.
The fix is a tripod (or a steady surface) and the self-timer or a remote release, so pressing the shutter does not move the camera. Press, take your hand away and wait.
Lock the exposure too, or shoot in manual. If the camera re-meters for every product, one comes out bright and the next comes out dim. On an iPhone, Apple's help page says to touch and hold the focus area until AE/AF Lock appears, and to tap the screen again to release the lock.
Soft, even light solves more of this than any dial. The product photography lighting guide covers how to get it.
White balance and colour: set it by hand
Auto white balance guesses. Usually it guesses well, until you photograph a cream jar on a warm wooden table and it decides the jar is yellow. Set white balance by hand instead, either with a grey card or with the preset that matches your light, and leave it there. On a phone, turn off filters and colour styles for the source photo so the colour in the file matches the product.
Colour gets this much attention because it is what buyers notice first: they know their product is coral, not salmon. In our testing, colour drift showed up on a coral skincare jar and on amber perfume. That is a small sample, so it shows where to take care rather than proving a rule. If the colour in your source photo is already slightly off, every scene built from it inherits the error.
Do not mix light sources. A window on one side and a warm lamp on the other will undo the white balance you set. Pick one light and switch the other off. Glass and cosmetics are the fussiest products here, and the cosmetics colour and glass post covers them in detail.
File format and quality: what to upload
Shoot at the highest quality setting your camera has, then upload the original file, uncropped. We accept 1 to 3 photos as JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC (the iPhone format), up to 15 MB each, so there is no need to shrink anything.
RAW gives you room to fix things afterwards, which helps if you like editing. For this purpose, a well-exposed, well-balanced JPEG or HEIC straight from the camera does the job, and RAW files have to be exported to one of the accepted formats anyway. What really hurts is compression. Do not send a screenshot, a copy forwarded through a messaging app or anything else that has been squashed along the way.
If you are deciding whether to buy a camera at all, the best camera for product photography guide gives the honest answer: it matters less than you would think.
What the free check looks at in your source photo
Before you pay, we study your photo and list what must stay the same in every scene: the shape, the colour, the label and the logo. The check is free and takes about a minute. A photo with crisp edges, true colour and readable text gives that list something solid to work from.
Labels need special care. In our testing with a famous-brand product, small printed text came out garbled on most shots, while logos and large text held up. So shoot the label sharp and straight on, and fill enough of the frame that the writing is clear. Tilted, tiny or soft text goes wrong first.
Shiny metal was the other hard case in our testing: brushed steel picked up its surroundings and needed extra attempts, and some scenes were never delivered. Again, that is a small sample. Soft, diffused light and no clipped highlights on the metal give it the best chance.
A few practical points. Every shot is reimagined with AI and labelled "Reimagined with AI". Well-known brands' products cannot be shot, and you are told that before paying. You get one free redo for each delivered shot.
When you do not need to touch any settings
A phone on auto, in window light, is enough for the upload. Put the product near a decent window, tap the product to set focus, turn off any filter, and rest the phone on something so it stays still. The iPhone product photos guide walks through it step by step.
A dim room and an unsteady hand cause far more bad source photos than the wrong aperture does. Get the light right and keep the camera still before you change any settings.
Also, you may not need us at all. If all you want is a plain packshot on a white background, a cheap lightbox and the steps in our white background guide will do that better and for less. If you want your product in new scenes, upload your photo for a free check and see what must stay the same before you pay anything.
Questions people ask
What camera settings should I use for product photography?
Lock the exposure or shoot in manual. Use a smaller aperture so the near and far edges are both sharp, the lowest ISO your camera offers, a tripod with a timer, white balance set by hand and the highest quality setting. Then use the same settings for every product in the set.
Should I shoot product photos in manual mode?
Manual helps because every shot comes out the same. Locked exposure does nearly the same job, and on an iPhone you can touch and hold the focus area until AE/AF Lock appears. The point is to stop the camera changing its mind between products.
What aperture is best for product photography?
A smaller one, small enough that the nearest and furthest edges of the product are both sharp. The right setting depends on your lens and how close you stand, so zoom in on a test shot and check both edges.
Do I need RAW for product photos I upload to an AI tool?
No. We accept JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC, up to 15 MB each, so RAW files need exporting first anyway. A well-exposed JPEG or HEIC straight from the camera is enough. RAW only helps if you plan to correct the photo in editing software.
Can I just use my phone's auto mode for product photos?
Yes, in good window light. Tap the product to set focus, keep the phone steady by resting it on something, and turn off any filter. For the source photo, the light and a steady camera matter more than the settings.
