How to Take Product Photos With Your Phone (2026): Simple Setup for Online Sellers

Oct 19, 2026

Buy More Mall Kenya

Online, the photo is the product. Buyers cannot touch or try it, so they judge quality, size and honesty from your pictures. The good news: a normal smartphone, daylight and a plain background are enough.

Quick answer: Shoot near a window in daylight (no flash), on a plain white or light background, with the product filling most of the frame. Take a front, side, back and close-up photo, plus one showing size or the item in use. Keep the phone steady, tap to focus, crop to a square and do not use filters that change the colour.

What You Need

Any smartphone with a clean lens (wipe it).
A window with soft daylight.
A plain background: white manila paper, a bedsheet or a wall.
A white card or foil to bounce light into shadows.
Something to steady the phone: a stack of books or a cheap tripod.

Step by Step

Place the product near the window, with the light coming from the side.
Lay the background so it curves up behind the product (no corner line).
Clean the product: dust, fingerprints and loose threads show up.
Hold the phone level with the product; for small items shoot from slightly above.
Tap the screen on the product to focus; lower the brightness slider if white areas glow.
Take the main photo straight on, then side, back, details and labels.
Add one photo showing scale (in a hand, on a person, next to a common object).
Crop to a square, straighten, adjust brightness slightly. Keep colours true.

How Many Photos Does a Product Need?

Product type	Must-have photos
Clothes	Front, back, close-up of fabric and label, worn (model or mannequin), each colour
Machines and tools	Front, side, control panel, nameplate or specs, parts included
Hardware and plumbing	The item, size marking, the item fitted
Furniture	Front, angle, close-up of material, in a room for scale
Food and beauty	Pack front, label/ingredients, the product itself

On Buy More Mall, sellers with only one photo per product get a reminder in their dashboard: products with several angles get more trust and fewer "is it the same?" questions.

Photo Sizes for Online Shops

Square images look neat in product grids. Shoot at your phone's normal resolution; the shop resizes them. Keep the product in the centre with a little space around it so nothing is cut off.

Worked Example: A Kids Clothes Seller

A seller hangs each outfit on a white wall near a window at 10 a.m., shoots the front and back, a fabric close-up and the size label, then one photo on a child. Questions about colour and size drop, and returns fall.