Food is one of the hardest things to sell online. Shoppers cannot taste, smell or pick up the product, so the photo has to do two jobs at once: make the food look appetising and show exactly what will turn up at the door. Get the balance wrong in one direction and the listing looks dull; get it wrong in the other and you collect "not as pictured" reviews and refund requests.
This guide covers how to photograph packaged and fresh food products for Shopify, Amazon, Shopee, Lazada and other marketplaces, from the main white-background image through to the serving shots, ingredients panel and final export sizes.
Know the Two Types of Food Image You Need
Almost every food listing needs two very different kinds of image, and they follow different rules.
1. The pack shot (main image)
This is the product as the customer receives it: the jar, bag, box, bottle or tin, front label facing the camera, on a plain white background. Marketplaces use this image in search results, so it has to be instantly recognisable at thumbnail size. On Amazon and most Southeast Asian marketplaces, the main image should show the product as sold, without serving suggestions, props or text overlays. Always check your category style guide, because grocery rules differ from general merchandise and are enforced more strictly in gated categories.
2. Appetite shots (secondary images)
These show the food out of the pack: plated, poured, sliced, cooked or in use. They are where styling, props and lifestyle settings belong. They sell the taste and texture that a sealed packet cannot.
A strong food listing usually includes:
- Front-of-pack shot on white (main image)
- Back-of-pack or a clean, legible ingredients and nutrition panel
- The food out of the pack, styled as a serving
- A close-up showing texture (crumb, glaze, grain, sauce thickness)
- A scale shot showing portion or pack size next to a familiar object or in a hand
- A lifestyle or "in use" shot (on a breakfast table, in a lunchbox, at a picnic)
Lighting Food So It Looks Fresh
Use side or back light for texture
Flat front lighting makes food look like a photocopy. Light from the side or from behind and slightly above brings out texture: the sheen on a sauce, the crust on bread, the bubbles in a drink. Professional food photographers favour back and side light for this reason. Place a white card or reflector in front of the food to bounce some light back, otherwise the front of the dish will fall into shadow.
Keep the pack shot evenly lit
The main pack shot is different. Here you want soft, even light so the label reads clearly and the white background stays clean. Two softboxes at roughly 45 degrees either side of the product work well, with a third light or reflector aimed at the background if you need it pure white.
Control glare on packaging
Glossy pouches, cellophane, glass jars and metal tins all reflect your lights. Move the lights further to the side, raise them slightly, or use a polarising filter. Small creases in flexible pouches catch highlights, so smooth the pack flat and, for bags of snacks, consider a light fill of tissue inside an empty sample pack to give it a fuller shape.
Capture steam and freshness
Steam is only visible when it is side-lit or backlit against a darker background. It also disappears quickly, so set the camera on a tripod, frame and focus first, then bring in the hot food and shoot straight away. For condensation on cold drinks, a light mist of a water and glycerine mix holds its droplets far longer than plain water.
Styling Food Without Misleading Buyers
Food styling has a long tradition of tricks, but e-commerce is not advertising. The customer will compare what arrives with what you showed them, and some markets regulate how food can be presented. Follow these rules:
- Use the actual product. Do not substitute a better-looking competitor product or a homemade version.
- Show a realistic portion. If a pack makes four biscuits, do not stack twelve on the plate without making clear it is several packs.
- Mark serving suggestions. If you add garnishes, sides or toppings that are not included, a small "serving suggestion" note on the image or in the caption sets the right expectation.
- Keep colour accurate. Over-saturating a curry or a jam might look striking, but colour is one of the main reasons buyers say an item is "not as described".
- Avoid health claims in images. Badges like "boosts immunity" or "sugar free" overlays can breach marketplace policy and local food advertising rules if the claim is not supported. In Singapore, the Singapore Food Agency's labelling and advertising guidance applies to food sold online, and SFA encourages online sellers to follow Singapore Standard SS 687:2022 (Guidelines for food e-commerce).
Practical styling tips
- Shoot fresh food quickly. Salad leaves wilt and sauces skin over within minutes under lights.
- Brush cooked food with a little oil to restore shine just before shooting.
- Choose neutral plates and boards (white, grey, natural wood) so the food stays the hero.
- Add one or two raw ingredients beside the dish to hint at flavour, for example a chilli next to a chilli sauce or a lemon beside lemon curd.
- Wipe drips and crumbs from plate rims. Small mess looks natural; a smeared rim looks careless.
Camera Angles That Work for Food
| Angle | Best for | Avoid for |
|---|---|---|
| Straight on (0 degrees) | Jars, bottles, cans, stacked items like burgers and cakes, pack shots | Flat foods such as pizza or soup |
| Three-quarter (about 30 to 45 degrees) | Plated meals, bowls, drinks in glasses, most serving shots | Showing the full contents of a wide tray |
| Overhead (90 degrees, flat lay) | Pizza, salads, platters, snack assortments, gift hampers | Tall items and drinks, which look flattened |
| Macro close-up | Texture of chocolate, coffee beans, spices, baked goods | Main images, which need the whole product visible |
The Ingredients and Nutrition Image
Buyers with allergies or dietary needs will not buy until they can read the label. Amazon requires grocery listings to include an image of the nutrition and ingredients information, and it is good practice on every platform.
- Photograph the back panel flat and square to the camera to avoid keystoning.
- Use even, diffused light so there is no glare across the text.
- Crop tight to the panel and make sure the smallest text is readable on a phone when zoomed.
- If the pack is curved (a can or a round jar), take two or three shots across the label, or retype the information into a clean graphic that matches the pack exactly.
- Make sure the allergen statement and best-before format are visible if they appear on the pack.
Export Sizes for Food Listings
Food images are often viewed zoomed in, because shoppers want to see texture and read labels. Upload at a resolution that supports zoom without exceeding upload limits.
| Platform | Recommended size | Aspect ratio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 2000 x 2000 px | 1:1 | 1000 px or more on the longest side enables zoom; pure white main image background |
| Shopify | 2048 x 2048 px | 1:1 (keep consistent) | Shopify serves smaller versions automatically |
| Shopee | 1024 x 1024 px | 1:1 | Keep files under 2 MB |
| Lazada | 1000 x 1000 px or larger | 1:1 | Keep files under 3 MB; white background preferred for the main image |
| Qoo10 / Carousell | 1000 x 1000 px | 1:1 | Square images display most cleanly in search grids |
Save as sRGB JPEG at around 80 to 85 per cent quality. Food is full of fine colour gradients (sauces, chocolate, gradients on drinks), so watch for banding if you compress harder. If you sell across several of these platforms, a batch tool such as PixelPrep can turn one set of edited photos into correctly sized, padded versions for each marketplace in one go, so you are not re-exporting the same shot five times.
Common Food Photography Mistakes
- Yellow or blue colour casts from mixing window light with indoor bulbs. Use one light source type and set a custom white balance.
- Unreadable labels because the pack was angled or lit with harsh glare.
- Food that looks old because it sat under lights while you adjusted the set. Use a stand-in plate for setup and swap in fresh food for the final shot.
- Busy backgrounds in appetite shots, with patterned tablecloths competing with the food.
- Inconsistent sizes and padding across a range, which makes a flavour range look messy in a store grid. Batch processing with consistent frame fill solves this.
Food Product Photo Checklist
- Main image: front of pack, label facing camera, pure white background, no props or text.
- Back-of-pack or ingredients and nutrition image, flat, glare-free and legible on a phone.
- At least one styled serving shot lit from the side or behind.
- A texture close-up and a scale or portion shot.
- Serving suggestions clearly marked; portions and colours true to the product.
- No unsupported health claims in image overlays.
- Colour-corrected, sRGB, JPEG at 80 to 85 per cent quality.
- Resized and padded to each marketplace's square size and file limit, consistently across the whole range.
Good food photography is less about expensive gear and more about honest styling, directional light and working quickly while the food is fresh. Shoot the pack cleanly, show the food truthfully at its best, and prepare each image to the exact size every marketplace expects. Tools like PixelPrep take care of that last step so you can spend your time in the kitchen and the studio rather than in export dialogs.