Reddit’s Top Questions on Product Photo Editing (With Our Takeaways)

Reddit is the perfect spot to ask for and receive specialized advice. 

If you’ve ever gone down the Reddit rabbit hole searching for product photo editing for e-commerce or marketing purposes, you’re not alone. 

Threads across r/photography, r/ecommerce, and r/productphotography are packed with curious professionals asking about budget editing tools to managing thousands of product shots.

Read along for some of the most common Reddit and subreddits queries about eCommerce photo editing. 

Along with that, these are helpful tips, tools and services recommended by Redditors and our takeaways from both personal experience and community responses to help you optimize your product photography.

Reddit + Subreddit Top Queries on Product Photo Editing

Can I create high-quality product images for my online store without hiring a professional studio or a retoucher?

The short answer is yes, absolutely! But it takes a bit of effort and a good workflow.

Many Redditors recommend starting with natural light near a window or using diffused lighting or a lightbox to minimize shadows and reduce harsh spots. 

A smartphone with a high-quality camera and manual focus, paired with a tripod can help ensure sharp, stable shots. Even simple DIY lighting setups can make a big difference.

For better clarity and detail, try shooting in RAW format with a high f-stop and low ISO. This helps capture more information in each image, making post-processing easier and more effective.

When it comes to backgrounds, using a darker backdrop for white products helps them stand out, while a clean surface like a white foam board or paper roll works well for most items if you’re photographing models or lifestyle setups.

After shooting, free basic editing tools like Canva, Lightroom, or Pixlr can handle exposure, color correction, cropping, and small touch-ups like removing dust or wrinkles.

With a bit of practice, you can achieve near-studio results without breaking the bank.

What are some free or low-cost alternative tools for editing eCommerce product photos?

There are plenty of great low-cost or free options available for eCommerce photo editing, especially if you’re just getting started or working with a tight budget.

For quick background removal, tools like Remove.bg and Canva are incredibly user-friendly. Canva also offers pre-designed templates and batch editing features which make it easier to maintain consistency across your product listings.

Lightroom is another excellent choice, particularly for batch editing. It allows you to apply features like exposure, contrast, and white balance across multiple images, making high-volume product photo shoots much more efficient. The auto-adjustment tools are also handy for quick fixes when you’re short on time.

If you’re looking for something more advanced but still free, Photopea is a free browser-based alternative to Photoshop. It supports PSD files and layers so it’s ideal for those who need more detailed control without investing in expensive software.

Lastly, GIMP is a solid open-source option for advanced editing. While it has a steeper learning curve, it offers robust features that rival many paid platforms.

Together, these tools provide a flexible and cost-effective toolkit for handling everything from basic to more complex product photo editing tasks.

What’s the easiest product photo editing workflow for beginners?

Here’s a simple and beginner-friendly product photo editing workflow:

• Shoot in natural light near a window (avoid direct harsh light).

• Use a white background to make editing easier.

• Import your images to your editing software

• Cull your photos i.e mark the best and discard duplicates or blurry ones.

• Crop and straighten your images for consistency.

• Adjust exposure, white balance, contrast, and clarity.

• Clean up backgrounds if needed 

• Export in proper web formats like JPEG (72 DPI, sRGB).

Once you get used to this workflow, you’ll be able to handle small batches easily. 

But for client projects or large-scale product launches, handing off the post-processing to a product photo editing service helps maintain consistency in images and save hours.

How can I ensure visual consistency when editing product photos in bulk?

This is where having a good workflow or team really pays off

A few quick tips:

• Create and save presets (Lightroom and Snapseed both allow this)

• Use the same lighting and background setup for every shoot

• Crop and align all images the same way (for eg centered products, same padding)

• Apply edits in batches to avoid manual rework

That said, if you’re working with a large catalog and need professional looking images, many choose to outsource to an eCommerce photo editing service. These services handle tasks such as background removal, retouching, color correction, shadow creation and many more. 

It’s a practical solution that saves time and ensures your bulk quantity gets uniform, consistent editing across hundreds of SKUs with your style guide across the website.

What are some practical tips to avoid overshooting and culling too many similar photos?

Editing becomes a pain if you have to sift through 100 shots of the same angle. Overshooting is super common, especially when you’re starting out. 

Here’s what helps:

• Shoot intentionally. Plan your shot list. Know which angles you need for eg front, side, top and bottom

• Use star ratings or flags in Lightroom or PhotoMechanic to mark keepers.

• Stick to 3–5 variations per product unless you need lifestyle variants

• Use burst mode only when needed like for shiny or reflective items

• Review every few shots instead of waiting till the end

• Delete duplicates or slightly off versions quickly.

After a product shoot, how many photos should I typically keep vs. discard?

This depends on the shoot style, but a general rule of thumb is to keep 20–30% of what you shoot.

So if you take 100 images, expect to keep 20–30 really solid ones.

Reddit threads confirm this norm across many workflows. 

What’s a typical daily photo editing workload for a product photographer?

It varies. On Reddit, several product photographers reported editing 80-120 photos daily, especially those working for fashion or wholesale brands with large SKU counts.

For small business owners or solopreneurs, editing 30-50 a day is more common if you’re doing everything from shooting to retouching yourself.

If you’re managing a growing catalog and want to focus more on content or marketing, delegating the eCommerce photo editing part makes a lot of sense. 

That’s what led many redditors to try PixelPhant. It’s like having a remote retouching team without the overhead.

Final Thoughts

The best product photo editing doesn’t always require a studio, big software budgets, or advanced retouching skills. 

With a basic setup, tools, and a clear workflow, you can create professional, high-converting product images even from your eCom website.

But when the volume scales up or you want to stay consistent across hundreds of images, it’s worth looking into reliable support. 

Services like PixelPhant have become a quiet part of many creators’ toolkits without trying to take over your creative process.

Get a free trial today!