How to put a product on a white background

Most marketplaces want products on a plain background, and a photo taken on your kitchen table is not that. Cutting the object out is the fix.

Erase a background
Whichever tool you use here, the file stays on your device. How that works

Step by step

  1. 1Photograph the item in even light, ideally against a background that is not the same colour as the product.
  2. 2Trace around the object to remove the background.
  3. 3Place the cutout on plain white and leave a little margin on all sides.
  4. 4Save as JPG for a listing, or PNG if you want to keep the transparency for later.

The photograph decides how hard this is

Separation is everything. A dark product on a light surface cuts out cleanly, and a white mug on a white tablecloth does not, no matter what tool you use. Two minutes spent finding a contrasting surface saves twenty minutes of tracing.

Edges are where cutouts fail. Hair, fur, mesh and anything transparent are genuinely difficult, and a rushed trace around them looks worse than the original photo. Slow down on the fiddly parts and take the straight edges quickly.

You trace it yourself here rather than handing it to an automatic tool. That is slower on an easy photo and much better on a hard one, because you are deciding where the edge is rather than arguing with something that guessed wrong.

Questions

Is it automatic?

No, you trace the edge yourself. On difficult photographs that is an advantage, because automatic cutouts tend to fail exactly where the item is most awkward.

Should I save as JPG or PNG?

JPG for a finished listing on white. PNG if you want to keep the transparent version to reuse on other backgrounds.

Are my product photos uploaded?

No.