What if my product is white too?

Keep the product’s edges below pure white so its outline shows. Light it so the edges fall a little into shadow, add a contact shadow, and check that the edge pixels read below 255. Google warns that light-colored products on a transparent background may show on black, so use a white background there instead.

Can I use a light gray background instead?

Not for an Amazon main image, which must be pure white. Google recommends white or transparent for Shopping. On your own store, gray works if every product uses the same gray.

What size should the file be?

Amazon prefers images larger than 1,000 pixels on each side so shoppers can zoom, Google recommends 1,500 x 1,500 pixels or more, and Shopify says 2,048 x 2,048 usually displays best for square images. A 2048 x 2048 master covers all three. See the best file format and size for product images.

How to make white background product photos with AI

Checked September 24, 20266 min read

Short answer

Start from a real photo of the product, cut it out, and place it on pure white: RGB 255, 255, 255, which is #FFFFFF in hex. Add a soft shadow where the product meets the ground, then measure the background with a color picker; every reading should be 255, 255, 255. Generating the whole packshot with AI is faster, but the model redraws the product, so check a generated packshot closely before it becomes a main image.

What does pure white mean?

Pure white is red, green and blue each at 255, the brightest value in a standard 8-bit image. In hex, the code design tools use, it is #FFFFFF. A background at 250, 250, 250 looks the same on most screens and is not pure white. Plan to set the white in editing instead of hoping the backdrop comes out that way.

Where	Background	Product size in the frame
Amazon	Pure white, RGB 255, 255, 255	85% or more of the frame
Google Shopping	Solid white or transparent recommended; light-colored products on transparent may show on black	75% to 90% of the image, as a best practice
Shopify	No set color; keep one aspect ratio across main images	No set rule

Rules for the main product image, checked September 24, 2026.

Amazon has more rules for main images, on text, props and sizes. See Amazon product image requirements.

Cut out a real photo, or generate on white?

Method	Where the product comes from	Accuracy	Use it for
Cut out your photo and place it on white	Your camera	Highest	Main images and anything that must match what ships
Ask an AI editor to replace the background	Your photo, but the model may redraw edges or more	Check closely	Quick fixes when the original background is messy
Generate a new packshot from reference photos	The model’s redrawing of the product	Lowest; labels can drift	Secondary images and new angles you then verify

Free cut-out tools are close at hand. Preview on a Mac has a Remove Background button. Google’s Product Studio removes backgrounds for free for Merchant Center users outside Russia and France, and apps such as Photoroom do it as well. For why the generated route drifts, see why AI changes your product.

If you ask a model for a transparent background instead, check that the file has a real alpha channel, the part of the file that stores transparency, and not a checkerboard or a white area painted into the picture. OpenAI’s guide tells developers to check the alpha channel around hair, glass, shadows and edges.

Choose one shadow for the whole catalog

A product with no shadow at all can look pasted onto the page. Pick one style and use it on every product.

Shadow	What it looks like	Good for
None	The product on flat white	Grids where every tile must match; can look pasted
Contact	A thin, dark line where the product touches the floor	Standing products: bottles, boxes, shoes
Soft drop	A light, spread shadow cast to one side	A little depth; keep the direction the same across the catalog
Reflection	A faint mirror image under the product	Glossy products, electronics, fragrance
Floating	A shadow set below the product, as if it hovers	Flat items shown upright, some clothing

Photoroom’s AI Shadows, for example, offer none, soft, hard and floating presets, with settings for hardness, intensity, direction and spread. Keep the shadow gray and inside the frame, and measure the white just beyond its edge.

Step by step

Photograph the product on a plain, light background in soft window light, zoomed to 2x, filling most of the frame. See how to photograph your product for AI.
Remove the background with a cut-out tool.
Clean the edges. At 200% zoom, look for a thin rim of the old background around the product, called a halo. In Photoshop, Decontaminate Colors in Select and Mask replaces fringe colors with the color of nearby product pixels; in other tools, shrink the mask by a pixel or two.
Make a canvas at your standard size, for example 2048 x 2048 pixels, which Shopify says usually displays best for square images, and fill it with #FFFFFF.
Center the product and scale it to fill 85% to 90% of the frame, measured along its longest side. That range meets Amazon’s rule and Google’s best practice at once.
Add your shadow.
Measure the white, as described in the next section.
Export as JPEG, which Amazon prefers, or PNG if you need transparency, and name the file by product, color and view.
Save the canvas as a template for the next product.

To generate the packshot instead, write the background as a color: "on a pure white seamless background (#FFFFFF), soft contact shadow directly beneath the product". One of our kept food prompts on white used that pattern, with the product "perfectly centered on a white surface (#FFFFFF)" and "a tight shadow directly beneath". Run the same edge and white checks afterward, because the model draws the background like everything else.

How to check the white

Your eyes cannot tell 250 from 255, so measure. Open the file at 100% zoom and sample the background in several places.

All four corners read 255, 255, 255
Points halfway between the product and each edge read 255, 255, 255
The area just beyond the shadow reads 255, 255, 255
No gray band where the backdrop curved into the floor
No halo around the product; its edge pixels are product colors
For transparent PNGs, the file has a real alpha channel and no painted pattern

An image editor reads the values stored in the file. In Photoshop, the Color Sampler tool shows readings in the Info panel (Window > Info), and GIMP’s Color Picker can open an info window. Screen tools are quicker for a first look: Digital Color Meter on a Mac shows the value of the color under the pointer, and PowerToys Color Picker on Windows (Win+Shift+C) copies it as hex. They read what the display shows, so confirm the final file in an editor.

Keep a catalog consistent

Shoppers see your products side by side, where one product shot from a different height or with a different shadow stands out. Amazon’s seller guide asks for objects placed in the same spot against the background and the camera at the same distance from the product. Shopify’s help center asks for one aspect ratio across main images. Write the rules down once and reuse them.

White-background spec for a catalog

Canvas: 2048 x 2048 px, filled #FFFFFF
Product size: 85 to 90% of the frame, measured on the longest side
Position: centered; standing products sit [X] px above the bottom edge
Camera: [front / three-quarter], lens at the height of the product’s middle, 2x zoom
Light: soft window light from camera [left / right], white board on the other side
Shadow: [contact / soft drop], cast to the [direction], [opacity]%
Edges: no halo at 200% zoom
White check: corners, halfway points and shadow edge all read 255, 255, 255
File: JPEG, [brand]-[product]-[color]-[view].jpg

On our trouser job, the backdrop and lighting sentences were copied word for word into every store-photo prompt, and only the framing and pose sentences changed from photo to photo.

Questions people also ask

What if my product is white too?: Keep the product’s edges below pure white so its outline shows. Light it so the edges fall a little into shadow, add a contact shadow, and check that the edge pixels read below 255. Google warns that light-colored products on a transparent background may show on black, so use a white background there instead.
Can I use a light gray background instead?: Not for an Amazon main image, which must be pure white. Google recommends white or transparent for Shopping. On your own store, gray works if every product uses the same gray.
What size should the file be?: Amazon prefers images larger than 1,000 pixels on each side so shoppers can zoom, Google recommends 1,500 x 1,500 pixels or more, and Shopify says 2,048 x 2,048 usually displays best for square images. A 2048 x 2048 master covers all three. See the best file format and size for product images.

Where Overs fits

Overs can plan store-page photos as part of a set, but it generates them from your reference photo, so check the label and measure the white before one becomes a main image, as with any generated packshot. For a main image that must match what ships, a cut-out of your own photo is the safer route.

Free for 40 photos a month. The AI that makes the photos is billed separately, on your own key, with no markup from Overs.

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Sources

Checked on September 24, 2026. Prices, specs and rules change; follow the links for the current versions.