Glossary
Product Photography & E-Commerce Glossary
117+ terms explained: AI photography, marketplace requirements, lighting, and e-commerce terminology.
Photography Basics
White Background Photography
A product photography technique where the product is isolated against a pure white (RGB 25…
Ghost Mannequin Photography
A photography technique for clothing where a mannequin is used during shooting but digital…
Flat Lay Photography
A photography style where products are arranged on a flat surface and photographed from di…
Lifestyle Photography
Product photography that shows the item in a real-world context or being used by a person,…
Macro Photography
Extreme close-up photography that captures fine detail not visible to the naked eye, typic…
Studio Lighting
Artificial lighting equipment used to create controlled, consistent illumination for produ…
Depth of Field
The range of distance in a photograph that appears acceptably sharp and in focus. Shallow …
Color Temperature
A measurement in Kelvin (K) that describes the 'warmth' or 'coolness' of light. Lower valu…
White Balance
A camera setting or post-processing adjustment that ensures white objects appear neutral w…
Product Staging
The art of arranging products and props to create an appealing, contextually relevant scen…
Ghost Mannequin Effect
The technical post-processing result of ghost mannequin photography — a garment that appea…
HDR Photography
High Dynamic Range photography combines multiple exposures of the same scene to capture de…
Tethered Shooting
A photography workflow where the camera is connected to a computer via USB or WiFi, sendin…
AI Photography
AI Product Photography
The use of artificial intelligence to generate, enhance, or create product photographs wit…
Generative AI
A category of artificial intelligence that can generate new content — images, text, audio,…
Diffusion Model
A type of AI model that generates images by learning to reverse a process of gradually add…
AI Prompt
A text instruction or description given to an AI image generation model to guide the style…
Background Removal
The process of digitally isolating a product from its original background, creating a tran…
Image Upscaling
A process that uses AI or algorithms to increase the resolution and perceived quality of a…
Generative AI
A class of artificial intelligence models that can create new content — images, text, audi…
Text-to-Image AI
An AI system that generates images from natural language text descriptions, called prompts…
Diffusion Model
A type of generative AI that creates images by learning to reverse a noise-adding process,…
Image Inpainting
An AI editing technique where a selected area of an image is filled or replaced with AI-ge…
LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation)
A fine-tuning technique for AI image models that allows them to learn a specific style, pr…
Image Upscaling
The process of increasing an image's resolution using AI algorithms that intelligently fil…
Stable Diffusion
An open-source AI image generation model developed by Stability AI, widely used as the fou…
Inpainting
An AI image editing technique that fills in or replaces a masked or selected portion of an…
Image Upscaling (AI)
The use of AI neural networks to increase image resolution while synthesizing realistic de…
Controlnet
A neural network architecture that adds precise spatial control to diffusion model image g…
Negative Prompt
Instructions given to an AI image generation model specifying what should NOT appear in th…
Image-to-Image (img2img)
An AI technique where an existing image is used as a starting point for generation, allowi…
ControlNet
An AI model extension that provides precise spatial control over diffusion model outputs —…
LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation)
A technique for fine-tuning AI image generation models with a small set of training images…
Outpainting
An AI technique that extends an image beyond its original boundaries — generating new cont…
Prompt Weighting
A technique in AI image generation that assigns different levels of emphasis or de-emphasi…
Upscaling (AI)
AI-powered image enlargement that increases resolution while adding or preserving detail —…
E-Commerce
Conversion Rate
The percentage of product page visitors who complete a purchase. E-commerce conversion rat…
A/B Testing
A method of comparing two versions of a product listing, image, or marketing element to de…
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who click on a product listing after seeing it in search results.…
SKU
Stock Keeping Unit — a unique alphanumeric identifier used to track individual products, v…
ASIN
Amazon Standard Identification Number — a unique 10-character alphanumeric identifier assi…
Buy Box
The prominent 'Add to Cart' section on Amazon product pages that defaults to a specific se…
Infographic Image
A product listing image that combines product photography with text, icons, or diagrams to…
Product Mockup
A pre-designed template or composite image where a product (typically a flat design, like …
Shopify Integration
A connection between an external tool or service and a Shopify store that allows data, pro…
Amazon Integration
A connection that allows external tools or services to interact with Amazon's marketplace …
Return Rate
The percentage of purchased products that are returned by customers. High return rates in …
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
The systematic process of increasing the percentage of visitors who take a desired action …
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
Amazon's fulfillment service where sellers store products in Amazon's warehouses and Amazo…
Dropshipping
An e-commerce business model where the seller doesn't hold inventory — instead, when a cus…
User-Generated Content (UGC)
Content (photos, videos, reviews) created by customers rather than brands, showing real pe…
Brand Registry (Amazon)
Amazon's program that verifies brand ownership and gives enrolled brands access to additio…
Product Catalog
A comprehensive database or organized collection of all products offered by a seller, incl…
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)
A unique alphanumeric code assigned to each distinct product variant in a seller's invento…
Lighting
Softbox
A large, fabric-covered lighting modifier that creates soft, diffused light by bouncing an…
Key Light
The primary, dominant light source in a photography lighting setup that establishes the ov…
Fill Light
A secondary light source that 'fills' in the shadows created by the key light, reducing sh…
Rim Light
A light positioned behind and to the side of the product that creates a highlight 'rim' or…
Three-Point Lighting
A standard photography and video lighting setup using three light sources: a key light (ma…
High-Key Lighting
A lighting style characterized by bright, even illumination with minimal shadows, creating…
Rim Lighting
A lighting technique where a light source is positioned behind and to the side of the subj…
Continuous Lighting
Studio lighting equipment that remains on continuously (as opposed to flash/strobe which f…
AI Video
AI Product Video
Video content generated by artificial intelligence models that show a product in motion, i…
Google Veo
Google DeepMind's state-of-the-art AI video generation model capable of creating high-qual…
AI Video Generation
The use of artificial intelligence to create video content from images, text descriptions,…
Marketplace SEO
Amazon SEO
The practice of optimizing product listings on Amazon to improve their visibility in Amazo…
Shopify SEO
Search engine optimization practices applied to Shopify stores to improve visibility in Go…
Image Alt Text
A text description added to an HTML image tag that describes the image content for search …
Amazon A+ Content
A premium listing feature available to Amazon Brand Registry sellers that allows enhanced …
Buy Box
The featured purchase section on Amazon product pages (the 'Add to Cart' box) that default…
Shopify SEO
Search engine optimization specifically applied to Shopify stores to improve ranking in Go…
ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number)
A unique 10-character alphanumeric identifier assigned by Amazon to every product in its c…
Product Listing Optimization
The process of improving all elements of a product listing — title, images, bullets, descr…
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who see a product listing in search results and click on it, calc…
Listing Optimization
The systematic process of improving every element of a marketplace product listing — title…
ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number)
Amazon's unique product identifier — a 10-character alphanumeric code assigned to every pr…
Sponsored Products (Amazon)
Amazon's cost-per-click advertising format that promotes individual product listings in se…
Search Rank / Organic Rank
A product's position in marketplace search results for a given keyword query — determined …
Amazon A+ Content
A premium product listing enhancement on Amazon that allows brand-registered sellers to ad…
Etsy Listing Quality Score
Etsy's internal ranking signal for individual listings, calculated from buyer behavior sig…
Sponsored Brand Video (Amazon)
An Amazon advertising format that places autoplay video ads in search results and on produ…
Search Impressions Share
The percentage of total eligible search queries in a category for which your product listi…
Enhanced Brand Content (EBC)
Amazon's predecessor term to A+ Content — rich media product listing enhancement available…
Product Listing
Hero Image
The primary, main product image displayed in search results and at the top of a product li…
360-Degree Photography
A product photography technique that captures a product from multiple angles (typically 24…
A+ Content
An Amazon feature (formerly Enhanced Brand Content) that allows brand-registered sellers t…
Color & Print
Color Profile
A standardized mathematical model (such as sRGB or Adobe RGB) that defines how colors are …
DPI vs PPI
DPI (Dots Per Inch) refers to print resolution; PPI (Pixels Per Inch) refers to digital im…
Color Calibration
The process of adjusting a display device (monitor, tablet, phone) to accurately reproduce…
RAW Photography
A camera file format that captures all sensor data without in-camera processing, giving ph…
Post-Processing
Lightroom Presets
Saved sets of editing adjustments in Adobe Lightroom that can be applied to multiple photo…
Photo Editing
Post-processing adjustments made to product photographs to enhance quality, correct issues…
Drop Shadow
A visual effect added in post-processing that creates a subtle shadow beneath a product on…
Retouching
Detailed post-processing work that removes imperfections, blemishes, dust spots, and other…
Technical
Image CDN
A Content Delivery Network specifically optimized for serving images — serving them from s…
WebP
A modern image format developed by Google that provides superior compression compared to J…
Image Compression
The process of reducing image file size while attempting to preserve image quality, making…
WebP Format
A modern image format developed by Google that provides superior lossless and lossy compre…
Image Alt Text
HTML attribute text that describes an image's content to search engines and screen readers…
Resolution (PPI/DPI)
A measurement of image detail density. PPI (pixels per inch) describes digital image resol…
Aspect Ratio
The proportional relationship between an image's width and height, expressed as a ratio (e…
360-Degree Photography
A product photography technique that captures a product from all angles, creating an inter…
Chromatic Aberration
A lens defect causing color fringing (typically purple or green halos) at high-contrast ed…
Lens Compression
The visual effect of telephoto lenses that makes distant subjects appear larger relative t…
Ghost Mannequin
A post-processing technique for clothing and apparel photography where a mannequin is remo…
Composite Photography
The technique of combining multiple separately photographed elements into a single, cohesi…
Exposure Triangle
The three camera settings that together determine a photograph's exposure: aperture (light…
Tethered Shooting
A photography workflow where the camera is connected to a computer via USB or WiFi, allowi…
Moodboard
A collection of reference images, colors, textures, and stylistic examples assembled to co…
Color Calibration
The process of ensuring that the colors captured by a camera and displayed on a monitor ac…
Brand Style Guide (Photography)
A documented set of photography standards that specifies the exact visual decisions — back…
Composition
Rule of Odds
A composition principle stating that images with an odd number of subjects (1, 3, 5) are m…
Negative Space
The empty area surrounding the main subject in a photograph — the background space that is…
Framing (Composition)
A composition technique where natural or environmental elements (a window frame, doorway, …
Color Theory for Product Photography
The application of color relationships — complementary, analogous, triadic, and monochroma…
Knolling
A photography technique where objects are arranged at exactly 90-degree angles to each oth…
Flat Knolling
A specific type of overhead flat lay photography where all objects are arranged at precise…