Photo Studio Q&A: Learn to create high-quality eCommerce images with the Square Photo Studio app 📸

[Tom]

✨Your products are ready for their closeup!✨

What: We recently updated the Square Photo Studio app with additional styling features including shadow editing, level editing such as exposure and contrast, and the ability to change your images layout through size, position, and rotation tools. The app enables you to sync a photograph with your Square items or create links for your social media channels that let your followers shop directly on Facebook and Instagram.

Who: @johnobc on the Square Photo Studio product team answered questions about the app, and addressed feedback from sellers on how it's going with the app so far.

When: This Q&A took place on Wednesday, April 27, at 1:00pm PDT / 4:00pm EDT. 

A few example questions:

• What are the tips and tricks to getting the perfect photo with Square Photo Studio?
• If I could do "_______" with Photo Studio, that would make setting up my inventory so much easier.
• How do I turn a photograph into a shoppable link?
• What’s the best way to use the different style options in the app?

Note: We can't share specific details on our product roadmaps, though this information will be helpful as we continue to make improvements.

[Sugarandgeek]

Will this app be available for Android users too?

[NtheoryFarm]

Agreed! The app needs to be made available to all users, not just the iOS ones

[johnobc]

First, I want to thank all the Android users for participating in this Q&A and for asking this question. It’s very clear that this is a need you all have and we’re thrilled at the enthusiasm and interest in the app!

The answer is that we will hopefully have an Android version of this app, we absolutely hear all of your requests, but we do not have a timeframe yet. To give more context, the app was built off the foundation of an existing iPhone app that Square acquired in 2021. The app we acquired was iPhone only so there were a lot of features that are included in our Photo Studio app that were built specifically for iPhones - like the machine learning model we use for background removal. We definitely want to release an Android version but it will take us time since we don’t have the same foundation to build off of and will basically be starting from scratch. Hopefully this helps explain why we don’t have an Android version yet since this is our top request but we want everyone to know we hear you!

I noticed this question came up quite a bit 😀 so I'm tagging you all in the reply as well: @Purpledragonz @2BeachesStudio @Amberderr717 @MIPassion217 @Forestofhope @daphnelsh @piggysue63 @cajewelery @meleahn @wendyjess @lucyandthegreen @Animas @LoThEMaROpals @BillV 

[UrnsbyMB]

I just downloaded the app and I'm excited to give it a try!!

[johnobc]

Awesome! Let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

[Juniorjewelry]

Downloading today and will keep you guys updated.  I've actually been debating whether I should send in a dozen so pieces to squares picture to get that 360 degree angle.  My items are jewelry so smaller and more difficult to get that perfect lighting down. 

[johnobc]

My recommendation would be to give the app a shot with the jewelry first and, if you don’t feel like you can get the photos up to the standard you want, place an order with the physical studio and ship them in. The studio is great for pieces like jewelry where you do need a really professional lighting set up but I think it’s worth a try to do it on your own first.

One of my favorite things to do is use photos we shot in the professional studio in the app. Since the images you get from the physical studio are all transparent PNGs, you can open them up in the app and then add shadows and change your background colors.

[Leashless]

When will this app be available on Google Play for non-apple phones? 

[johnobc]

Thanks for the question and posting in this thread! I answered this in my reply to @Sugarandgeek — have a look here for more information.

[Rluban]

What are the tips and tricks for photographing jewelry, especially with open spaces- often the background remover (I like a white backgraound, not grayish) leaves part of the background or takes away part of the jewelry. THanks you, Rina

[OurCupCakery]

John  We have a similar issue with taking pics of a group of cupcakes.  Any work around tips to they don't get cut out? We just love the color background shading feature.  Makes our cakes and desserts look like they just came our of a Martha Stewart magazine.

[johnobc]

Cupcakes with the colored backgrounds look incredible - would love to see one of the photos you've taken.

Groups can be somewhat tricky to photograph with the app. I think the best way to make sure it doesn't cut out any of the cupcakes when you're photographing is to just make sure the background is a white piece of paper or contrasts well against the group of cupcakes. If that doesn't work, experiment with a few different angles and configurations of the cupcakes to see if that helps make sure all the cupcakes stay in the frame. I wish I had a better answer for groups but it's a result of the background removal model not always being sure which items it's supposed to remove vs. keep in.

[johnobc]

Jewelry is certainly difficult to photograph. I’ve seen the best results when you photograph your jewelry top down on a piece of white poster board and try to eliminate shadows as much as possible (shooting either outside on an overcast day or in a well-lit room helps with this.) One suggestion is to also take sheets of white paper, fold them in half so they stand on the table, and create a circle of white around the piece of jewelry to “bounce” light back onto the piece. The goal is really to just find a surface that contrasts with your items and eliminate shadows as much as possible so the background removal works better with those really fine edges.

If neither of those work :)our physical studio is a great solution for jewelry and we are also working on improving the background removal model specifically for jewelry since we know it’s a bit more challenging - so stay tuned.

[Leashless]

Also, would these pcitures be usable on other formats like Facebook and Instagram independent of Square?

[johnobc]

Yep! The photos are all outputted in a 1:1 aspect ratio - which is perfect for Instagram, Facebook, and a bunch of other sales channels. Images that use the gradient or tonal background with the directional shadow look particularly good on Instagram I've found.

[bethieskulls]

Any chance this could be used on a desktop PC for those of us who do not use cell phones? 

[johnobc]

Right now this is only available on iPhone but that’s definitely a cool idea and something we can look into. 

[2BeachesStudio]

Why isn't there an Android compatible app?

[johnobc]

Thanks for the question and posting in this thread. I tried to give some more details and context in my reply to @Sugarandgeek  - hopefully that answers your question! Have a look here for more information.

[2BeachesStudio]

When will this app be made Android compatible?