How to upscale and improve your product photos with AI

Contributors

Orderchamp

6 min read

In this article

You loved our last posts on AI image prompts, so we're back with more. We started with 7 prompts for seasonal product photos, then showed how to combine several products into one catalogue shot, how to put your products in the hands of an AI model, and most recently how to get your catalogue ready for Autumn/Winter.

This time we're starting one step earlier, with the photos you already have. Maybe they're a bit blurry, shot on a phone in the warehouse, or the wrong size for Instagram. We'll show you how to fix them with AI.

Which tools to use

For editing and photoshoots we're using Nano Banana again, Google's image model inside Gemini. Its Pro version can take up to 14 reference images at once and export in up to 4K, which makes it ideal for multi-product scenes. ChatGPT's image generator works with the same prompts too. Not sure which assistant to use for what? Read our comparison of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity for wholesale.

For pure upscaling, where you only want a bigger, sharper version of the same photo, a dedicated upscaler is often more faithful:

Topaz Gigapixel: paid, very true to the original photo.
Upscayl: free and open source, runs on your own computer.
Magnific: adds a lot of new detail. That's great for creative images, but less suited to packshots where the product has to stay exactly the same.

Part 1: Fix the photos you already have

Retailers judge your brand by your images long before they see the product in real life, and first impressions decide whether they keep scrolling. A blurry or badly lit photo in your B2B Portal or Marketplace storefront makes even a great product look less premium. These five prompts fix the most common problems.

A quick note: none of the original product photos in this article were blurry. To show what AI upscaling can do, we deliberately reduced the size and quality of the brands’ original images first. All products and photos belong to their respective brands.

1. Upscale and sharpen

Prompt: "Upscale this product photo to a high-resolution image and sharpen it. Keep the product exactly as it is: same shape, proportions, colours, materials, label text and logo. Remove noise, blur and compression artefacts, and bring out fine details like texture, stitching and edges. Do not add, remove or redesign anything. The result should look like the same photo taken with a professional camera."

2. A clean, consistent background

Prompt: "Place this product on a clean, seamless light grey studio background. Keep the product exactly as it is, including its colours, label and logo. Add a soft, natural shadow underneath so it doesn't look cut out. Centre the product with even space around it, in a square 1:1 format, with soft, even studio lighting from the front left."

Use the exact same prompt for every product. That way your whole catalogue looks like it was shot in one studio on one day, even if the photos came from five different places. Consistency like this is one of the easiest ways to build a B2B product catalog that converts.

3. Better light and true colours

Prompt: "Improve the lighting of this product photo so it looks like it was taken in a professional studio with soft daylight. Correct the white balance so whites look neutral and colours look true to life, remove the yellow colour cast, lift the shadows and reduce harsh reflections. Keep the product, its colours and the composition exactly the same."

Retailers order based on what they see, so always compare the result with the real product. A vase that looks sage green online and arrives olive green leads to returns and credit notes. The same goes for the rest of your product data: every channel should show the same thing.

4. Remove distractions

Prompt: "Remove everything from this photo except the product and the surface it stands on: the cables, the hand in the corner, the price sticker and the boxes in the background. Fill the removed areas so they blend naturally with the surrounding background. Keep the product exactly the same."

5. Resize for a new format

Prompt: "Extend this image to a 9:16 portrait format (1080 × 1920 pixels) for Instagram Stories. Keep the product and the original scene exactly as they are, and continue the background naturally above and below, with the same surface, light and style. Leave calm, empty space at the top for text."

This one saves a lot of time. Instead of cropping off half your product to fit a Story, the AI simply extends the scene around it.

Cheat sheet: the right size for every channel

B2B Portal and Marketplace product images: square 1:1, at least 2000 × 2000 px
Website hero or portal banner: landscape 16:9 or wider, at least 1920 × 1080 px
Instagram feed: portrait 4:5, 1080 × 1350 px
Instagram and TikTok Stories / Reels: portrait 9:16, 1080 × 1920 px
Pinterest: portrait 2:3, 1000 × 1500 px
LinkedIn post: square 1:1 or portrait 4:5, 1080 × 1080 or 1080 × 1350 px
Email header: landscape, 1200 px wide

Tips and tricks

Start with your best photo. AI can improve a photo, but it can't reliably reinvent details it can't see. The sharper your starting image, the better the result.
One change per prompt. Upscale first, then fix the background, then the light. That's much easier to control than asking for everything at once.
Always check the details. AI likes to "tidy up" labels, logos and small text. Compare every image with the real product before you publish it.
Give sizes if you need to. Adding "the teapot is 20 cm tall, the mugs are 9 cm" helps keep proportions realistic in multi-product scenes.
Make a few versions. Generate three or four and pick the best. Small changes in wording can make a big difference.
Save your shoot brief. Reuse it next season, and your feed, portal and catalogue will keep one recognisable look.

Keep it honest

Styled shots are perfect for inspiration, social media and banners. But the main product image that retailers order from should always show exactly what they'll receive. Don't change the product's colour, size, materials or packaging. Use only your own photos or images you're licensed to use. If you're a retailer editing a supplier's photos, ask the brand first.

Final thoughts

Better product images don't have to mean a bigger photo budget. With a few good prompts you can fix the photos you already have, and turn a handful of products into a complete photoshoot in one consistent style.

Once your new images are ready, update them in your B2B Portal and Marketplace storefront, add them to your line sheets, and use the extra shots for social media, newsletters and your next collection launch. Give it a try, and share your results with us!