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Square Photo Studio FAQ

Product photography is a key part of showcasing items on your ecommerce website. With Square Photo Studio, you can ship us your products, and we’ll take care of the photography, retouching, and color correction.

Here are some frequently asked questions about our in-house photography service. You can also learn more about getting started with Square Photo Studio for an overview.

About Photo Studio

What is Photo Studio?

Square Photo Studio is an in-house photography service provided by Square.

We also have an app by the same name. To learn more about our app, check out getting started with the Square Photo Studio app.

How do I take advantage of your Photo Studio service?

To take advantage of our service, start by visiting our Square Photo Studio landing page and selecting Get started.

Do I need to be a Square customer to use this service?

No. Anyone can use Square Photo Studio. If you don’t have a Square account, we’ll ask you to activate one so you may check your order status and download your photos.

How much does it cost to use Photo Studio?

Each 3-photo pack costs $19.95 per item.

I live outside of the US. Can I take advantage of this service?

We’re not offering our Photo Studio service outside of the US at this time.

Do you offer quantity discounts?

We’re not offering quantity discounts at this time.

Can I pay to have my photos expedited?

Orders can’t be expedited. All photos are ready for you to download within 14 days of receiving your items.

Shipping Items

What happens if my items get lost or damaged in the mail?

To mitigate this risk, we recommend choosing a shipping provider with reliable tracking and signature confirmation. If you choose to have us ship your items back to you, we’ll use Priority Mail.

If you’re sending us fragile or unique items that require special packaging, we highly recommend purchasing insurance and sending us pre-paid shipping labels to make sure your products are protected in transit. If you’re shipping us wine, please send us pre-paid shipping labels with the necessary insurance and shipping requirements.

Note: Square is not responsible for lost or damaged items in transit, and cannot refund you for the cost of your products or shipping.

I paid for return shipping. What happens if my products get lost or damaged when you ship them back to me?

The Photo Studio team will do its very best to ensure your items are safe and secure before sending them back to you.

If you’re sending us fragile or unique items that require special packaging, we highly recommend purchasing insurance and sending us pre-paid shipping labels to make sure your products are protected in transit. If you’re shipping us wine, please send us pre-paid shipping labels with the necessary insurance and shipping requirements.

Note: Square is not responsible for lost or damaged items in transit, and cannot refund you for the cost of your products or shipping.

When will you ship my items back?

After we finish with your items, we’ll send you your product photos, and wait up to 7 days for any feedback and additional requests. After those 7 days, we’ll either ship your products back to you or donate them, depending on what option you choose during checkout.

Do you charge for return shipping?

Should you opt to have your items returned to you, Photo Studio will charge a $15 flat rate for return shipping.

What Square Can Photograph

I have a product that’s very large. Can you shoot it?

The maximum size we’re able to accommodate is 84 inches in combined length and girth (i.e. the length of the longest side plus the distance around the thickest part of your object can’t exceed 84 inches). For example, if your product is a vase that’s 60 inches tall and 30 inches around its widest part, that’s 90 inches in combined length and girth, which means the item wouldn’t be eligible for our service (i.e. it exceeds our maximum size of 84 inches).

Additionally, items cannot exceed a weight of 20 pounds.

How do you shoot jewelry and watches?

For jewelry and watches, we deliver high quality .png and .jpg files. All jewelry and watch images go through light color correction and minor retouching. We strive to make your products look as accurate as possible. If you’re looking for a more in-depth retouching process, we suggest either investing in a local photography studio or asking for our original files for use by a different retouching provider.

Note: We don’t use focus stacking for jewelry or watch images.

How do you shoot apparel?

For apparel, we shoot all items on ghost mannequins. We can shoot flat lay as requested, but this must be included in your initial order notes. If your clothing is unisex, please specify whether you want your apparel shot on a male or female mannequin. If you have specific requests about the fit of the clothing, please include them in your initial order notes.

For sizes, please send us mediums. Sizes that are too large or too small either won’t fit or will fit awkwardly on the mannequin’s body. For children’s clothing, we have an age 7 mannequin. If your items don’t fit our mannequins, we’ll either request alternate sizes or shoot flat lay by default.

Note: We do not have maternity or plus-size mannequins.

Can you shoot perishable food?

We’re unable to shoot perishable foods at this time.

Your Images

What kind of license comes with my new images?

You’ll have a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide copyright license to use the images for any use as long as it doesn’t violate our Terms of Service and the additional Square Photo Studio terms. However, we do retain the right to use the images in Square marketing materials and communications.

What aspect ratio do you deliver photos in? Can you do a transparent background?

We deliver all photos in a 1:1 aspect ratio. We also deliver transparent .png files so you can add your images to any background as needed.

Do you remove tags, plastic wrap, or other packaging from my product for the shoot?

So they don’t appear in your images, we’ll remove all tags, plastic wrap, and packaging from your products before we shoot. If you don’t want tags removed, please indicate as such in your order notes.

Note: We can’t remove tags through image retouching.

Do you add drop shadows or background colors?

We shoot all items on pure white backgrounds without shadows. For different background colors and shadows, we deliver transparent .png files so you can add them in post-production as needed.

What is a 3-photo pack?

You’ll get three photos of your product from different angles that are retouched and optimized for online selling. Images come as .jpg files on a white background and as .png files on a transparent background.

Support

I need help with my order. Who do I contact?

If you need assistance with your order made with our in-house photography service provided by Square Photo Studio, you can contact our team directly using this Photo Studio contact form.

Can I submit feedback if I’m not happy with my photos?

We do our best to deliver quality images the first time we shoot, but there may be times where we’ll need to make adjustments based on your feedback. If you need adjustments, please be as specific as possible as to what you want improved. Example images are very helpful, even if they’re photos you’ve shot yourself.

We’re only able to accommodate one round of reshoots and two rounds of retouching. Please provide all of your feedback in the first round of requests.