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

[Ani_]

✨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 shoppable payment links to add to online social channels. 

Who: I'm excited to introduce you to @johnobc on the Square Photo Studio product team as he'll be available to answer any questions, and address feedback on how it's going with the app so far.

When: Post your questions to this thread and by end of day Tuesday, April 26. @johnobc who is located in PST will respond to all questions on Wednesday, April 27, from 1 PST-2 PST/6 AM-7:00 ACT.

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.

[BAR_Creative]

I cant see an option to add a logo or watermark to images...Could this be incorporated?

[johnobc]

Yep that's a great request! This is definitely something we want to add. No ETA just yet and we have a few more things on the list first but it’s definitely something we're looking at.

[hellomotivation]

Do you have any tips for photographing products with translucent parts? A clear spiral coil binder messes up all my Square Photos. 

[johnobc]

That’s a tough one. I’ve seen the best results when you photograph something translucent with a white piece of poster board behind it 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 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. 

[resinartdecorby]

When will Square have a photo ap for non iPhone users, I have a Samsung

[johnobc]

First, I want to thank all the Android users for participating in this Q&A and for asking this question.

The answer is that we will hopefully have an Android version of this app, we absolutely hear the 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 @ruedefrance @thetechguy @HQ_Studio11 

[HQ_Studio11]

Thank you for responding to my question. Looking forward to using the new android app when it is eventually developed.

[thetechguy]

Thank you for that info I really need this app but thanks for the update all the best to the team. 

[ruedefrance]

Square Photo Studio

is this available for android ??

[johnobc]

It's only available for iPhone - I tried to provide more context in my reply to @resinartdecorby  as to why

Have a look here for more information.

[thetechguy]

When is the app coming to android

[johnobc]

We don't have an ETA just yet - I tried to provide more context in my reply to @resinartdecorby as to why

[HQ_Studio11]

I'm with the previous 2....when will this be available on android?

[johnobc]

We don't have an ETA just yet - I tried to provide more context in my reply to @resinartdecorby as to why

Have a look here for more information.

[johnobc · Accepted solution]

Hello Everyone,

Thanks again for taking the time to share your questions and feedback!

I hope I was able to answer your questions and help with any photography tips —the experiences you've shared will also help us as we continue to iterate based on your feedback.

As we close out this event, we wanted to do a recap on three themes that came up frequently:

• Android support - it’s really helpful to see how many of you want an Android version of the app. Thank you again for posting here and letting us know the demand

• Photography tips for different items - there were a few specific questions about how to best photograph different items. If there’s a theme here it’s that using natural, even light, a neutral background, and reducing shadows will lead to the best results. Shadows end up being the enemy of our background removal model - so the more you’re able to fill in gaps around the product the better the app will perform. There’ll be improvements coming here soon as well!

• Text, logos, and watermarks - there were a few feature requests around adding text, logos, and watermarks to images. This is something we definitely want to do and the feedback here has been helpful to prioritize these features

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and we'll continue to improve the Photo Studio app based on your business needs.   

For the latest updates, keep watch for announcements of new features in Product Updates and, if you’re using the app, make sure to turn on push notifications. We’re working to develop and add features pretty quickly and we’d love any feedback as you try out new versions!

[helenmclean]

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