Better photos make better videos.
We make every video from the product photos you choose. Your product will look in the video the way it looks in those photos, so choosing the right photos is the easiest way to get a better video.
Choose photos that show your product clearly.
The whole product on a plain background
Make this your first photo. It should show the entire product on a plain background, with nothing else in the picture. The first photo matters more than any other: it becomes the product's main picture, and it is the first one we look at when we write your brief.
The same product from several angles
Add photos of the front, the side and the back, and of the product open and closed if it opens. The video can only show the sides of the product that your photos show, so if the back matters, add a photo of the back.
Close-ups of the details
Add close-up photos of the parts that make your product worth buying, such as the material, the stitching, a label or a clasp. The video uses these photos for its close-up moments.
The product being used
These are photos of the product in someone's hands, being worn, or in the place where it belongs. A few of these help the video show how the product is used. Before the video is made, we blur the faces in these photos, so the person in your photo never appears in the video: it shows someone similar instead (see “People in your photos” below). Use four or fewer, and always add photos of the product on its own: an ad made only from photos like these has too little of the product to show.
Avoid
Use
Sharp, well lit, and big enough
Each photo needs to be at least 300 pixels on its shortest side, and larger photos are better. Each file can be up to 8 MB. Choose photos with even light and colours that match the real product. If a photo is blurry or dark, the video will be too.
One product per set of photos
A different colour or a different model counts as a different product. Add each one as its own product, with its own photos, and each one will get its own video. When every photo shows the same colour and model, the video shows one clear product.
These photos make the video worse.
When you import from a product link, we move photos like these to the end of your list and leave them unselected, with the reason on the photo. Before you make the ad, look through “Select images” and deselect any other photo that looks like the examples below. Leave photos like these out when you upload your own.
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Size charts, specification tables and comparison charts
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Sale banners, and collages with text on them
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Logos on their own, and screenshots that don't show the product. Do use screenshots of an app when the app is your product: they are its product photos.
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Photos where the product is very small, hidden behind something, or not in the picture at all
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Very close photos of a face, or a face turned at an unusual angle. Our face blur can miss these, and then the video can't be made.
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Long, thin images, such as banners. These can't be used at all: “Select images” dims them, marks the reason on them, and never sends them.
The person in your ad looks like the person in your photo, but it's never the same person.
Make most of your photos about the product: on its own, from each side, and close up. Every photo you choose shapes the ad, and when a person takes up most of a photo, the ad gets more of that person and less of your product.
We never make a video of a real person from their photo. Before your ad is made, we blur every face in your photos, so the person in your photo never appears in the ad.
The video model still sees the rest of the photo: the person's build, hair and clothes, and how they hold or wear the product. So the person in your ad looks similar: the same gender, about the same age, dressed the same way. The ideas we write for your product feature someone like the people in your photos for the same reason.
To show someone different, describe them in your idea, such as “a man in his 30s” or “an older woman”. Then deselect the photos with people in them in “Select images”, and keep the photos of the product on its own. A photo of one person kept with an idea about another can give a mix of the two, such as a man wearing the clothes from your photo.
To show no one, write “hands only” or “no people” in your idea, and deselect the photos with people in them.
Step by step
What we do with your photos before the video is made.
What we do with your photos before the video is made.
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1
We collect your photos
If you paste a link to your product page, we copy the photos from that page, up to 12 of them. If you upload photos instead, we use the photos you upload. You can upload PNG, JPG, HEIC, TIFF or WebP files of up to 8 MB each. You can add more photos at any time with “Add image” in “Select images”.
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We put the best photo first
When the photos come from a product link, we sort them. Photos of the product on its own come first, then close-ups of details, then photos of the product in use, and then photos where a face can be seen. Size charts, collages, banners and screenshots go to the end and start unselected, with the reason on the photo; you can still tap the circle on one to include it. Photos you upload keep the order you uploaded them in, so upload your best photo first. A picture that doesn't show the product, such as a person or a place on its own, moves to “Style reference images” on the “Brief” tab: open it, tap the picture and choose “It's my product” to put it back with your photos.
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The first photo matters most
The first photo in your list becomes the product's main picture, the one you see in “My products”. We look at every selected photo when we write your brief, which you can read and change on the “Brief” tab before the ad is made. Make sure the first photo shows the whole product clearly.
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You choose up to 9 photos
We select the first 9 photos that can be used, leaving out any marked “Not a product photo”. The ad is made from whichever photos are selected when you press “Make the ad”. To change the selection, open the “Brief” tab and press “Choose photos” under your photos in “Your ad is built from”; on a phone, tap “Your ad is built from” first to open it. That opens “Select images”. Tap the circle on a photo to deselect it, and tap it again to select it. Tap the photo itself to see it at full size. To remove a photo from the product completely, open the “Product” tab and use the delete button on the photo.
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We check every photo
A photo can't be used for a video if it is smaller than 300 pixels on either side, or if it is long and thin like a banner: more than 2.5 times as wide as it is tall, or as tall as it is wide. In “Select images” these photos are dimmed and marked with the reason, “Too small”, “Too wide” or “Too narrow”, and they are never sent. We don't stretch or crop a photo to make it fit. Before the video is made, we also blur the faces of any people in your photos; a face printed on the product, such as on its box, is left as it is.
When something goes wrong
What each message means, and what to do next.
What each message means, and what to do next.
Before an ad is made, your photos and your brief are checked. A problem stops the ad: the video is marked “Failed”, with a message under it that says what the problem was and what to change. We also send you the same message by email.
A failed video doesn't mean your product can't be made into an ad. Usually you only need to change one photo, or a few words of the brief.
Pressing “Make the ad” takes the credits for the ad from your balance. If the video fails, all of those credits are put back in your balance automatically. You don't need to ask for them.
“Blocked by the video model's face check”
A photo that shows a real person's face can't be used as it is. We blur every face we can find before the ad is made, but this time one face was missed. That usually happens when a face fills most of the photo, or is turned at an unusual angle.
What to do
In “Select images”, find the photo with the very close or turned face and deselect it, then make the ad again. Your other photos can stay as they are.
“Blocked by the video model's image screening”
Every photo is checked for anything that might be sensitive, and one of yours was flagged. The message doesn't say which photo. Photos of people are flagged most often, especially photos of children and photos that show a lot of skin.
What to do
In “Select images”, deselect the photos of people, then make the ad again. Add photos of the product on its own with “Add image” when you need more photos.
A photo is dimmed and marked “Too small”, “Too wide” or “Too narrow”
You'll see this in “Select images” before you make the ad, so nothing has failed and no credits have been used. The photo is smaller than 300 pixels on one side, or it is long and thin like a banner, so it can't be used and is never sent.
What to do
Nothing, as long as other photos are still selected. Add another photo of the same product with “Add image” when you want more photos in the ad. With every photo marked, the button at the bottom says “Add a photo we can use”: add a photo that can be used with “Add image” to make the ad.
How to fix a failed video
Every failed video is listed on the product's “Videos” tab, with its message and “Fix and try again” beside it.
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1
Press “Fix and try again”. It opens a copy of the failed video's brief on the “Brief” tab, with the same photos and the same settings.
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The message stays at the top of the page while you work, so you can always see what needs to change.
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Make the change the message asks for. For a message about a photo, press “Choose photos” in “Your ad is built from” and deselect that photo in “Select images”; you can add a better photo there with “Add image”. For a message about the brief, press “Read the whole brief”, then type over the wording the message describes.
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Press “Make the ad”.
Making the ad again without changing anything gets it refused again, for the same reason. A message that says nothing you sent caused the failure, such as running out of time, comes with “Try again” instead: nothing needs to change, so press it, then “Make the ad”.
Ready to make your next ad?
Add a product by pasting a link to its page, or by uploading its photos. To see how a one-line idea becomes a brief and an ad, read “Writing your idea”.