# How to Prepare Items for Photography Before Listing > Once you've set up your work space to shoot multiple items in one session, you won't have to touch your inventory to re-stage or steam before each photo shoot. - Source: https://www.primelister.com/blog/how-to-prepare-items-for-photography-before-listing - Author: Carmen Jones, Customer Support, PrimeLister - Published: 2026-11-09 - Reading time: 5 min --- ## Before you start You have inventory that needs photographing for online listing. Maybe it's second-hand clothing that you wish to sell. Each item deserves the same care and treatment as the next to produce high quality, marketplace consistent photos the first time around. Consistency wins over perfection. For this task, you will need a steamer or iron with distilled water, a lint roller or fabric shaver, a clean flat work surface at least three feet by three feet, a neutral backdrop (white sheet or poster board), good natural light, and a small brush for shoes. You may also need a microfiber cloth and clear tape to remove price tag residue from items. Set aside a block of at least ninety minutes to prepare and shoot at least ten to fifteen items. Before you start, sort your inventory into categories. Take all of the tops, then shoot the bottoms, and take all of the shoes at the end. This makes it so you only have to adjust your lights and backdrop for one category instead of each item. This also minimizes the probability that you will skip steps for prep for each item. ## Steps to prepare each item 1. Check under bright light for flaws you will disclose. This includes buttonholes, seams and hems as well as high-wear and high-use areas such as elbows and knees. Remove all price, care and other labels. Remove adhesive stickers using clear tape pressed against the sticky surface and lifted away, leaving no residue behind. 2. Remove lint and pet hair, and snip all loose threads. Lint and pet hair may be removed using a lint roller. Use a fabric shaver for pilling. If there are snags or thick, long threads, use small, sharp scissors to cut them as close to the fabric as possible without cutting the weave. 3. If using a steamer, fill with distilled water to avoid mineral spots. Hang the item and steamer nozzle 2” from fabric and begin steaming from the top to bottom of the item, repeating if necessary for difficult wrinkles. Test the temperature on an inside seam of the item and press the fabric, holding the iron in the steam function for a couple of seconds, moving the iron in a back-and-forth motion. Steam is faster for volume and better for delicate materials. 4. Clean shoes and handbags. For leather shoes, wet a microfiber cloth, wring out the excess water and let the shoes dry for 5 minutes. Brush the fibers of the suede in one direction with the suede brush. For fabric shoes, spot clean with a little soap and a soft brush. For hardware, wipe with a dry microfiber cloth to remove fingerprints. 5. Lay the item flat on the backdrop and button the top two buttons of shirts. Align sleeves and hems. Zip jeans and straighten collars. Slightly angle shoes so both sides are visible and remove anything in the frame that is not part of the product. 6. Always check your setup before taking photos. Move to where your camera will be, and look over the item you’re photographing. Ensure the fabric is smooth, there are no tags showing, and the background is clean. If shadows are hiding details or distorting the shape, move the item around until the shadows are in a better place. After this, you can’t fix it without stopping the photo process. After doing this for the first couple items in a session, the process will speed up. Each step along the way is crucial because missing something will result in having to return to take more photos or revising the listing. ## Worked example You’re prepping a black cotton blazer for listing on Poshmark, eBay, and Mercari. The blazer is from a thrift store and has a price sticker on the inside label, as well as pilling on the elbows and storage wrinkles. You first examine the blazer under your desk lamp. The seams appear to be intact, but you do notice a small snag next to the left pocket that you will take a photo of and add to the description. You then peel off the price sticker and use clear tape to cover the sticky residue three times until it comes off. Again, you check to make sure no other tags and/or labels are visible from the outside. You run the lint roller over the entire blazer. You make second passes over the lapels and shoulders because any imperfection on black fabric shows. You hold the blazer sleeve taut while using the fabric shaver on both elbows for thirty seconds each. You trim loose threads from the buttonholes with scissors. You hang the blazer on a hanger and fill your steamer with distilled water. Starting at the collar, you steam down in vertical passes, keeping the steamer nozzle 2” from the fabric. Most of the wrinkles come out with one pass. Tight folds result in more than one pass for that area. You give the lining a quick steam to remove the storage creases and let the blazer hang for a couple of minutes to cool and dry. You lay a white flat sheet on the floor and even it out. Next, you put your blazer front down, shoulders aligned and lapels naturally falling. You button the top button, even out the collar, and tuck the sleeves a little under the body to give a nicely framed blazer shape. You step back a little to see if your backdrop is even and take your first photo. The blazer is now ready for multiple pictures from different angles, no prep needed. ## Prep checklist - All tags, stickers and price labels removed, with no residue visible - Lint, pet hair and pilling removed from all visible surfaces - Item steamed or ironed, with no major wrinkles in the areas you will photograph - Shoes and accessories wiped clean, with no dust or fingerprints on surfaces - Item staged on a clean backdrop with no distracting objects in frame - Garment aligned and buttoned or zipped in a natural, sellable position - Lighting tested so the color and texture are visible without harsh shadows Check off the following before taking a photo. It’s a two minute check now versus an hour long reshoot later. Once you shoot an item, you can checklist the image to all the other marketplaces since the photo already meets buyer requirements for each marketplace.