---
title: "Photo retouching: meaning and marketplace rules | Herofab"
description: "Editing a photograph after it is taken to remove flaws such as dust, creases, loose threads or a colour cast."
url: https://herofab.app/glossary/photo-retouching
language: en
updated: 2026-10-18
---

# Photo retouching

Editing a photograph after it is taken to remove flaws such as dust, creases, loose threads or a colour cast. In a product photo it corrects the picture, not the product.

Also called **image retouching** · **product retouching** · **photo touch-up**

With Herofab [Remove background](https://herofab.app/tools/background-remover)

![The folded indigo jeans with turned-up hems on a white background](https://herofab.app/img/ex/jeans-white-1100.webp)

Made with Herofab · Remove background

Retouching covers the small faults a camera cannot avoid: dust on a dark garment, lint and pet hair, creases from folding, a loose thread, a reflection in a watch glass, a colour that came out too warm. Cutting the product from its background and matching colour across a set are usually part of the same job, so that every image of a collection looks as if it came from one shoot.

The line that matters to a buyer runs between correcting the picture and changing the product. Removing a crease from transport is cleaning; removing pilling, slimming a seam, brightening a faded print or hiding a scuff on a used item misrepresents what will arrive. Many marketplaces state that edits must not change how the item looks, and some do not accept edited photos of second-hand goods at all.

Heavy retouching shows. Over-smoothed fabric loses its texture and looks like plastic in zoom, a cut-out with a hard or haloed edge looks pasted on, and colour pushed for impact no longer matches the real dye. A sound routine is to retouch from the original file, compare the result side by side with the product in daylight, and check edges and fabric at full size before upload.

## Photo retouching, answered.

**How much retouching is allowed on product photos?**

As much as it takes to correct the picture, and none that changes the product. Removing dust, lint, transport creases and a colour cast is generally accepted; hiding wear, reshaping a seam or brightening a faded print is not, and some marketplaces are stricter still for second-hand goods. The marketplace's own wording decides where its line runs.

**Should I steam clothes or fix creases in editing?**

Steam first, then retouch what is left. A steamed garment shows its true drape and texture and needs little editing, whereas smoothing deep creases by hand takes time and often flattens the weave. Herofab's Remove background cuts a product out without redrawing it, so a crease in the source photo stays in the result.

## What marketplaces say about it.

Updated 25 September 2026

- **Zalando:** Zalando may position packshots on its view grids, crop images to the required resolution and aspect ratio and modify backgrounds to its required colour range; it does not make edits that change how the article looks [Official page](https://partner.zalando.com/university/article/zalando-image-guidelines)
- **AliExpress:** Any cut-out or Photoshop effects must appear natural [Official page](https://rule.aliexpress.com/rule-channels/49971998/206428683)
- **GLAMI:** Real photos of the product; GLAMI states that it does not accept photos edited online. The same photo requirements apply to the alternative images [Official page](https://help.glami.info/img)
- **Vinted:** Photos taken by you for use on Vinted, showing the item as it is; no image editing is allowed [Official page](https://www.vinted.co.uk/catalog-rules)
- **eMAG:** Out-of-focus or unclear images and images with bad edit traces are not accepted [Official page](https://marketplace.emag.hu/infocenter/emag-academy/how-to-add-a-product-one-by-one/standards-for-the-main-image-of-the-product/?lang=en)
- **Shopee:** Images out of context, of products without packaging, with false promises, or manipulated in order to hide information about the product [Official page](https://seller.shopee.com.br/edu/article/2822/boas-praticas-de-fotos-para-anuncios)

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