Brighten photos and add text, shapes, stickers and frames

The image editor lets you tidy up a secondary listing photo before it goes live: fix the brightness, contrast and saturation, then layer on text, simple shapes, emoji stickers and a coloured frame. This article walks through each tool and flags where the editor draws the line.

Where to find the editor

Open the image editor from your listing’s photos. It has five tabs across the top: Adjust, Text, Shapes, Stickers and Frame. Each tab adds or changes a layer on the photo you have open, and you can drag any layer around the canvas to reposition it once it’s placed.

Adjust: brightness, contrast, saturation

The Adjust tab gives you sliders for brightness, contrast and saturation. Use these to fix a photo that came out dark, flat or washed out before you add anything on top of it. Small changes tend to look more natural than big swings, especially on white-background product shots where buyers expect accurate colour.

1. Open the photo you want to fix in the editor.
2. Select the Adjust tab.
3. Move the brightness, contrast and saturation sliders until the photo looks true to the item.
4. Move on to Text, Shapes, Stickers or Frame if you need them.

Text, shapes, stickers and frame

The other four tabs add layers rather than change the base image:

• Text: add a text layer, for example a size label or a short callout.
• Shapes: add a box, circle or line, useful for highlighting a flaw, a logo or a measurement point.
• Stickers: add emoji stickers, for example to flag “new” or draw the eye to a detail.
• Frame: add a coloured frame around the photo.

Every layer you add, whether it’s a text box, a shape, a sticker or the frame, can be dragged to a new position on the canvas. Add several layers and arrange them until the photo says what you want it to say.

A sensible order to work in

Because Adjust only applies to the main photo, it’s worth fixing exposure and colour first, while a photo is still set as main, and saving text, shapes, stickers and frames for whichever photo (main or secondary) needs them. That avoids discovering the limit halfway through editing a batch of secondary photos.

See the related articles below for more on managing listing photos.