This guide walks through what a shopper sees when they add a photo to a personalized product. It is for merchants who want to understand the upload step, so you can set expectations for your customers and answer their questions. When a product has an image upload field, the customer picks a photo, optionally crops it, and Composerie runs quality checks before the design is ready for cart.
Picking or dropping a photo
The first thing a shopper sees is the upload area. It is a dashed box that says “Click or drag to upload”.
There are two ways to add a photo:
- Click the area to open the file picker, then choose a photo from the device.
- Drag a file from the desktop straight onto the area and drop it.
On a phone, the upload area can also open the camera. The shopper can take a photo on the spot instead of choosing one from their gallery. Camera capture is on by default. You can turn it off on the field if you only want existing photos.
Allowed file types come from what you set on the field. The default set is PNG, JPEG, and WebP. If a shopper picks a different type, they see the message “Unsupported format. Use …” with the types you allow.
The field type and its options are set in the Design Studio. To learn how fields are built and what each one does, see personalization form fields.
Cropping and positioning
When the image field is set to cropper mode, a crop overlay opens right after the photo is added. This lets the shopper frame the photo before it goes onto the product.
Open the crop overlay
Once the photo is chosen, the crop overlay opens over the image. The shopper sees the full photo with a crop frame on top.
Frame the photo
The shopper drags the corner handles to set the part of the photo they want to keep. Rule-of-thirds guides appear inside the frame to help line up the subject. On a touch screen, they can drag the handles with a finger.
Keep the right shape
If you locked an aspect ratio on the field, the crop frame keeps that shape no matter how the shopper resizes it. This is useful when the photo has to fit a fixed area on the product. If no ratio is locked, the shopper can crop freely.
Confirm or cancel
The shopper taps “Apply Crop” to confirm the crop and place the photo. “Cancel” closes the overlay and goes back without applying the crop.
For more on how touch dragging and pinch gestures work on phones and tablets, see mobile and touch editing.
Quality checks that protect the print
A photo that looks fine on a screen can still print blurry. To protect the final product, Composerie checks every upload before it is accepted. The checks run automatically and the shopper sees a plain message if something is wrong.
Here is what gets checked:
- Format. If the file is not one of the allowed types, the shopper sees “Unsupported format. Use …” and the upload is stopped.
- File size. Files over the limit are rejected with “File too large. Max … MB.” The default limit is 10 MB.
- Pixel size. If the image has too few pixels, the shopper sees “Image too small” with the size they uploaded and the minimum required.
- DPI (print resolution). A low-resolution image can be blocked with “Image quality too low (… DPI). Minimum … DPI required.”
Not every quality issue stops the order. There are two levels of DPI feedback:
- A warning reads “Medium quality (… DPI). For best results, use 300+ DPI.” This still lets the shopper continue to checkout. It is a heads-up, not a block.
- A hard block stops the upload. The shopper has to pick a higher-quality photo before they can move on.
When a photo passes the checks, the upload area is replaced by a thumbnail of the photo. The shopper sees a “Change photo” button to swap it for a different one, and a remove (X) button to clear it. From there the photo is ready to use in the design.
Why is a customer's photo being rejected?
The most common reasons are a file type you do not allow, a file over the size limit, too few pixels, or a resolution below the hard DPI block. The message under the upload area names the exact reason and the minimum needed.
Does the medium-quality warning block the order?
No. The medium-quality DPI warning is informational. The shopper can still continue to checkout. Only a hard DPI block or a failed format, size, or pixel check stops the upload.
Can shoppers take a photo with their phone camera?
Yes. On mobile the upload area can open the camera so the shopper takes a photo on the spot. Camera capture is on by default and can be turned off per field.
What happens to a photo's location and camera data?
Composerie strips EXIF metadata in the browser before upload, so location and camera details are removed automatically.
Next
To let shoppers restyle their photo with effects after uploading, see AI photo effects for shoppers.