Give a set of photos the same starting point

Preparing ten similar products should not require choosing the same background and crop ten times. Lightbox imports a whole shoot, edits the selected photos together, and exports the set in one step, on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Import the whole shoot

Choose photos from Photos, or from Files or Finder. On a Mac or iPad, you can also drop photos or whole folders on the library. A folder imports its images in name order and leaves other files out. On the Mac, Command-V pastes photos you copied in Finder. On iPad, pasting photos needs iPadOS 27.

One import takes up to 500 photos. A file that cannot be opened is skipped and named, and the rest of the shoot imports.

Drop a shoot on a template

On a Mac or iPad, your templates are in the sidebar. Drop photos from Finder, Files, or Photos on a template, and each photo is imported, its background removed, and the template’s look applied. Drag photos from the grid onto a template to give them its look.

A template’s page shows the look on a photo from your library and has a large drop area for a whole shoot. You can also choose the photos there from Photos, Files, or Finder. Read more about templates.

Change only what you touch

Select several photos and open the batch editor. It sits in the inspector beside the grid on a Mac or iPad, and opens from Edit in Select mode on iPhone. Apply a template, or change the background, shadow, canvas, product size, exposure, color, or warmth.

A batch edit sets only the settings you change on each photo. A new background leaves each product where you placed it, and a warmth change leaves each photo’s exposure as it was.

To give other photos one photo’s whole look, choose Copy Edits on that photo and Paste Edits on the others, as in the Photos app. On a Mac or iPad, the shortcuts are Shift-Command-C and Shift-Command-V.

One photo does not stop the batch

Each photo the batch can change is saved. A photo whose subject cannot be found keeps its earlier edit and gets a Needs attention badge in the grid. On a Mac or iPad, it is also listed under Needs Attention in the sidebar until you edit it. If no photo in the batch can be changed, nothing changes. Cancel leaves every photo as it was.

Group photos that belong together

A batch works best when the source photos have similar light, framing, and subject type. Split products into smaller groups if they need different treatment. Shoes photographed from the side and necklaces photographed from above may need separate layouts.

Keep alternate views attached to the right product in your file organization. A consistent background is less useful if front and back images are mixed between listings.

Look for the exceptions

Review handles, transparent packaging, loose straps, and objects close to the frame edge. Check that every image has the right margin and that the cutout did not include a prop from the source photo.

A shared crop can be too tight for one item in an otherwise consistent set. Adjust that image instead of shrinking the entire collection to accommodate it.

Export the set

Select the photos and choose Export to write them all as PNG or JPEG files. On iPhone and iPad, save them to Photos, share them, or save them to Files. On the Mac, Save to Folder puts them in a folder you choose.

On a Mac or iPad, you can also drag a selection to Finder or Files, or to a marketplace’s upload page in your browser, and each photo arrives as a PNG file. Command-C copies them. On iPad, dragging or copying several photos at once needs iPadOS 27.

Try it on a collection

Try a collection of your own photos in the TestFlight beta. Start the batch from a saved template or set the background and canvas directly.

Read the batch editing guide and the Shopify workflow. The templates make the same style reusable for a later collection, and iCloud sync lets you import on one device and finish on another.