IIRC none of the images showed the whole guitar. Both were cropped, but one was consistent with the card layout. I agree with the test authors on that one.

I also agree that the more cropped version looks better. However I'm not sure it's a matter of "aspect ratio", since both images have the same aspect ratio, just zoomed differently.

I think the widget that was used is simply a really bad choice for selling anything. The obviosly correct solution would be to show the full image next to the textual description including price or maybe text as a subtitle, if there are multiple columns.

This kind of widget might be nice for sliding through things that are represented by some abstract image where details don't matter. But when buying a product, I want to see the whole thing, ideally from multiple perspectives.

The entire scaled down photo also hides meaningful content since I can't see the details.

Either way, it looks like a part of a grid with multiple product cards. The full photo would be on the product detail page.

You can't see the details if they're cropped out, either. You would hope for a way to see the full and correct image in either case.

Yes, the full and correct image would be on the full product page. The cropped image is fine on a multiple product listing (for example search results) where users quickly scan for interesting products.

Yep, neither of two is okay. If you sell guitars, make cards horizontal [1x3photo 7x3info] boxes, or figure out a good vertical arrangement. Test authors were picky on details, but missed an elephant in a scope.

I think that image is from Facebook Marketplace where you can sell anything, not just guitars.