Constructing a Cosmetics Product Shot with Lighting Rather than Photoshop

Commercial and advertising photographer Karl Taylor made this 20-minute tutorial on creating a cosmetics product photo with an emphasis on lighting rather than digital editing.

“This was an interesting shoot for me in forcing myself to do as much in-camera as possible and take it as far as it could go before any Photoshop was required, and hopefully you’ll agree that the final shot works, even without the post production,” Taylor tells PetaPixel.

Here’s the straight-out-of-camera photo that he captured:

And here’s the final result after some retouching in minor areas:

“The project was also made more challenging because of the objects being quite small and glossy, requiring more careful thought on the lighting,” Taylor says. “I’m not condemning use of Photoshop. I’m simply demonstrating the work you can save yourself if you execute the shoot well.”

Watch the video tutorial above for a lesson on precise lighting control, identifying lighting requirements, a close look at how each light in a 6-light setup contributes to the result, and various other tips and tricks.