I was recently got in touch with a brand for a product photography work and they stated in their briefing that they wanted something looking luxury, feminine and eye-catching for social media.
When I started this product photography project many things popped up my mind but eventually I chose the following props to communicate the brand values that I was assigned to do.

1. Pink phone fitting with the brand guidelines.
2. Bath tube.
3. Diamonds.
​4. Stairs and pedestal.

Image after edited and retouched in Photoshop

Image before editing and retouching.

This shot was for a gel shower brand and far of making the shot in a bath environment, I created a little different scene and made the product stand out even more.

In this product photography-final image, I used as a prop stairs and a pedestal in where I placed the product surrounded by ginger-which is one of the main ingredients of this gel shower.
I made background replacement on Photoshop using the same orange tone of the bottle and add some clouds also in postproduction to create that dreamy vibe

If you are burn out and your creativity does not flow as should be. Try out this hack:

1. Place a flat or curly prop. I used a curly one I already have.
2. Place the product on the bottom
3. And tan tan... 10 ' Basic retouch in photoshop and you can be proud of the product photography you achieve and be confident to deliver to your customer. She will just love it!
4. You can add some shadows to add some interest during the shooting or on postproduction.

When it comes to product photography, creativity is key. You must create a set according to colour palette of the brand you are working with, you must decide the background, props or ornamental to enable you to communicate the brand values and most important, you still have to make your products pop.

Here I break down a scene of my current product photography project for social media which can give you some styling ideas:

1. Place a backdrop and an acrylic tray on top of it.
2. Pick up a backdrop according to the colour palette of your set and roll it up inside the acrylic tray.
3. Place the products using a stair as a prop.
4. Pour some water.
5. Use a hair dryer for creating ripples.

This is the Before:

And this is the after and final result.

When I think about the title of this blog, it inmediately brings me to the shot of a Serum with Oil that I included in the scene in order to add more interest.
I really thought it could not be that complicated shooting for a cosmetic brand, but I was completely wrong. You can not imagine how many times I had to try, how messy my studio became and how desperate I became as well!. However all of it, it was totally worthy. I really love how the images turned out and my client eventually was super happy-he even described my job as :"Beautiful art"
If you feel that you are not inspired when you are in product photography business, just switch to another task, do some chores or go for a walk in nature and feel connected again. You can always come back to the project later or another day, that is one of the advantages of owning a product photography business- you can decide when you work and when you need to stop.
But please never tell yourself you can not do it!. Everything is actually possible with constancy and discipline.
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Check out underneath some images that I took during the shooting

I call the preproduction stage of a product photography project to the first part of the project. Once the client has shared all the information about the project and has filled in the creative briefing, it is when the pre-production stage starts.

My humble piece of advice today is work as much as you can at this stage in order to be perfectly aligned with your customer. Once you get the approval from the customer, you can move to the shooting stage and you will make sure there will not be surprises from both sides because you will only deliver what you agreed in the preproduction plan.

The sketches are a life saver. When you work with sketches for product photography , it is a great way to share with your customers in advance how the shooting will look like. Which colour palette you are planning to use, which props, backdrops... you will minimise confusions and misunderstanding as your customer will be informed at any moment of what she will be receiving so there will no be room for surprises. And you don't need to be make any sophisticated drawing, I still deliver them using a pencil and a piece of paper. :)

Make sure to clarify that whatever they want to change needs to be before the shooting as after the shooting, it will not be possible any longer.

As product photographer, I have experienced different situations in where I found myself in doubt on how to act: probably you don’t want to upset your client but you feel it might not be fair for you… I got this and I have been there-that is why I decided to work on a document gathering all the issues from the past and how to solve it which has end up being my terms& conditions.


The best way to avoid issues with your client is to inform about everything beforehand so there is no room for unexpected request during the process of your product photography work.
You may ask yourself: What happens if the client is not satisfied with something of the editing process and ask for a second review, are you going to charge for it? Then inform your client about your rates at the beginning of the project so the client does not take for granted that many revisions are included in the price.
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I can definitively say that my best working days of product photography are those days I don’t have projects and I can spend hours experimenting, trying new things and getting inspired!
What for some people might be depressing days, because they don’t have projects and all concerns start popping up on your mind. For me it is kind of a prize, I have some hours/days to spend just what I want in my studio and making shooting that I have never thought that I could make.


If you are right now without any project, set up new goals for the day: you may want to improve certain technics with your camera or practice photoshop, just do it and finish the day feeling proud of yourself and ticking that box of your to-do list! Practice, practice and always find some time to be everyday a bit better!