AI is here to take over product photography businesses, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for living?...blablabla

And I wonder why instead of worrying about something you can not control, you use AI to make a better work?

So you find me in June 2023 signing in Midjourney to play around and figuring out how AI can be used in product photography business. I was actually quite late since the platform does not offer a free trial any longer. Therefore you have to pay in order to try it out. Totally worthy I must say.

This is the result which I am very happy with:

1. Create the background and props with AI Midjourney.
2.Shoot the product itself using Capture one to integrate the product perfectly well in the background image.
3. Photoshop is key to make it as realistic as possible!


What do you think? Do you dare to give it a try?

Probably the most complicated product photography project I have done so far.
The product is a humidifier with essence oil with 7 different LED lights. The client briefing states very clear: the mist and the LED light must be visible as sharp as the product "humidifier" itself.

Once I read: "If you face a challenge, always give it try and you will figure out how to make it happen along the way". I am not sure if that will apply to all the cases but definitively to this product photography project.

How did I make it happen?

1. Shot illuminating the humidifier itself.
2. Shot in a dark environment in order to capture the mist + Led light.
3. Composite both images in photoshop

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.