DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How to shoot cosmetic photography packs like a pro using inexpensive gear

Jun 15, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

When it comes to making high-quality shots with affordable gear, Dustin Dolby is full of ideas. This time, he guides you through a workflow of shooting classic high-key shots of cosmetic products and getting almost everything done in-camera.

He made these photos for Spela’s catalog. When you shoot a great number of photos, you want to make them as good as they can get in-camera, so you don’t spend an eternity in post. Dustin shares his setup and tricks for achieving the perfect look of these subjects, so you can minimize the time you spend editing.

Dustin’s setup involves some inexpensive items:

  • Stripbox
  • Light stands
  • Octabox
  • Black Plexiglas/White Plexiglas
  • Yongnuo Speedlight
  • Yongnuo Transmitter
  • Tripod + Ballhead
  • Opteka 85mm f/1.8 lens
  • Difusion
  • Black foam board
  • White foam board

For the backlight, the speedlight shoots into the octabox with a diffusion panel in front. A stripbox with a speedlight on the right is the main light, and white foam board on the left adds some fill. He uses two pieces of black foam board to add some solid shadows to the product and make it stand out from the background.

Considering that he’s photographing lip gloss, there are photos of the closed bottles, and then there’s each bottle paired with an applicator. One thing you can do is shoot the same applicator with different lip glosses, and then digitally change color. I’ve seen this a lot in catalogs, and personally – I like Dustin’s solution better. He photographed each lip gloss with its matching applicator. It doesn’t only look more organic and natural, but also saves you some time in post-processing.

Dustin demonstrates the effect of removing the reflector, the black boards and turning off the back light. But for this type of look, leaving all three in their places works best.

Removing the reflector

Turning off back light

As for the post-processing, the whole idea is to make it minimal. With this setup, almost everything is done during the shoot itself. You need to paste the white parts on the entire image and maybe add some gradient to the reflection, and that’s pretty much it. Here are some of the final images:

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and got some inspiration for your future projects. If you’d like to see more of Dustin’s tutorials and get ideas for professional-looking images on the cheap, check out his YouTube channel.

[How to Photograph Cosmetic Products | Pack Shots | worphlo]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to photograph a clear liquid bottle using inexpensive gear and unusual modifiers How To Shoot Cosmetic Products Using DIY Scrims Can amateur with pro gear shoot better photos than pros with cheap gear? How to photograph a high end cosmetics product shot with inexpensive equipment

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: catalog, cosmetics, Dustin Dolby, studio photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Elle Australia issues a cover shot with iPhone 7 Plus
Pan with your camera to capture movement and make your photos more dynamic »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy