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Step by step guide for Composite Product Photography

May 31, 2015 by Laya Gerlock 1 Comment

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feature image composite

Usually, I prefer to get stuff in camera (even if it means light painting my subject). But sometimes Lighting or space limitations will make getting the picture in-camera hard or simply not worth the effort. When such situation strikes go for a composite. If you only have little gear, this technique will also help you get a more professional look in your images.

To demonstrate this point, I used my girlfriends Macbook air and my Fuji Xe-2.

Shooting

The actual shooting depends on how many lights you got and how many layers in Photoshop you are willing to use for the final image; it can take a minimum of 3 images up to 20 or more depending on how you light the product. I prefer moving my lights in different angles just to see the outcome and choose the best option after.

The general idea is to place the camera on a tripod and make sure your product is in a static position – if either the camera of the subject move, this will not work. You can use different techniques for lighting your product but for this shoot, I just used one speedlight with a small softbox combined with an acrylic sheet for the gradient reflections.

Fuji Chosen Shots

Post Production

Step 1: Select the photos that you want. Each photo should have at least one highlight that you are happy with.

Macbook Chosen shots
Step 2: Open photoshop > Click File > Script > Load Files into Stack and select the photos that you chose


step 2 copy
Step 3: Make a background layer. I chose a black solid layer for this project

Step 3 black layer copy
Step 4: Hide all the layers of photos in photoshop

(There are different kinds of techniques to doing this but I do mine this way)

Step 5: Select the first layer and add a Layer Mask.

Step 5 add layer mask

Select your brush and set the color to black. Brush on the parts that you want in your photo.

step 4 layer mask copy

After that, select the layer mask and press CMD+ i to invert the mask.


step 6 brush parts1 copy
To check the photo I invert the mask to see the difference I made

Step 6: Repeat step 5 on the other layers until you get the final image

step 6 brush parts 2 copy
Step 7: I added a gradient on the background black layer for the final image

step 7 gradient copy

Final Result:

diyphotography compositecamera final

diyphotography compositelaptopfinal

Wanna try this? show us your results in the comments

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

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A step-by-step guide to using the Waveform Monitor Dancing Decay – a complete step by step composing breakdown A step by step tutorial on building an IKEA beauty dish How I did this pink & red studio shoot: a step-by-step breakdown from planning to post-processing

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: Adobe Photoshop, composite, layering, layers, lighting tutorial, product photography, still life

Laya Gerlock: from diyphotography.net

About Laya Gerlock

Laya Gerlock is a Portrait and Product photographer based in the Philippines. His passion is teaching and sharing his knowledge in Photograpy and has been doing this for 6 years. You can follow his work on his web page, follow him on Flickr and if you happen to come by Cubao, Quezon City (To Manila, Philippines) he gives a great workshop!

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