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How to photograph a clear liquid bottle using inexpensive gear and unusual modifiers

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Bottles are always a fun and challenging photography experiment, especially ones that contain crystal clear liquids like vodka. I don’t buy vodka often and when I do, it rarely tends to stay full long enough to have any time in front of the camera, but Dustin at Workphlo has definitely put some thought into photographing this one using some low budget kit and very interesting techniques.

If you’ve watched Dustin’s videos before, you’ll know he’s a fan of compositing when it comes to product photography. And this particular technique pretty much requires it as he cuts paper to act as reflectors on just small sections of the bottle’s label.

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How to shoot atmospheric photos of glass with just a couple of speedlights

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Photographing glass can be a very tricky topic if you don’t know how to approach it. It doesn’t react to light the way that most of the subjects we shoot do, because there’s really nothing to actually light. It’s all about the lit objects that reflect off it or refract through it.

You don’t need a lot of fancy gear to photograph glass, though, and in this video from Dustin at Workphlo, we see how we can photograph glass with a very simple setup utilising just a couple of speedlights, a small strip softbox and a diffuser.

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This is how table affects light when photographing wine bottles

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There are many things to pay attention to if you want to take flawless product photos. One of them is certainly the surface you use for placing the products. While it can be important how it looks, the table you use also affects the light. In this video, Dustin Dolby of workphlo shows you just how much of a difference it can make when you use tables of different sizes.

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How to deal with tricky reflective surfaces and create stunning product photos

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When doing product shots in the studio, reflective surfaces could be very tricky to handle. But of course, there are methods to deal with them and light them to show all their beauty. In this video, Dustin Dolby of Workphlo shares a comprehensive tutorial on lighting and photographing tricky, reflective products. And what’s more, you don’t need fancy gear. Prepare simple lighting modifiers, your DIY spirit, and Photoshop.

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DIY product photography hack with $10 IKEA lamp

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Dustin Dolby from Workphlo is known for his product photography tutorials that give professional results without too much fancy gear. In his latest video, he shows you how to shoot small products using a $10 IKEA Melodi lamp. This time, you won’t need an IKEA lamp as a light source. Instead, it serves as a sort of a light tent for creating soft and even light. Dustin guides you through his setup for this shoot, but also through the post-production process.The entire setup is pretty affordable and gives great results, so take a look.

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How to photograph glass perfume bottles with one light for compositing

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Photography Dustin Dolby is a great source of information for creating small product photography. Especially with minimal kit. He often uses just one or two speedlights to create multiple lighting setups, and then composites them in post. In this video, Dustin goes into a lot more detail about the actual shooting process and how he uses the light to build shape and form.

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Use Photoshop’s Lighten blend mode to shoot high end product composites

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Shooting product photography is a whole lot of fun. Often, though, it can require a surprisingly high number of lights and modifiers to get the job done in a single shot. But what if you don’t have a ton of gear? What if you just want to give it a go without having to spend on a bunch of new flashes? Compositing is the answer.

In this video, Dustin Dolby from Workphlo uses just a single speedlight to show one process for creating composited product photographs. It’s a great technique for creating product composites with a perfectly clean white background with whatever subject light you need. As well as the basic shooting process, Dustin also goes over his entire post workflow.

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Get perfect Martini splashes in the studio with just a couple of speedlights

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Liquids are a great source of photographic fun. It’s a topic which fascinates many photographers. There’s so much to experiment and play with. Splashes are particularly intriguing to me a a photographer, because you never really know exactly what you’re going to get. You might fire of 50 or 100 shots before you get the one you want.

That’s where this video from photographer Dustin Dolby steps in to save you a little frustration. With minimal kit, and a little compositing, you can often create fantastic end results much more quickly.

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How to photograph watches with only a kit lens and a speedlight

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Shiny male watch on a black background will certainly catch your eye in a catalog or in an Instagram feed. You can also create this kind of look, and you don’t even need an expensive studio gear to do it. Photographer Dustin Dolby shares his workflow that will give you the stylish, catalog-worthy photo of a watch, and all you need is a camera with a kit lens, one speedlight, and a few modifiers.

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

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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.

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