Low-Key Product Photography Tutorial

Product Photography is used for commercial photographs, taken to look aesthetically pleasing to be used in advertising the product to a mass market.

My aim with this image was to use aesthetically pleasing complementary colours (blue and yellow). Rum is typically a ‘pirate’ drink, therefore this was the inspiration - the product is being dropped into the ocean, like a message in a bottle.

Capturing the Photograph

Using the low-key lighting set up shown in my diagram, I successfully created side lighting on the edge of my bottle and illuminated the front of the bottle using a beauty dish positioned above my camera.

Editing the Photograph

On Photoshop I used the 'Clone Stamp Tool' to remove the glare on the front of the bottle and to remove the line in the background.

I then used 'Levels' to darken the background and brighten the bottle.

Using a splash paintbrush I downloaded from www.brusheezy.com I layered 6 different splashes to create a curved swooping shape, and then used the eraser tool to remove any splashes covering my bottle.

Finally, I faded the bottom of the reflection to black; this creates more emphasis on the product and keeps the eye drawn to the centre of the image.