Creative Ad-Style Perfume Photoshoot

In advertising, perfume is often portrayed in ways that evoke a sense of elegance, class and style. After creating a simple yet elegant advertising shot of a bottle of the classic Chanel No. 5 perfume, Karl creates a second luxurious image.

Building from the ground up to create the desired lighting effect, Karl then demonstrates how, with creative thinking, it’s possible to achieve a number of different images with just minor adjustments.

This product photography class covers a number of precise lighting techniques that are needed to capture this stylish image as well as some stunning modifications to provide a few inspirational ideas for your own photography.

In this product photography class we cover the following:

  • Product photography: How to photograph a perfume bottle
  • Product photography tips
  • How to use multiple studio lights
  • Lighting setups for product photography
  • How to photograph liquids
  • How to creatively use the same background for different images

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,

    Great Video again, loving the series.

    Was the bubble an important part of the image? why?

    Tiaan

    1. Hi Tiaan, yes I think the bubbles were an important part of the image as it subliminally tells us that we are looking at liquid, if the bottle was completely full and there was no bubble it might look more like a solid block and not as delicate as a perfume should.

  2. Thanks Karl for the information about the tray,I wanna get one exactly the same is yours,please can you tell me the exact size off the transparent hall in the middle ? Regards,Paul

    1. Hi Paul, it’s 30x15cm but I have to say I think that is the wrong way of thinking about it. Product photography is about solving problems and creating solutions so you need to consider what you are going to use it for and design it to suit. The size I created measures slightly taller and wider than a bottle of wine as that’s what I anticipated as being the largest thing I might shoot and need to back illuminate, but I may have got my measurements wrong or not thought about other possibilities. You really should be coming at this from a ‘what problem do I need to solve’ position and work from there as that is the most important thing. For example what do you anticipate shooting most, for example if it’s only perfume then a smaller clear patch would be better as it can be tricky too mask the remaining clear space out of the shot. I hope you understand what I mean by this as it’s imperative in product and advertising photography to design solutions based on the problem.

      1. I really appreciate this response. I have a small den that doubles as my office and studio. It’s a challenge to shoot in, but it has forced me to figure out challenges such as having the product lower to the ground to ensure my scrim is high enough to produce the right light. All of my lighting gear is third-party and very (very) low cost, which I’m okay with right now as I need to learn the properties of light, first, before I worry about getting the best gear. Thanks again for the motivation!

        1. Thank you and congratulations for thinking of things in a problem solving way as that is the route to successful results.

  3. Hi Karl,can you please tell me the size off this beautiful working table and the size off the transparent hole and off course the thickness off the table? Thank you,Regards,Paul

    1. Hi Paul, I had this made to 1.1m square. The hole is about the same size as a bottle of wine, which I figured might be the biggest item I want to illuminate through it (but you can think of what you might want to shoot for the size). It’s not a table it is resting on my two studio blocks, the acrylic is 5mm thick, and the sides are about 30mm high, but again it depends on how much water you want in the tray and what you might use it for. I just get things made to suit what I think they need to be.

  6. Great images Karl!. One non technical question, I see you invested building that acrylic set and took a quite amount of time until to got the shots and post-work.
    From a comercial stand, how much would you charge Chanel for that 1 image? just to give me an Idea
    Thanks again
    Raul

    1. Two days preparation fee, plus two days work (day rate), half day post work. Plus possible usage fees. Please see business section and apply my rates to that information.

      1. Thank you Karl, yes, I appreciate your details in the business section, just wanted to get a feel for this specific job since I noticed there was allot of pre-work
        Thanks again Sir

  7. Hi Karl

    Great shoot, really enjoyed that. Love the control you get with the Pico lights and projecting attachment. As I mentioned on your Twitter feed, I liked the random brick result best. Was also great to see the variety of shots you got from one set up.

    Cheers
    Saul

  11. hi Karl,

    I want just to ask about the neutral density Gel, how many stops dose it reduce and I want the exact name of the gel.

    thanks

  13. Stunning results (and patience on your part)!

    How on earth did the sign shop precision cut all the mating irregular bottle tiles in Plexiglass to match up perfectly… CNC maybe? Price of the background probably made the cost of the perfume look like a bargain!

  14. I was waiting for this one.
    Again not disappointed !
    Great level of explanation, with clear words and easy to understand even for non native english person.
    Thanks
    Regards from France
    🙂

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