Photography Workshop – Coffee Shoot

In this immersive product photography workshop, Karl Taylor starts from scratch, showing you exactly how to build and light a professional coffee-themed shoot from the ground up.

Watch as Karl meticulously illuminates every element of the scene — from crafting the perfect golden shaft of light over the beans and product, to ensuring the branding and all-important logo stand out with clarity and impact.

Throughout the session, Karl shares his expert insights into compositional focus, explaining how to identify the hero of your image and how every other element should support it — both in lighting and visual storytelling.

Whether you're shooting at home or in a studio, this class gives you practical, creative techniques you can apply to your own product photography.

Comments

  1. Hi Karl,

    I’d like to ask what brand of color gels you use. If possible, could you share the link? If they’re available on Amazon, I’d really appreciate it, as I previously bought some gels, but their quality was very poor—especially compared to the color you’re using in this workshop.

    I also have another question. When I tried recreating this workshop using one of the gels I own, the gel color reflected onto both the coffee and the product itself. Is there a way to keep the colored effect only in the background without it spilling onto the coffee and the product? Or did I make a mistake in my lighting setup or positioning?

    Thank you very much!

    1. Hi, for your first question I use LEE filters gels. For your second question what have you done different to what was shown in this video, for example did my gel lighting also strike my products and at what angle? Remember the ‘angles of reflection’ class, think about the angle of the product, the angle of the light, the type of surface material of the product etc.

  5. Thanks Karl. It’s so good to see the methodical process which is required to successfully produce the final image. This is exactly how visual education should be presented. Also your presentation is very entertaining with “bits and bobs” of humor added in!.

  7. Gary Stasiuk

    I had a very hard time looking for silk gloves.. never found a source.. even asking several jewellers .. I did find micro-fibre gloves on Amazon.. same material as those fantastic micro fibre cleaning cloths. Made well, quite pricey. I’m curious if that is what you are using Karl.. or are they really silk?

  8. What do you think about usins a technical camera or a tilt/shift-lens for controling the dephts-of-field?

    1. Hi, yes for this particular shoot that would be an excellent choice. When I was using the Hasselblad H6 I had the tilt and shift but I’ve since sold it now I’ve moved to the X2D and they don’t yet have tilt and shift. Back in the day I used to shoot on Sinar technical cameras everyday but now with digital and focus stacking it is not as essential.

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