Recent cosmetic product photography for Shades of London. Shades of London is a cosmetic brand that has a range of stunning, high-quality eyeshadow pigments. They required a number of images for their social content as well as the eCommerce website.
If you own or market a cosmetic brand, you want to start thinking about how your audience interacts with your audience. Do you they come directly to your website, stumble across you on Instagram or see an ad targeted to them on Facebook?
If you understand how your audience interacts with each type of platform, it’s easier to make decisions on the kind of images you need for your brand and where to use them.
Cosmetic Packshot Photography
Cosmetic packshots are images of your product taken against a white or coloured background.
Packshots are perfect for eCommerce listing. They’re a brilliant way to show your audience the product without any distractions.
They showcase the product so your customer can see what they are purchasing.
For cosmetic products, your customers must be able to read the labels.
At this stage of the buying process, you want to make things as clean and clear as possible to increase your conversion rates.
Makeup Flat Lat Photography
Styled flat lays, or creative advertising shots are a brilliant way to create a story using other objects that relate to your product.
We are drawn to images that are styled in some way.
When we see something we consider to look beautiful, it fires up our memory, emotion and cognitive circuits.
It leaves us feeling satisfied. As humans, we love order, and we particularly like things to be arranged in a certain way.
So naturally, flat lays work well in piquing our interest and striking a connection. These images are great for facebook and instagram ads.
Cosmetic Lifestyle Product Photography
Lifestyle images are photos taken in situ to show how you could use a product.
For most cosmetic brands, this may mean using a model applying the makeup to their skin.
You could also place the makeup product on a dressing table or in a bathroom.
Lifestyle images are also a great way to show your customers your brand style – are you luxury, eco-friendly, functional?
For more tips, check out my Beauty Product Photography Guide 2020.
The more you relate to your customers, the more they will feel connected to your brand.
In turn, they are more likely to buy from you. Use these images as web banners and on your social media to build your brand identity.
What is the process of shooting cosmetic product photography?
Creative Brief & Consultation
- Initially, I will send out a creative brief to get to know your brand. I need to understand what your values are, who your target market is, and the purpose of your new images. I’m a details girl, and I believe the more you know, the better the result will be. There is no point shooting imagery that does not speak to your target market.
- Once I have your creative brief, I’ll then put together a moodboard based on your target market and brand identity. Putting together images for inspiration helps me get my creative juices flowing and gives you an insight into the kind of images I will be creating for you. We’ll schedule a consultation to go through the moodboard, and then begin working on the shot list. Shot lists are essential to make sure I don’t forget anything when I shoot.
- While you are packaging up your product to send to me, I’ll source any props and backgrounds you may need for your photoshoot. Every cosmetic product photoshoot is different and what makes them unique is the styling and the props we use. Can you imagine if every shot used the same prop and background? It would get very dull, very quickly! Props are a fantastic way to style your products in a fun and exciting way.
Shoot & Edit
- Once I have received your product(s), I’ll get shooting. Each image is styled and prepped by me. I clean each product and remove any imperfections before I take the photo to minimise the amount of dust or imperfections on the product. If your product is a bottle with a clear label, I always suggest providing empty bottles and labels separately. Clear labels are the hardest to shoot as they tend to create tiny bubbles under the surface. To get around this, I often photograph the bottle without a label and then photoshop it in later, giving a beautiful finish to the image.
- When I have photographed all your cosmetic products, I begin editing each image. Pretty much all cosmetic products have a pigment to them. When customers buy makeup products online, such as foundations, eye shadows, lipsticks, blushers, bronzers etc. they are relying on the images to give an accurate colour likeness. Colour grading is, therefore, an essential part of the editing process to reduce the number of returns.
- Your images will then be uploaded to a private online gallery for you to proof before sending over the final pictures. All photographs are provided in high and low resolution, for both print and web, respectively.
Book your cosmetic product photoshoot today. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.
