Taking photographs of products is an essential component in making sales. And at Stellar Studios, we don’t just capture product photos. We also edit them to perfection, so your customers can see every detail, even just by looking at your product images.
Do you want to learn how we do it? Then, take a look at our best practices for doing luxury product edits.
Taking the Shots
We shoot products using different exposure settings to be used later for stacking – a photography technique that creates images with a greater depth of field than their source images. It stitches many images together to create a product photo that’s sharper, more polished, and more realistic.
Take the pictures below as an example. To prepare to stack the product image, we took six pictures of this particular product, each with a different focus. We use photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop to achieve this.
Here’s how you can take product photography shots:
- Plan your composition and set your preferred exposure settings.
- Set your lens to manual focus and capture your first shot.
- Take several pictures at different focal lengths, adjusting your lens as necessary to get a clear shot of the product from every angle.
- Blend the images using your preferred photo editing software.
After taking the shots, we’ll proceed with a more in-depth editing process for our luxury photo edits. Our editing begins with stacking the images, cleaning the image parts, creating a sketch, and finalizing the photo composition.
Making an Image Stack
When you’re done taking several images for stacking, you can begin the technique with any photo editing software. For Adobe Photoshop, here’s how to do it:
- Open the images in Photoshop as layers. In the menu bar, follow these actions: Files > Scripts > Load into Stacks. Select the images you want to stack and click OK.
- In the Layers panel, select all the layers, go to the Edit menu, and select Auto-Align Layers. Click OK.
- Select all the layers again, go to the Edit menu, and click Auto-Blend Layers. This will focus stack the image.
- If harsh transitions and out-of-focus edges are in the stacked photo, crop the image.
Finalizing the Stacked Photo
Finalize any adjustments to your stacked photo. After blending the images, you’ll have a stacked photo like this. Your image should be crisp and clear, with no blurred edges. This will work great for high-end luxury photo editing.
Cutting out Parts of the Product
The next step is cutting out the different parts of the product. This will let our photo editors do detailed edits on each part of the product. You can use the Quick Selection, Magic Wand, Object Selection, or Lasso tools in Adobe Photoshop to create precise cutouts.
Cleaning Up the Product Photo
After cutting out the parts, we can begin cleaning up the product. For this item, we took the time to clean up the upper areas, repair the label, and fill in the bottle to make it look more polished. You can use the Spot Healing Brush tool in Adobe Photoshop to fix any photo blemishes.
Creating a Sketch
After cleaning the product photo, create a rough draft of how you want to see the output of the final composition. Then, visualize an outcome that will entice more customers to purchase. Do this by finding and gathering elements that work well for showcasing your product. It’s up to you how many elements you want to include in the sketch. However, arrange the elements so that the luxury product is still the center of attention. Don’t add details that will take attention away from your product.
Arranging the Product Photo’s Composition
Using the images we’ve gathered, we can start the composition process. The photo composition determines how a photographer places the elements in a frame. To do this, ensure the arrangement looks good and that the luxury item stays the main focus.
Adding Elements
Now that you have your sketch and desired photo composition, it’s time to edit the final product photo. Add elements by putting them individually on different layers. If the elements you’ve chosen don’t have transparent backgrounds, here’s how to remove them in Adobe Photoshop:
- In the tools panel, find the eraser icon.
- Right-click on the icon to see the options. You’ll find the following: eraser tool, background eraser tool, and magic eraser tool.
- You can select the background eraser tool to erase the element’s background manually. The magic eraser tool will remove automatically remove any background. Refine using the background eraser option if there’s still a background left.
Making Adjustments
Add some adjustment layers to help the elements complement one another. Here are some adjustments you can make:
Add shadows
Using shadows can help your product stand out from its background and supporting elements. In this luxury product edit, we used a drop shadow to give the product more depth and texture. Here’s how you can achieve this effect in Adobe Photoshop:
- In the layer panel, click the layer of the product.
- From the FX menu at the bottom of the Layers panel, pick Drop Shadow.
- When the Drop Shadow Layer Style dialogue box appears, choose the desired effect for your shadow.
- Select OK to save your modifications.
Sharpen the image
Another overall adjustment you can make is to sharpen the image using the high pass filter. As an edge-detection filter, High Pass seeks out and emphasizes image edges. Anything that isn’t an edge is disregarded. Make your images sharp using the filter by doing the following:
- Change the image layer into a smart object. Convert it by clicking the menu setting in the layers panel. This way, the High Pass filter can be used as a smart, non-destructive filter.
- Go to the Filter menu, click “Other,” and then choose “High Pass.” When you do this, the image will turn gray.
- Change the radius value in the high pass filter box to bring out the edges.
- Once done, click OK.
- After bringing out the image’s edges, sharpen it with the High Pass filter’s blending mode. In the Blending Options dialog box, switch the mode to any of the following: overlay, soft light, hard light, and linear light.
- Click OK again once you’re satisfied with the result.
Saving the Final Layout
After all the adjustments, here’s the final layout for our luxury product photo. To save it, just go to the “File Menu” and click “Save As.” Then, select the image format you want, type in the name, choose the file location, and click save.
Before and After
Let’s look at how we transformed this luxury product photo from bland to compelling. Before, the product had a simple background with a reflective shadow for texture. Now, the product photo is aesthetically pleasing and provides an accurate depiction of the product. In addition, it showcases what the product offers in just one look!
Produce the Best Luxury Product Edits with Stellar Studios
Beautiful and high-quality product photos are the crown jewels of eCommerce. Without them, customers will find it challenging to purchase any items online. Don’t worry if you’re not confident in your photo editing abilities. Stellar Studios is here to help you. Contact us today, and let’s produce the best luxury product photos together!