Skin care product photography is not only taking pictures and uploading them to an online store – it’s all about evoking emotions, building a connection with the audience, and solving their pain points.
In the beauty or skin care industry, imaginary and luxury aesthetics are paramount, but high-quality beauty photography is a must-have thing to make your brand different from others. Imagine, a consumer sees your Instagram or Facebook post of a gorgeous eyeshadow palette. They click your website link to explore more and find our multiple models with various skin tones try it – resulting in an add-to-cart.
Want to make yours more appealing? Go through our styling guide, equipment details, lighting, tips, and more!
The Importance of High-Quality Images
Consumers search for more reliable and effective solutions to their skin. When you tell a story through pictures they feel emotionally attached and evoked to purchase. But without high-quality skin care product photography, you can’t meet consumers’ needs and trust.
Curious to know the specific reasons why you invest in high-quality product photography in the skincare industry? Check out the importance of top-notch visual details below:
First Impressions Matter
When clients or potential online buyers visit your online store, the first thing they notice is your product visuals. Clear, sharp, and detailed images build a professional first impression of your skincare brand. Also, the visuals are crucial to capturing the audience’s attention, building trust, and converting visitors into sales channels.
Boosting Sales and Engagement
Professional product photos encourage customers to confirm purchases and spend more time in your online store. Also, people love to share visually appealing images on different social media platforms that increase brand visibility and reach. If you want you can try interactive elements like zoom features, 360-degree views, and more to improve the experience.
Building Brand Identity
High-quality visuals highlight the finer details of products like color, texture, unique benefits, and more. A brand reputation is built with clear product visuals that give the audience positive vibes to trust your products and make them memorable too. By investing in professional photography, you not only invest in quality but also reinforce your brand value and messages to your target audience.
Read this article to learn about “Amazon Product Photography“
Essential Equipments for Skincare Product Photography
When it comes to skin care product photography, you need to focus more on product aesthetics and portray its benefits to entice your target audiences. Having the right equipment you can shoot high-quality visuals. Here is a detailed list of essential gear you must need:
Camera and Lenses
You can take product photos using smartphones. But for e-commerce-worthy cosmetics photos, it’s a great option to use a DSLR or mirrorless camera. You get more control over ISO, aperture, and shutter speed by using this camera and get high-quality photos. Like cameras, lenses play an important role in capturing high-resolution and enticing shots. For example, you can choose interchangeable lenses like the macro lens for close-up product photography.
Lighting
Natural light from a north-facing window is a source of soft and soothing lighting. But when natural light isn’t available, try artificial lighting sources like softbox, ring lights, and more. Softbox provides a diffused light that mimics natural light without any harsh shadows. The ring lights are useful for close-up shots and continuous light sources allow you to see the product in real-time lighting.
Background & Props
Backgrounds are essential to give products an outstanding look. For example, seamless paper provides a clean and smooth background. Afterward, vinyl backgrounds are more durable and easy to use. It is suitable for showcasing textures, patterns, and interests.
Pro tip: You can try DIY options like foam boards, poster boards, or fabric ones to add a personalized and unique touch.
Tripod & Stabilizers
You might be familiar with the “Blurry” effect in every photography genre. It happens due to shaky hands which interrupt getting sharp and high-quality images. Tripod helps to maintain the same framing and composition (reduces blurry effects) across multiple shots. Many tripods and stabilizers come with adjustable heights and angles so that you can get the freedom to position them.
Lighting in Skincare Photography
One of the most important parts of skincare photography or other photography genres is proper lighting. It helps to improve products’ texture, shine, radiance, and glory. Want to portray a soft and eye-soothing mood around your skincare products?
Follow our lighting guide and be a master of stunning skincare photography!
Natural Lighting
The most cost-effective and excellent lighting source is natural lighting. It produces a soft, fresh, and inviting appearance of beauty products. Place your product near a big window where sunlight is available. But avoid harsh sunlight or use a diffuser as a white curtain or a sheer cloth to soften the light.
However, the most elegant and simple setup is using a simple and clean surface i.e., a white table near the window or a white reflector just opposite the window. The reflector bounces light back onto the product and helps to create a balanced; yet impressive look.
Artificial Lighting
Another popular natural lighting alternative is artificial light. If you plan studio photoshoot or at-home skincare photography, you can use –
- Softbox lights: These lights are similar to natural lighting like soft and diffused that minimize harsh shadows and evenly distribute light. You can use two softbox lights by angling at 45 degrees on either product side. This setup ensures even lighting and eliminates shadows from the product photos.
Pro tip: If you want to add dramatic effects or create a slight shadow, you can adjust one light brightness to the other.
- Ring light: When you want to highlight more product details through close-ups, ring lights are perfect for uniform and shadow-free lighting. With this, you can showcase packaging details and textures. Place the light in front of your skincare products and position the camera at the center of the light. The setup is effective for single products.
- Continuous light vs. flashlight: Continuous light helps you to interact with your product in real-time and flashlight offers precise control over light exposure. If you shoot in a studio, use continuous LED panel lights. You can easily adjust the intensity and color temperature whenever needed.
Pro tip: Whenever you plan to use a flashlight, try a diffuser to create softer shadows.
Lighting Modifiers
You might be familiar with reflectors and diffusers. Both are known as light modifiers that are used to control and shape lighting. Reflectors are used to create a balanced lighting effect, shadow filling, and bounce light back. You can choose white, silver, gold, or other colored reflectors that suit your product the most.
On the contrary, diffusers eliminate harsh shadows and glare and soften the light. These modifiers are useful for reflective surfaces or intricate details such as shiny serum bottles.
Pro tip: You can use a silver reflector when shooting a skincare cream jar to narrow down the glossy appearance and the clean reflection on the jar’s surface.
Bonus lighting setup hacks:
- Single product: Single skincare products like serum bottles, a luxury face cream jar, moisture, etc. As mentioned earlier, a softbox light at a 45-degree angle to one side and a reflector to the other side are the best setups to portray the essence of the product. If you want you can add extra light on top of the product to highlight its shape and texture.
- Group product: When you plan to shoot skincare sets like exfoliating pads, anti-aging kits, or others ensure each item is visible and well-lit. Like single product photography, use two softbox lights at 45-degree angles on both sides of the product. Then use a diffuser for soft lighting and a reflector in front. Maintain product heights to ensure evenly lighting effects and add visual interest.
- Creative light: Do you want to apply a night-time skincare routine theme? You can add a spa-like ambiance or use a combo of colored gels on your lights. To portray the theme, you can place a soft, blue gel over a backlight and a yellow gel on a side light.
Read this article to learn about “Shopify Product Photography“
Styling the Product in Skincare Photography
Styling or creative skincare product photography enhances product appeal, conveys its benefits, aligns brand aesthetics, and reduces return rates. Here is an in-depth product photography styling guidelines that ease your photoshoot process!
Cleaning and Polishing
The first and foremost styling tips for skin care photoshoots are cleaning and polishing to ensure the product and its packaging are spotless. High-resolution images highlight every imperfection like fingerprints, dust, or smudges that distract the audience from the main product views. Suppose, you want to launch a glass serum bottle, use a microfiber cloth to clean it.
Consistent Branding
As you know high-quality product visuals reflect brand identity; the same goes for styling. Consistency is key in branding. So, use color and props that help to create a memorable and cohesive brand image. For example, use earthy tones, wooden props, fresh fruits, stones, or others, if your brand emphasizes eco-friendliness.
Arranging Products
Product arrangement is crucial for both single and multiple-item photography. Try aesthetically pleasing and realistic product arrangements like arranging products by height. This creates a sense of depth and keeps the audience attached. Also, ensure that labels are facing the camera and are notable perfectly.
Choose Background
A simple and clean background adds a complement to your beauty products. So, choose one that helps to enhance product features and fit the brand aesthetics. Is your brand a minimalist one? If so, use a simple white or light-colored background. But for luxury brands, you can use marble slab or velvet fabric as the background.
Angle and Perspective
Experiment with different angles to portray product aspects and add visual interest. For example, flat lay or overhead skincare item shots are great for showing multiple products in a cohesive arrangement. On the contrary, a straight-on shot at eye level focuses more on the product’s label and packaging details.
Use of Color (Color scheme)
The last; yet one of the most effective skincare product photography ideas of styling is using a color scheme. The color theory helps you to create visually harmonious compositions. For example, if your product packaging is blue, use complementary background or props i.e., oranges or yellows. But for specific ingredients like green tea, you can use green shades to give a natural vibe.
By paying attention to these styling guidelines, you can create sales-worthy and eye-soothing product photos. Curious thinking, which process do you follow to shoot your skin care cosmetic photos? To get the detailed process, check out the next section!
How to do Skin Care Cosmetic Product Photography
Skin care product shoot aims to capture the essence of beauty products, making them more pleasing and memorable. But which photography steps do you follow for outstanding results? Though there are different ways to shoot skincare cosmetic product photography, you can apply a few; yet engaging ones, such as:
Set Up Your Studio Or Space
The first step is to choose a well-lit area with plenty of natural lighting for home setups or artificial lighting for the studio. After that, prepare your background, props, and other objects to narrow down the products’ real beauty.
By paying attention to these styling guidelines, you can create sales-worthy and eye-soothing product photos. Curious thinking, which process do you follow to shoot your skin care cosmetic photos? To get the detailed process, check out the next section!
Pro tip: It’s a wise decision to plan your shoot prior – do you want to highlight unique features or textures or want to portray a story?
Prepare Your Equipment
Now that your lighting setup is fixed, move to prepare all equipment like camera settings, tripod, backgrounds, and more. As we mentioned earlier, use a low ISO (100-200) and a narrow aperture (f/8 – f/16). Also, maintain white balance settings for clear and soothing product visuals.
By paying attention to these styling guidelines, you can create sales-worthy and eye-soothing product photos. Curious thinking, which process do you follow to shoot your skin care cosmetic photos? To get the detailed process, check out the next section!
Style Your Product
After preparing essential photography equipment, it’s time to style your product. Before that, clean the product and place it in the center of the frame. Now, use the necessary props around the product to make it aesthetic. The more details you highlight, the more clients get the confidence to rely on your products.
Shoot
Try to take multiple shots from several angles (front, side, top, bottom, and tilted angles) and distances (close-ups, mid-range, and wide shots) to avoid reshooting later. After that, review focus to ensure product key features are shown perfectly. Now, it’s time to ensure proper exposure and adjust the aperture, shutter speed, or lighting.
Are you ready to shoot the aesthetic and amazing outlook of your beauty products? Try advanced and creative skin care photography hacks from the next section and make your product more appealing!
Tips for Skin Care Product Photography
As per Statista, the beauty industry generates over $100 billion worldwide. Want to boost your brand value like other top brands? If so, let’s take a closer look at some additional tips for your skincare photoshoot so you can customize it as per your liking and needs.
- Color styling: The color role in product photography plays an important role in evoking emotions and reactions from viewers. For example, warm tones like gold and rose gold represent luxury and elegance that are best for high-end moisturizers or serums. On the contrary, cool tones like blue or green evoke fresh and clean feelings.
- Natural objects or props: Want to add creativity to your skincare product items? Incorporate with natural objects like flowers, blossoming petals, or dried ones that add a soft and ethereal look to your products. Also, you can use props like seashells, stones, or other relevant objects that complement the skincare products’ outstanding nature.
- Capturing textures: When you want to enhance the texture of the skincare product and make it more appealing and inviting, use soft and diffused light. Also, you can utilize different lighting directions and intensities to highlight products’ texture and interesting shadows.
- Macro photography: Do you want to highlight the smoothness of cream or the granules of an exfoliant? Use macro lenses to showcase products’ key ingredients. You can add droplets or swirls of cream to emphasize consistency and texture.
Different Types of Shots for Skin Care Photography
Hero Shots
All skincare items look pretty in their tiny jars – it’ll be a glass or other materials, the four-dollar ones, or the luxury ones. It’s all about the art direction that makes the product eye-catching and enticing. In the hero shots, the product is the star which is placed at the center by using a minimal and clear background. Photographers ensure the product looks amazing and focus on its high-quality details.
When to use: Social media, category pages, ad campaigns, and e-commerce listings like Amazon.
Purpose: To grab audience attention, drive loyalty, and brand awareness.
Close-Ups
A close-up skincare product photography focuses on each item’s fine details i.e., labels, packaging details, high-resolution textures, and more. Sometimes models are involved to show the product’s effectiveness before and after using it. ECommerce store owners prefer to use close-ups to build audience trust by highlighting realistic expectations.
When to use: ECommerce product pages, commercial shots for social media platforms, and more.
Purpose: Close-ups are useful to showcase unique product features, textures, and ingredients
Lifestyle Images
When you try to portray a story around your skincare items using props like essential oils, candles, flowers, or others is called lifestyle product photography. The images narrow down life scenes or in action to give the audience a realistic vibe. These types are used for premium segments and advertising – online and offline.
When to use: Fashion magazine ads, launching new product lines, and more.
Purpose: Resonating with your target audience, driving more conversion rates, and showcasing social proof.
Now that you’ve all the essential skincare item photography hacks, let’s move to photo editing and retouching techniques to make your online business more profitable and engaging.
Editing and retouching techniques for skincare product photos
Do you notice top skincare brands’ product images such as SkinCeuticals, CeraVe, and others? Every product photo highlights its excellent and standard ingredients all by itself. Want to convert your online business into a brand?
Editing and retouching skincare product photos ensure the images look professional, realistic, and more appealing. Here we’ve enlisted some key retouching techniques:
- Exposure & contrast ensure your product images are well-lit and highly visible.
- White balance provides products with natural beauty and gives the audience realistic vibes.
- Resizing or cropping helps you remove unnecessary elements, guide the audience to the true beauty of the product, and maintain an ideal composition.
- Color correction enhances your product’s appearance.
- Lighting adjusts and shadows masking depth and dimension to the skincare product visuals.
- Background removal or a transparent background helps you to stand out in the competitive eCommerce marketplace.
- Skin retouching is needed when you add models. It fixes imperfections like wrinkles or blemishes.
- Ecommerce photo editing provides you with visually compelling product photos.
Apart from them, there are other photo editing techniques, i.e., highlighting details, removing dust from products, improving shape, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions about Skin Care Product Photography
What type of camera is best for skincare product photography?
The best camera type for skincare product photography is a full-frame DSLR or mirrorless camera. But modern smartphones are also useful for producing excellent results with good lighting.
What is Skin Care Product Photography?
Skincare product photography is a type of commercial photography that promotes skincare product details, i.e., features, texture, packaging, and branding to attract the audience.
How much should I pay for product photography?
Experienced product photographers may charge $1000 to $3000 for a half-day or full day and local freelancers may charge less. However, the pricing depends on image requirements and each product’s photoshoot.
Do I need models for my beauty product photos
Models can add a personal touch and give a real-life experience of beauty products that help people to know more about the product. If you have enough budget you can hire a model.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve skin care product photography tips, styling guides, lighting details, step-by-step processes, and many other hacks, it’s time to create and add creativity. Snap every possible detail before moving to other products. Maintain a uniform style across product photos to build a strong brand identity!
Shoot your beauty photos!
