AI product photography for cosmetics and makeup brands

Updated ยท Stillhouse

The short answer

Stillhouse photographs every lipstick, palette and compact in your range in one set, with the shade and the case checked against your own photo. Each frame is compared with your product before you see it, and a shade that drifted is thrown away and retaken.

Example frame to comeA bullet lipstick, open, beside its closed case on a stone plinth in the set, with a swatch on the surface

Photographing cosmetics

Makeup is sold by colour, and colour is the thing a picture is worst at. The customer chooses a shade from a screen, so a pink that comes back slightly orange is a wrong shade and a return.

Ranges are large. A lipstick can come in forty shades, a palette in a dozen pans, and every one has to be photographed to match the next.

Common photo problems

  • 01

    Shade drift

    A coral becomes a salmon, a berry becomes a plum. Small colour shifts are easy to introduce and hard to see in isolation.

  • 02

    Metal and mirrors

    Compacts have mirrors and metal cases that reflect the room. A mirror that shows a studio looks wrong in a set.

  • 03

    Textures matter

    A swatch of gloss, matte or shimmer is part of the sale. The finish has to read.

  • 04

    Large ranges

    Forty shades photographed in forty sessions will not match.

What the studio does about it

  • Each shade checked against its own photo. The studio compares every frame with the photo you uploaded for that shade, not with a neighbour.
  • One set for the whole range. The case, the light and the angle stay the same from the first shade to the fortieth.
  • Colourways from one frame. Reshoot an approved frame for each shade. Only the product changes.

The shot list for cosmetics

  • Hero of the product, closed, on the set
  • Open: the bullet, the pan or the applicator
  • A swatch on skin or a surface
  • In use, applied, on a model you cast once
  • The whole range lined up
  • Square, 4:5 and 9:16 cuts for posts and stories

Questions

Will the shade be accurate?

Each frame is checked against your photo of that shade. Screens and cameras alter colour, so treat the result as a picture of your photo and check a swatch against the real product.

How is this different from your skincare page?

Skincare is mostly bottles and labels. Cosmetics is about colour, finish and cases with mirrors.

Can I show makeup worn on a face?

Yes, on a model you cast once. Close crops of lips and eyes are the frames that need the most care, so look at them before you publish.

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