Product Packaging & Commercial Food Photography

The fix is deciding what the product is allowed to reflect. I shape the highlight so it runs the length of the bottle and follows its form, rather than sitting on it as a blob. Black cards and flags take away the reflections I don't want; white cards and mirrors put back the ones I do, exactly where the shape needs definition.

Plexiglass, scrims and diffusion sit between the light and the product to control how hard that highlight edge is. Liquid gets lit from behind so the color glows instead of going muddy, and the label stays readable rather than blowing out. Where a brand has a specific color, I build the background in camera so the tone is real light on a real surface, not a fill layer added afterwards.

It's slow, and it's why product work is quoted differently from a restaurant menu day. It's also the whole difference between a photo that looks expensive and one that looks like it was taken on a shop counter.

I shoot packaging on white for retail and marketplace listings, on color for campaign and social use, and in a set with props when you need the product in context. Same session, so the whole family is consistent.

Shrink wrap, film windows and anything transparent get handled deliberately — sometimes lit to show the product through the film, sometimes replaced or smoothed in post where the real wrap fights the label. If a shot needs artificial shrink wrap placed over a package, that's part of the job too.

Catalog work runs on a naming and tracking system agreed before we start, so images come back matched to your SKUs rather than to camera file numbers. Products get shot in batches by material, because glass, matte ceramic and brushed metal each want a different treatment and switching back and forth wastes the day.

If you're reshooting an existing catalog, send me the current one. Matching an established look is usually easier and cheaper than starting over, and it means you don't have to replace every image at once.

Retouching covers dust, fingerprints, scuffs on a sample unit, a label that isn't sitting straight, and background replacement where you need the same product on several colors. Color grading is done to your brand values rather than to whatever looked nice on my monitor.

What I won't do is rebuild the product into something it isn't. If the packaging has a flaw the customer will also see, you're better off fixing the sample than fixing the file.

Flat rates start at $495 and include unlimited images from the session, editing, clipping and delivery. What moves the number is how many products, how many angles each one needs, and whether they're reflective — glass and metal take longer than a cardboard box.

Catalog projects are quoted against the item count rather than by the day, because the economics change completely at a few hundred items.

It's product photography where the packaging itself is the subject — the box, the label, the jar, the film — shot so the type stays sharp, the brand color is accurate, and the material reads as what it actually is. Matte board, gloss laminate and soft-touch all behave differently under the same light, so each one gets lit for its finish.

Yes. I shoot on white and clip by hand rather than letting software guess at the edge, and I keep a real contact shadow under the product so it looks like an object sitting on a surface instead of a cut-out floating in space.

If you need the same product on white, on a brand color and in a propped set, that's one session and three deliverables.

You don't remove the reflections, you choose them. Glass only has shape because of what it reflects, so the job is deciding what gets into that surface. I use flags and black cards to take away the reflections that don't belong, white cards and mirrors to place the ones that describe the form, and diffusion to control how hard the highlight edge lands.

Liquid is lit from behind so the color glows rather than going muddy, and the label is kept readable instead of blowing out. The tell-tale amateur version is a big white rectangle sitting in the side of the bottle — that's a softbox photographed by accident.

Yes. I've shot full foodservice catalogs — china, glass, metal and wood, hundreds of items — where the real work is holding one lighting standard across weeks so the last item matches the first. Images come back matched to your SKU naming rather than camera file numbers, and large sets are delivered in batches as they're finished.

If you're replacing an existing catalog, send me the current one. Matching an established look is usually cheaper than starting from nothing.

Either. Smaller items are usually simplest to ship — send a few spares, because sample packaging tends to arrive dented. For larger items, fragile pieces or anything under embargo, I'll set up at your facility. All I need is a room I can black out and a table.

For straightforward packaging with one or two angles each, thirty to fifty items in a day is normal. Reflective products, multi-angle sets or anything needing a propped scene run slower — sometimes ten to fifteen. Tell me what the items are and I'll give you a realistic count before we book.

Yes. Dust, fingerprints, scuffs on a sample, a label sitting crooked, background replacement for color variants, clipping to white, and color grading to your brand values are all part of the job, not an add-on line.

Three business days for a normal set. Catalog projects are delivered in batches as each group is finished so you can start using them straight away.

Anywhere. Marketplace listings, your own store, wholesale sell sheets, packaging, trade show graphics, print and paid advertising. No usage tiers, no renewals, no expiry.

I'm based in Orange County and work across Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside, plus Corona, San Bernardino and Palm Springs. Products ship to me from further afield regularly, and I travel for larger on-site catalog work.