Behind the Studio — How We Photograph Products
One backdrop, one light setup, every product
If you've browsed our catalog you've probably noticed: every product photo sits on the same deep-navy backdrop with violet and cyan rim-light. That isn't a filter — it's a deliberate studio setup we built once and now use for everything from hoodies to smartwatches.
The look has a name internally: "cosmic editorial".
Why we standardised the look
- Comparability — colours read consistently across the catalog, so you can tell a charcoal blanket from a navy hoodie at a glance
- Speed — new products go from sample to live photography in under two hours
- Identity — every catalog image feels like part of the same shelf, which is unusual at our scale
How we set it up — step by step
If you ever want to recreate the look, here are the three steps that matter most.
Step 1 — Build the backdrop
A single roll of matte black paper (3 m wide) curved gently into a seamless sweep. Behind it, a custom gobo cut from foam-core projects a faint hexagonal grid into the shadow falloff. No coloured paper, no gradient backdrop — the colour comes entirely from the lights.
Step 2 — Place the two gelled softboxes
One softbox camera-left, gelled violet (#a855f7), positioned slightly above and behind the product line to rim the top edge. A second softbox camera-right, gelled cyan (#06b6d4), positioned at the same height but pointing toward the front-right corner of the product. The two beams cross at the centre of the sweep.
Step 3 — Frame and shoot
Camera locked on a tripod at product height, slightly tilted down (about 5°). Aperture f/8 for sharp edge-to-edge, ISO 100, shutter speed dialled to taste. Product floats above the sweep on an invisible acrylic riser — every catalog hero is a single exposure, no compositing.
The post-production bits
For the curious — the nebula glow and the soft-focus star particles are added in post, just a few minutes per shot. The product itself stays straight out of camera; we don't paint logos out (the samples we shoot are already unbranded — that's a catalog choice, not a tech limitation).
More behind-the-scenes posts coming soon.