The Project:
Building a reflection-driven visual system for L'Oréal eye cream
I chose L'Oréal Paris as a creative subject because they've mastered something most beauty brands fumble: turning packaging into a recognizable visual signature. Working from Vancouver, I see countless metallic tubes shot with generic lighting that either blows out highlights or flattens the material. I wanted to explore how product photography could transform a small eye cream into a premium, attention-grabbing object through controlled reflection work.
The Challenge:
Designing for conversion and campaign simultaneously
The brief I set for myself was to solve a problem I see repeatedly: how do you make a functional skincare product feel luxurious across different channels without sacrificing e-commerce clarity? L'Oréal needs imagery that converts on product pages while also commanding attention in paid social and campaign placements. Most brands get one or the other: clean product photos that are forgettable, or stylized main images that fail at thumbnail size. This project explores what happens when you design a visual system that does both.
The Strategy:
Metallic packaging as the anchor for a repeating visual motif
If a brand like L'Oréal needed to launch an eye cream into a crowded category, I'd start with the packaging itself. The metallic tube was the anchor. I built a lighting approach around controlling the bright reflections using flags and diffusion to create clean gradients across the reflective surface. The goal was luminous sheen without chaos.
I shot the tube in a repeating pattern composition, letting the reflections create a graphic motif that could function as a campaign signature. This approach would work well for brands that need instant shelf recognition but also want images that feel design-led, not generic.
The Execution:
High-key lighting and modular image types
The technical execution centered on precision. I used high-key setups with carefully positioned diffusers to shape the way light wrapped around the metallic surface. The repeat pattern wasn't arbitrary. It kept the product front and center while building a visual rhythm that scales across crops.
I also shot clean product photos with controlled reflections, ensuring label legibility and consistent highlights. These images could function as product page essentials while the patterned compositions serve campaign and social needs. For texture storytelling, I added macro passes of the cream itself: focus-stacked shots showing viscosity and finish. Glass vessels added depth through refraction, reinforcing the premium positioning without overcomplicating the frame.
A modular system for multi-channel deployment
What these images are is a modular system. The collection includes dynamic shots built around the reflective pattern motif, clean product photos optimized for e-commerce, and macro-rich detail cuts designed for social placements. The work demonstrates how reflective cosmetics photography can create a consistent brand cue. Those controlled gradients and highlight arrays become recognizable across touchpoints.
This approach could serve brands launching into multi-channel retail, where you need one production to feed product pages, paid ads, and in-store toolkits without reshoots. It's a personal project, but it shows how a systematic lighting philosophy keeps skincare e-commerce images conversion-ready while maintaining the premium aesthetic L'Oréal is known for.
The Capability:
Reflection control as a competitive advantage in beauty photography
The broader capability on display here is managing reflections: controlling how light behaves on mirror-finish surfaces so packaging reads as luxurious, not blown out or flat. For beauty brands competing in saturated categories, that control matters. Metallic tubes, glass bottles, and lacquered caps all require the same discipline: shape the reflection, preserve the material's character, and build compositions that work at both large format and thumbnail scale.
As a Vancouver product photographer, I approach every shoot with that logic: design images that travel seamlessly from campaign to commerce, with crop safety and channel flexibility built in from shot one.
If your brand needs product photography that can deliver launch-ready photo collections (main imagery, product page sets, and social cutdowns from a single production), let's talk about how controlled reflection work creates ownable visual signatures.
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