The Challenge:
Making ultra-premium materials credible online
I chose Tom Ford's eyeshadow quads as a creative subject because they've solved a problem most luxury beauty brands ignore: how do you make a $95 palette look worth $95 when the customer can't touch it? The mirrored TF logo, pressed metallic finishes, and multi-texture formulas demand lighting precision that goes beyond standard product photography. This project gave me a chance to explore whether museum-quality still life techniques could translate ultra-premium materials into credible online visuals.
The brief I set for myself centered on a question luxury brands face constantly: can you maintain the cinematic, seductive Tom Ford aesthetic while delivering the color accuracy and finish fidelity that e-commerce requires? Most beauty photography tips too far in one direction: either so polished it looks plastic, or so clinical it strips away the brand's soul. Working from Vancouver, I wanted to prove you could hold both: sculptural lighting that feels like gallery art and technical rigor that protects the product truth.
The Problem:
Three material challenges that kill premium credibility
I framed the challenge around three material problems. First, the mirrored TF logo embossed into each shadow pan reflects everything: studio lights, ceiling tiles, the photographer. Most shoots either blow out the mark or drown it in muddy reflections. Second, metallic finishes can photograph flat or gritty if the lighting doesn't respect their dimensional sheen. Third, Tom Ford uses blacks and deep plums that go grey under the wrong setup, killing the premium read. If a brand like Tom Ford needed a fragrance still life photography approach that worked across campaign images and product detail pages, this lighting architecture would be the foundation.
The Execution:
Reflection control as the foundation layer
I built the setup around high-control key lighting with deliberate negative fill to deepen the blacks and shape specular highlights into clean, readable paths. The goal was to art-direct what the reflective surfaces see: large controlled light sources and flagged shadows so the monogram stays legible without requiring heavy retouching fixes. I angled each palette to catch a precise highlight gradient across the mirrored logo, then used a tonal-ramp background that transitions from deep charcoal to soft grey. That gradient adds cinematic depth without competing with the product, and it provides negative space options for layout teams working on banners or retailer toolkits.
Floral styling matched to color story
The floral styling came directly from the quad color stories. I matched blooms to the shadow tones: blush roses for rose-gold metallics, deep burgundy petals for plum mattes. The composition reinforces the palette's mood rather than decorating around it. This approach would work well for brands that need styled campaign imagery and clean product photos from the same shoot. The flowers live in the main frames, providing that curated-opulence feeling, but the core lighting system stays consistent when you pull them out for standard e-commerce angles.
Finish-specific capture strategy
For the metallic shadows, I lit each finish differently. Shimmers got a slightly broader source to show their sparkle structure without turning gritty. Mattes received flatter, more diffused light to preserve their velvet texture. Satins fell somewhere between, with enough direction to hint at sheen but not so much that they read as full metallics. I captured extreme close-ups of the pressed TF logos and the pan surfaces to show the emboss detail and micro-texture: the kind of proof images that perform well in social crops or as product page modules. These photos are designed to show material credibility: pores in the powder, crisp pan edges, realistic light rolloff on the metallics.
The Results:
A modular toolkit with consistent visual DNA
The resulting collection includes cinematic still lifes that could function as campaign visuals, clean product angles ready for e-commerce pages, and macro texture studies suited to paid social or editorial storytelling. The images maintain Tom Ford's signature controlled seduction: rich blacks, sculptural highlights, restrained compositions, while delivering the finish fidelity and color accuracy that conversion-focused teams need. This is still a personal project, but the technical choices mirror what I'd deliver for a launch toolkit: modular images with consistent lighting DNA, formatted for different channels without breaking the visual language.
Why This Matters:
Luxury cosmetics texture photography as trust signal
What this project demonstrates is that luxury cosmetics texture photography doesn't require a choice between desire and function. As a Vancouver product photographer, I've learned that with reflection management baked into the lighting plan and a finish-specific capture approach, you can produce a cohesive photo collection that reads as unmistakably premium in one second and holds up under scrutiny in the next. If your brand relies on material truth to justify ultra-premium pricing, let's build a visual strategy that protects your craft across every touchpoint: from campaign to cart.
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- other recent projects
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(001)
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Makeup by Mario eyeshadow palette photography with white-on-white product styling and macro texture detail
Chanel Le Vernis nail lacquer photographed with underlighting technique
Byredo lipstick on serving tray with gradient backdrop and metallic pins
Chanel Rouge Allure pattern photography with open bullet showing gold gradients and lipstick texture
