Creative Direction & Strategy

The Visual Concept: My original concept for the photos was to suggest, through a ‘constructed reality’ set in the studio, a tropical lagoon setting with clear water, textured stucco-colored pedestals and blue sky with wisps of white clouds. I particularly wanted the pedestals to have this texture to simulate the feeling of an exclusive tropical water setting like you’d find at a resort or private pool patio. 

Lighting and Texture: The scene needed to be lit by simulated sunlight, which I created with studio lighting. To achieve this I used hard high-key studio light placed up high and at a 45-degree angle to the set. I painted several rectangular boxes and lids with an off-white textured paint to use as the pedestals. I carefully lit these to bring out the texture where the light hit from a side-on angle. This shows the texture relief. I felt this was a key aesthetic element in creating a sunlit environment.

Atmosphere: Also important are the palm frond shadows and shimmering water ripples. Not just a decorative addition, they create organic depth and a sense of time and place.

Composition: I made the pedestals different heights create interest, movement and eye-flow through the images.

The Execution

Process: I used a studio strobe fitted with a 30-degree grid to emulate natural sunlight and narrow the focus of the light so that the subject was lit without blowing out the blue poaster board background. A ColorChecker color profile was generated to ensure correct color.

Tools/Techniques: I used custom set fabrication techniques to create the tropical water setting: large white plexi for the ‘water’ surface and to simulate a horizon line for the effect of space and depth; small boxes hand-painted with textured paint to simulate the stucco-like texture; one studio light up high for natural sunlight emulation and two white reflector cards to bounce light onto the subject(s); and sky blue poster board clamped to a boom arm for the background.

For the original photos, I used a medium-sized reflector card covered with foil to reflect clouds onto the background. For the 2025 Water Mousse reshoot, I generated a blue sky and clouds with Google Gemini in Photoshop, then screened that layer back over the original for a perfect subtle sky effect.
(See Water Mousse product texture photo below)

Making clouds

Macro/Detail: Original 2022 SOL Tanning Serum photo with Sky Blue poster board background and foil-reflected clouds, and pedestal hand-painted with textured paint.

Product Texture

Two new photos were created from the existing singles to show examples of the product texture so the audience can get a ‘feel’ for the products.