Le Monde Gourmand's Banane Délice: Refined styling with graphic banana peel
Okay, Le Monde Gourmand (@gourmandbeauty) 096 Banane Délice, I'm listening! Yes to the color, yes to the light, to the composition, beauty shot, and to the retouching. My only question is why is the banana peel so perfect? There's this one straight line that goes from the right side of the perfume cap all the way to the top that looks very graphic and unrealistic. I feel like there should be some width to the peel, no? Also, maybe a bit more texture, otherwise it looks like it was just drawn on paper by a very good painter.
YSE Beauty's glow serum: Effortless travel lifestyle photography
I am actually in love with this color palette and creative direction overall from YSE Beauty (@yisebeauty). The travel bag and "what's in my purse" shot both look polished and effortless at the same time. The airport security shot is nice too, but I think it's a bit too intentional compositionally. I love the vacation with kids theme, but I'm missing a little bit of chaos here. What's clashing is the passport and the bottle of serum, they're both relatively the same size, angle, and direction, so they compete for attention. Right now my eye goes: cute picture, pen, granola bar, and then dinosaur fights with serum, and then serum fights with passport. Is it just me?
Oribe Gold Lust duo: Texture contrasts and refined oil highlights
Beautiful duo shot from Oribe (@oribe) with the Gold Lust hair cream and oil. Looks like a luxurious, calming evening hair ritual. The cream texture is so gently lit and the hair oil has these pretty highlights that help the viewer feel these two different worlds. I might be wrong, but it looks like there was a little cabochon underneath the hair oil, which is totally fine. Otherwise, I don't know how you could show the richness of the oil texture in hair oil texture photography without something like that.
ZARINA Jewelry: Architectural compositions with bold geometric styling
A series for Ukrainian jewelry brand ZARINA Jewelry House (@zarina.ua). Compositions are great with the accents just where you want them to be. A few things that stood out: unnatural retouching of the model in the shot where she's holding the ring with her fingers. At that one spot there's too much going on, exaggerated skin texture plus hair texture plus stones. A lot of rhythms all at once that makes all of them fight for attention. Then the photo where she's holding flowers with her hand: I think something went wrong with color grading as one part of her body is warm and another is gray. Overall, I feel like the coloring could be done a little bit better, but the concept is great!
Charlotte Tilbury's AI-generated product imagery: A cautionary tale
This AI-generated shot from Charlotte Tilbury (@charlottetilburyskincare) is a real turn-off. When brands get too big, it starts to feel like they stop caring about how they're perceived. I've always known Charlotte Tilbury as a premium brand with a high price point, so seeing product photography this unrealistic genuinely breaks my heart. It makes me think twice before buying. If they can't be bothered to photograph the actual product, why would I spend $120 on it? For a multi-million dollar company, this is just not it.
About the Author
Elina is a Ukrainian-Canadian commercial photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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