Journal

Notes from the studio

Plain writing on art-directed AI imagery: what it costs, what rights you get, how to brief it, and where real texture comes from. Short and useful.

Christmas product photography concept: a ROSE & AMBER eau de parfum bottle with a gold cap before blush gift boxes tied with red satin ribbon, with baubles in matching colours
Guide··11 min

Christmas product photography ideas: 20 premium set-ups

Twenty Christmas product photography ideas, from advent calendars to quiet luxury, and how to make festive imagery look premium and feel like your brand.

A set still life of sculptural silver jewellery arranged as a family of pieces
Guide··7 min

Commercial product photography: what you are buying

Commercial is a rights word, not a quality word. What separates a commercially usable image from a nice one, and what you actually own.

Macro of the facets of a smoky quartz stone, an OSSA concept frame
Guide··7 min

AI jewellery photography: what makes it work

AI jewellery imagery still has to obey the logic of real materials. How metal, stone and scale behave, and the four images a launch needs.

Sculptural silver jewellery form set into a pale rock landscape
Guide··6 min

Creative product photography ideas that still sell

Six ways to make a product image interesting without burying the product, each one illustrated with real campaign work.

Bleu de Chanel fragrance bottle on a reflective surface in blue mist, a self-initiated concept frame
Guide··5 min

Perfume and fragrance photography, made with AI

Why the bottle is a mirror, how campaigns suggest a smell you cannot show, and the four images most fragrance launches need.

MUSE lip couture, macro texture of the lipstick's cream finish
Guide··5 min

Beauty product photography: the four shots that sell

The four shots most beauty brands need, why glass, liquid and skin tones make this the hardest category, and how to judge a set before it ships.

The Aesop Virēre bottle before a backlit carved wooden screen, a self-initiated concept frame
Opinion··3 min

Why premium brands fear AI content

The fear isn't the technology, it's what generic content does to a premium brand. And how to fix it.

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CITRA fabric macro detail
Creative direction··3 min

Where real texture comes from in AI imagery

Everything online looks the same. Where I gather real, tactile inspiration away from the screen.

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An EALCANE fragrance bottle, a bar of soap and a rough stone on a travertine block, with a driftwood branch and palm shadows on an olive wall
Guide··7 min

Product photography pricing: what brands actually pay

Where the money goes in a beauty shoot, and which costs AI removes.

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OSSA fine jewellery portrait
Rights··4 min

Who owns the commercial rights to AI brand imagery?

What you own, what you can use it for, and the one caveat worth knowing.

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Autumn Essentials editorial portrait
Working together··3 min

How to brief an AI creative director

A good brief is less work than a full production, not more. What actually helps.

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AllSaints concept campaign: a couple in sunglasses and black leather in a concrete corridor
Craft··4 min

Consistent AI product images: one look across 50 frames

The hero shot is easy. The fiftieth looking like the first is the craft.

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