- PSD files for product
- Download the PSD package.
- File package size：1.06GB
- The software that was used：
1、Photoshop - Instructions：
Product Photography Essentials: Lighting and Composition
Product photography differs from landscape in its focus: color fidelity is less about drama and more about accuracy. The primary goal is to use lighting to accentuate the product's shape and material.
For outdoor shoots, success hinges on timing—capturing the perfect moment with the right weather and natural sunlight. Indoor shoots offer full control, allowing us to construct the entire lighting environment. Crucially, before pressing the shutter, one must fully understand the brand to design a lighting setup that aligns with its identity.
Compositional Techniques
A strong composition is key to visual impact:
• Centric Composition: Places the subject squarely in the middle to emphasize the main product.
• Diagonal Composition: Adds dynamism, prevents a static look, and provides a sense of depth and dimension.
• Leading Lines: Extends the visual journey, drawing the viewer's eye through the frame and creating excellent spatial awareness.
• Framing: Utilizing elements in the scene (natural or artificial) to frame the subject and draw focus.
Perspective and Impact
The choice of camera angle dramatically changes the viewer's perception:
• High-Angle/Overhead (Flat Lay): Most common for food photography. Must include backlighting for a luminous, oily sheen and rich texture.
• Eye-Level/Straight-On: Excellent for achieving a natural sense of space and scale.
• Low-Angle/Worm's-Eye View: Rarely used for products, but delivers a powerful visual impact and dominance when required.
Final Touches
• Open vs. Closed Compositions: Open compositions invite imagination and engagement, suggesting the product's existence beyond the frame.
• Visual Flow/S-Curve: Create a flowing, elongated look. For necklaces, an S-curve that passes through the focal point is ideal. For bracelets and similar items, a horizontal S-shape often works best.
- PSD files for scenery
- Download the PSD package.
- File package size：2.58GB
- The software that was used：
1、Lightroom
2、Photoshop - Instructions：
Mastering Landscape Photography: A Commercial Guide
I. Pre-Visualization and Capture Techniques
Successful landscape photography, especially for commercial use, is a blend of timing, technique, and preparation.
A. Strategic Planning and Timing
• Observe and Adapt: For commercial shoots, long-term scene observation is necessary. Plan and execute your shoot based on the changing seasons and variable weather conditions to capture the perfect moment.
• Process Integration: Recognize that the initial capture process and post-production techniques are deeply interconnected. You must shoot with the final colored image in mind.
• Iterative Shooting: Success rarely comes from a single click. Plan to take multiple shots to manage noise, optimize detail, and ensure you have the best base for later processing.
B. Exposure and Camera Settings
• The Exposure Sweet Spot (Sony Cameras): When using Sony cameras, slightly overexpose (expose to the right) without blowing out the highlights (avoid pure white). Recovering shadows introduces excessive noise, whereas darkening a slightly brighter area generally results in less noise.
• Lens Aperture Recommendations:
• Full-Frame/APS-C Lenses (135mm): The ideal aperture for maximum sharpness (the "sweet spot") is typically between f/8 and f/11.
• Aerial/Drone Photography: The optimal aperture is often f/4.5 to f/5 for balanced sharpness and depth of field.
• Nighttime Aerials: Limit drone shutter speed to 3 seconds or less. Longer exposures lead to excessive light streaking and bloom (light flare/blown-out lights). Use HDR stacking of multiple shorter exposures in post-processing for better dynamic range.
• RAW First: Do not set in-camera styles or profiles (e.g., Vivid, Standard) as they do not affect the raw .RAW file data.
C. Compositional Principles
• The Grid Foundation: Always enable your camera's grid overlay (rule of thirds). While this is a basic tool, mastering it is crucial before experimenting with more advanced compositional concepts like rhythm and pattern.
• Straight Lines are Law (Architecture): For architectural scenes, ensure vertical lines are perfectly plumb and the horizon/edge lines are level (horizontal).
Avoid tilted shots unless it serves a specific creative purpose; any necessary correction can be done in post-production.
• Symmetry and Scale:
• For formal or solemn scenes, strive for left/right symmetry.
• When dealing with large-scale scenes, don't be limited by tight crops. Capture the full environment, then use the high-resolution image to crop and extract compelling smaller details later.
• Capture Orientation: Shoot both a horizontal (landscape) and a vertical (portrait) version of essential scenes to allow for versatile usage on different platforms.
II. Post-Production and Color Grading (Tonal Control)
The post-production workflow, often referred to as Tonal Control, is where the image is perfected and styled.
A. The Two Tiers of Color Grading
• Tier 1: Color Correction (Correction & Detail)
• This is the most crucial and difficult step. The goal is to establish color accuracy, detail, and image quality (sharpness, noise reduction). Products often only require this step.
• Workflow: Correct exposure, recover shadows/highlights, set black/white points, apply lens profile correction (including chromatic aberration removal), and ensure all details are resolved.
• Tier 2: Creative Color Grading (Styling & Mood)
• This step adds the personalized style and aesthetic appeal.
• Tools: Primary tools in Photoshop are Color Lookup (LUTs), Color Balance, and Curves. These can be layered with varying opacities and gradient masks to selectively style parts of the image.
B. Color Theory and Application
• Consistency is Key: Develop a strong color grading philosophy or "color sensibility." Without a consistent approach, your results will be inconsistent—some photos looking great, others falling flat.
• Preservation of Quality: Minimize reliance on presets initially. They often introduce harsh color banding (color breaks) that lack the smooth transitions achieved by manual grading. Understand the rules before you break them.
• Architectural Color: Buildings generally benefit from a cool color palette and lower saturation to maintain a clean, transparent (translucent) appearance. Avoid overly warm tones.
• If people are present, you may selectively reduce the saturation of their skin tones to keep the focus on the building.
• Urban/Rural Scenes: For rustic/rural settings, a slightly more complex frame is acceptable, but still keep the overall saturation moderate.
• Mastering the Histogram: If the left side of your curve histogram has a gap (not touching the left edge), your image's black point is insufficient—the darkest areas are not true black.
• Split Toning: When using split toning, ensure the hues chosen for the highlights and shadows complement each other rather than clash.
C. Final Output and Technical Integrity
• Workflow Integrity: Tier 1 correction must be flawless (realism, detail, quality) before proceeding to Tier 2 styling.
• Panorama Stitching: Complete Tier 1 color correction first on all source images before stitching them. Only after stitching should the final panorama be saved as a JPG.
• File Format & Color Space (Web Use): After the Tier 1 correction, save the master image as a .TIF (or .PSD) file with a 16-bit/component depth. For final web distribution, the image must be converted to the sRGB color space.
D. Specialized Architectural Details
• Correcting Non-Verticals: If columns or walls are not straight due to lens distortion or camera angle, use the Camera Raw (or similar) Transform tool in Photoshop to geometrically align them.
• Simulating Depth (CGI/Architecture): To simulate realistic lighting and depth on architectural renderings (where three adjacent faces of an object might have identical brightness), you must manually select and adjust one face. In Photoshop, duplicate the layer containing that face using the Lasso Tool selection, and change the layer blending mode to "Screen" to simulate a brighter light or highlight.
- Instruction(s)
- These PSD files are available for free download. I created them using the Chinese version of Adobe Photoshop. I have not converted them to an English version, so please disregard any garbled text or character errors you may see upon opening the file. The main focus should be on examining the layer panel to see which adjustment tools and specific parameter settings were used.
When working with color adjustments, keep these fundamental color theories in mind. They can be used as a reference during the editing process:
Core Color Theory Concepts
• Luminosity (Value) Contrast: The difference in brightness.
• Hue Contrast: The difference between colors (e.g., red vs. green).
• Saturation (Chroma) Contrast: The difference in color purity/intensity.
• Warm/Cool Contrast: The difference between warm colors (reds, yellows) and cool colors (blues, greens).
• Color Harmony: How colors are combined to create a pleasing effect.
• Color Order: Organizing colors (often related to the color wheel).
• Color Emotion/Psychology: The feeling or mood conveyed by a color.
To make the sky bluer, reduce the interference of Yellow.Primary Colors Combinations Color Relationships Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B) Red + Green = Yellow Red - Cyan Red + Blue = Magenta Green - Magenta Green + Blue= Cyan Blue - Yellow Red + Green + Blue = White
CMY (Subtractive) Color ModelPrimary Colors Combinations Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) Cyan + Magenta = Blue Cyan + Yellow = Green Magenta + Yellow = Red Cyan + Magenta + Yellow = Black
Practical Color Adjustment FormulasDesired Effect Required Adjustments Vibrant Sunset/Dusk In the Reds: Add Yellow, Add Magenta, Reduce Cyan. Deep Blue Sky In the Blues: Add Magenta, Add Cyan, Reduce Yellow. Lush Green Grassland Add Yellow, Add Cyan, Reduce Magenta.
White Balance and CorrectionAdjustment Effect Color Temperature (Cooling) Reduce —> Blue cast / Increase —> Yellow cast Tint/Tone Blue and Yellow mixed together, with Yellow at 50% opacity, results in Gray. (Gray represents the "cast" or Veiling color.) Haze Removal (Defogging) In the Blues: Reduce Yellow.
To achieve Golden Autumn Tones (emphasizing yellow and red): Decrease Cyan, Increase Magenta, and Increase Yellow.
- Support
- Free PSDs for your learning!
I'm happy to offer these design files completely free for the photo and editing community. Feel free to download and dive into the layers to see how the effects are achieved.
This is a non-profit website, and all design files are free to download. However, the server space needed to host these files requires a recurring cost.
If these free resources save you time or teach you something new, please consider "buying me a coffee" as a small thank you. Even a dollar or two helps cover the costs and ensures the website can stay online long-term!
How to Support My Work (Quick & Easy):
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2.Click 'Send & Request' or 'Send Money'.
3.Send your payment to this email address:
Support Email: ahxx@msn.com
(Please choose 'Sending to a friend' or 'Personal Payment' if prompted, to avoid extra fees.)