how to create nighttime photography in studio

For Forest Rhapsody’s new release of their Nocturnal Trilogy night cream, I was tasked with creating a series of dark moody nature scenes showcasing their product. The main focus was to make it look like all of the images were taken during nighttime or twilight, as the product is meant for overnight use.

Staying true to Forest Rhapsody’s branding and vision for these images, I chose to style the settings with various nature elements and narrow down the use of florals to vivid and rich hues of blues and purples only to complement the ingredients and nighttime color palette.

The product

Nocturnal Trilogy is a nighttime elixir, meant to repair and revitalize your skin while you sleep. Combining botanicals such as butterfly pea, wild pansy, and blue tansy, these plants served as the inspiration behind the floral choices and color palette for this shoot.

the styling

The hero styling props of this shoot were the abundant use of blue and purple florals. While it was difficult to source the specific botanicals used in the product, I made use of similar looking flowers such as hydrangeas and irises. The use of florals in every style shot evoked a peaceful and an almost fairytale-like atmosphere, reminiscent of a deep dreamy sleep.

I also made use of darker colors of inky blue, charcoal greys, and deep indigos in the background and surrounding areas to evoke a sense of nighttime. In this featured shot, I chose to add a starry night sky from stock photography as the background. In the other images I tried to create more of a sense of darkness rather than try to imitate an actual night sky since we were shooting all of these in studio.

the lighting

The lighting is the driving force behind pulling off a nighttime look in these images despite everything being shot in studio. Using a Bowens mount reflector attached to my Godox FV150 light, created deeper, darker shadows. I also made sure to decrease the highlights and brightest areas of each scene. The lighting was shot with only one continuous light since I didn’t need so much output for these darker moodier images.

I chose to approach lighting these scenes almost like creating a softer spotlight on the product and letting its surroundings rest in the shadows. Adding copious amounts of gradients during editing also added more “shadows” and darker areas to the image without making it too dark overall.

If you’re releasing a new product soon and need images, let’s connect!

For more details on this shoot, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at how the images were styled, shot, and edited, please check out the vlog.

Interested in trying Forest Rhapsody’s products for yourself? Have a look at their website.