Product photography

Product Photography

Turn a product description into a coherent shot list of prompt specs that generate commerce-grade product imagery. Prime rule: one product, one visual world. Every shot in a set shares the brand's lighting, palette, and treatment so listings, landing pages, and social posts read as one brand — a stunning hero next to a mismatched lifestyle shot is worse than two average matching ones.

When to use / when not to

Use for any imagery whose subject is a product: e-commerce listings, landing-page heroes, marketing shots, detail close-ups. Hand off instead when:

• The asset is a platform-sized post about the product (text overlays, promo layouts) → skills/creative/social-graphics
• The user needs a logo/icon/pattern → skills/creative/brand-asset
• It's a general image with no product subject → skills/creative/image-generation
• No visual direction exists and multiple assets are coming → skills/creative/creative-strategist first; consume its style block here
• The product should move → skills/creative/product-video (stills from this skill are its source frames)

Intake

Ask in one batch, only what's missing:

1. Product — what is it, exactly? Materials, colors, distinguishing details. (If a real photo exists, ask for it as reference for accuracy.)
2. Destination — listing, landing page, ads, social? (drives shot types and aspect ratios)
3. Positioning — premium/luxury, accessible, playful, technical?
4. Style anchor — Creative Direction Brief / style block, or brand colors?
5. Automation — FAL_API_KEY set, or deliver specs only?

Infer, don't ask: aspect ratios from destination (listing → 1:1, landing hero → 16:9, social feed → 4:5); resolution 2K default, 4K for heroes. Don't stall: with product + destination known, assume the rest, label it, go.

Workflow

1. Build the shot list. Map destination → shot types (decision rules):

   • E-commerce listing → 1 clean shot + 1–2 detail shots (+ 1 lifestyle if the platform allows gallery images)
   • Landing page → 1 hero shot + 1 lifestyle + 1 detail
   • Social/ads → 1–2 lifestyle + 1 flat lay (product families) or hero
   • "Just one image" → pick the single type that serves the stated use; say why

2. Fix the shared treatment. Choose one lighting style and palette for the whole set from the style block (or infer from positioning: premium → dramatic or studio; approachable → natural golden hour; minimal brand → high-key). Every spec in the set uses it.

3. Write one prompt spec per shot using the templates in references/shot-library.md — read it now; it has the five shot-type templates plus the lighting/background/composition prompt language. Name colors in words and hex. Always state what must NOT appear (no watermark, no invented logos or label text unless the exact text is supplied, no clutter).

4. Variants. Hero and clean shots get 3–4 variants (--num-images 3 or distinct specs varying composition/background); detail and lifestyle shots get 2. The user picks winners.

5. Generate or deliver. If FAL_API_KEY (or FAL_KEY) is set:

   python docs/creative_cli.py product \
     --product-name "Luxury Watch" \
     --prompt "<full prompt>" \
     --aspect-ratio 1:1 --resolution 2K --num-images 3
   

   Images save to assets/product-photography/<product-slug>/ as <product>_<n>_<timestamp>.png. If no key, deliver the specs plus the exact commands — never claim generation happened. Full parameter reference: skills/creative/image-generation/references/automation.md.

6. Review against the quality bar, fix misses with the fix-it phrases in references/shot-library.md (one iteration round), then present winners with file paths and a one-line recommendation per slot.

Required output format

Deliver a shot list of these blocks (one per shot):

## Shot Spec — [shot name, e.g. hero-01]
- **Shot type:** clean / lifestyle / hero / detail / flat lay
- **Destination:** [listing / landing hero / ad / social]
- **Subject:** [product, concretely — materials, colors, orientation]
- **Setting / background:** [white / gradient X→Y / lifestyle setting / textured]
- **Lighting:** [studio / natural golden hour / dramatic rim / high-key]
- **Composition:** [centered / rule of thirds / negative space / overhead]
- **Mood:** [2–3 adjectives, from the style block]
- **Aspect ratio:** [ratio] · **Resolution:** [1K/2K/4K] · **Format:** png
- **Negative constraints:** [no watermark, no invented label text, ...]
- **Prompt (final, paste-ready):**
  > [single flowing prompt]
- **Variants:** [n] — [what varies]
- **File naming:** assets/product-photography/<product-slug>/<product>_<n>_<timestamp>.png
- **Generate with:** `python docs/creative_cli.py product --product-name "..." --prompt "..." --aspect-ratio ... --resolution ... --num-images n`

Close with a Set summary: shared lighting/palette line, shot count per type, and (if generated) recommended winner per slot with saved paths.

Quality bar

• Every shot in the set shares one lighting style and palette (the set reads as one brand)
• Each spec names shot type, background, lighting, composition, and mood explicitly
• Aspect ratio matches the destination, not the 1:1 default by inertia
• Product details (materials, colors) match what the user described — no invented features, engravings, or label text
• Negative constraints present on every spec
• Hero/clean shots have 3+ variants; nothing shipped as a single take
• Only real automation parameters used (model is fal-ai/nano-banana-pro; no size/steps/guidance knobs exist)

Hard don'ts: never render readable brand/label text unless the user supplied the exact string; never mix premium dramatic lighting and casual snapshot styles in one set; never present AI shots as real photographs of the user's actual unit — if fidelity to the exact physical product matters, say so and recommend compositing or a reference-photo workflow.

Integration

• skills/creative/creative-strategist → upstream; its style block sets this set's lighting, palette, and mood fields.
• skills/creative/image-generation → shared automation and prompt discipline; skills/creative/image-generation/references/automation.md is the parameter source of truth.
• skills/creative/social-graphics → consumes winning shots as raw material for platform posts.
• skills/creative/product-video → consumes the hero/lifestyle stills as frames and art direction.
• references/shot-library.md — full shot-type templates, lighting/background/ composition prompt language, and fix-it phrases. Read before writing specs.