Post Production - High End Commercial Retouching & Compositing

In commercial advertising photography, post-production is an essential part of the image making process. When it comes to producing high level commercial imagery, retouching and compositing skills are equally as important as quality capture on set. That’s why Digital Art That Rocks™ founder, Brian Rodgers Jr., specializes in product photography and architectural photography with an emphasis on high end photo retouching and post production.

“As a commercial photographer and digital artist, I've spent years developing both my photography and retouching skills. Along the way I've created my own proprietary workflows, processes and retouching techniques for creating highly unique imagery. I truly believe that both photographing and retouching my own work has allowed me to build a solid reputation for offering my clients creative, well produced, world class commercial advertising imagery. Having control of the entire production pipeline from photo shoot to final output allows me to offer clients a higher level of communication and artistry.”

-Brian Rodgers Jr. Commercial Photographer/Digital Artist       

World Class Brand Photography, Post-Production & Retouching Services For Marketing & Advertising Campaigns

Elevating brand visuals in a variety of industries, Brian Rodgers Jr. specializes in the creation of hero shot product and architectural imagery. His skill set as a commercial photographer alongside his vast depth of knowledge in post-production and retouching plays a huge role in achieving world class results. With more than 15 years in the creative industry, Brian has helped SMBs, advertising agencies and global brands like Snickers and Razer elevate their advertising with standout commercial imagery and meticulous retouching.

Before & After Sliders

See The Difference Between a Single RAW File & A Professionally Composited & REtouched Image

Use the before/after slider to compare a normal, single-exposure to a fully crafted, composited and retouched image. Simply move the slider left to right to see how the image evolves! Be sure to read the production notes below the images for further insight into the production of each image.

All photography and retouching ©Brian Rodgers Jr. All Rights Reserved.

Professional Product Photography And Retouching For Advertising And Brand Campaigns

In advertising, polished, high impact product imagery isn’t just a luxury, it’s a necessity. Professional product photography retouching plays a vital role in crafting the kind of compelling visuals that stop scrolls, build brand trust, and drive conversion. High level retouching is used to enhance every detail in a product image by removing distractions and imperfections while refining colors, textures and tones. Going beyond what's possible in a single product shot, advanced compositing opens up endless possibilities of building bold, conceptual product visuals that bring a products story to life, elevating product imagery from purely documentation to striking visual storytelling worthy of a national advertising campaign.

My retouching processes and post-production techniques derive from over 15+ years of working professionally as a commercial photographer, retoucher and digital artist. From sleek consumer electronics and high gloss fragrance bottles to footwear, dental products, musical instruments, and watches, my work blends technical precision with creative vision.

In this section, you’ll find a series of select commercial product images that I’ve photographed as well as retouched. The before and after sliders below highlight years of experience in high end post-production, showcasing how informed retouching and strategic image construction create world class product visuals for advertising, e-commerce, and branding campaigns.

Product Retouching For Consumer Tech Brands.

“Hurricane Speaker.” At Digital Art That Rocks™, crafting creative, well produced product photography is what it’s all about! This image was Inspired by the classic rock song by The Scorpions "Rock You Like A Hurricane.” I wanted to create a hurricane themed bluetooth speaker hero shot in order to play off of its IPX7 waterproof rating. This image was photographed in my photography studio using real world, practical liquid splash effects then artfully blended together through creative frame compositing in Photoshop. The liquid splashes were all shot on set using a variety of splash sculpting tools. Creating an image like this requires making a complete mess in the studio, but the results are totally worth it.

In post-production, first and foremost, a lot of time and attention goes into making a clean product photo by removing unwanted dust and other imperfections caused during the manufacturing process. Once the product is clean and flawless, I started blended multiple frames together in order to create the seamless composite image that I saw in my minds eye. When finishing an image, I’m always looking the impacts that color can make. I’m always looking for striking color harmonies to integrate throughout my work. While it’s important to start with a color corrected file as a starting point, color grading plays a huge role in the overall vibe of the finished image. And having knowledge in color theory is of utmost importance. To finish this image off, I created the hurricane cloud with a custom brush that I made in Photoshop.

Want a step by step breakdown of this image? Check out this lesson that I filmed with Fstoppers.

Consumer Electronics Product Retouching.

“Death of the Gaming Console” - Playstation Controller On Fire. In this before and after, you’ll see a red playstation controller floating over a small studio setup. To play off of the concept of home gaming consoles becoming obsolete due to cloud based platforms, set it on fire; digitally of course. In addition to photographing and retouching the video game console controller to sheer perfection, I also photographed my own original asset library of flames and then meticulously composited them into the final image. Because I shoot with super high resolution cameras, work with a lot of bit depth and a wide gamut color profile, I’m able to push, pull, bend and twist pixels to my hearts content.

Dental Product Photography & Retouching For Advertising Campaigns.

This highly conceptual dental typodont product image took many hours of strategic planning and plenty of experimentation to create. The results are a true reflection of creativity and craftsmanship. Photographing typodonts present a number of challenges including both on set in a photography studio and in post-production.

In the studio, there are a number of specialized tools required for capturing ultra high resolution imagery with clarity and detail. Although the top and bottom are connected by set screws, they’re often out of alignment when photographing them straight on, which require specialized rigging to align them properly. Additionally, achieving sharp focus from font to back so that every tooth is in focus, requires the use of a macro lens in combination with focus stacking techniques.

The post-production process for a well crafted hero image like this requires hours of work behind the scenes. This includes but is not limited to removal and cleanup of industrial adhesives and manufacturing defects, making precise and tedious selections, compositing liquid splashes and color matching.

Creative product photography, post-production and retouching services for musical instrument manufacturers.

“The Digicaster” is a custom Squier Bullet Stratocaster that was designed, modified, painted and photographed by commercial photographer and digital artist Brian Rodgers Jr. I wrote an entire article about how I turned a passion project into musical instrument product photography. Because of the many parallels between music and art, I was fortunate enough to be able to tie this project in with my profession as a commercial photographer specializing in product photography. One this guitar was completed, I created a series of product images to showcase it’s beauty. For the hero shot, I decided to set it on fire! This was all done digitally through the magic of post-production in Photoshop using the skills that I'm best known for; quality capture on set, followed by clean, crisp, insanely detailed, high end commercial retouching and compositing. All of the flames you see in the hero shot of this custom guitar were all derived from real photographs of flames that I shot on set. While there was some level of danger involved, it was all created in a controlled environment.

Fragrance Bottle Retouching for Fragrance Houses, perfume and cologne brands.

I first photographed this unique, custom manufactured fragrance bottle in my studio using a variety of light shaping tools. I wanted to create a hero shot of this bottle in an underwater scene to convey a simplified deep blue ocean. In addition to photographing the bottle, spent a separate day creating and photographing bubble assets with a fish tank and a variety of experimental tools for creating bubbles. Once I had all of the assets needed for this composite image, I retouched the bottle and started creating and underwater scene by artfully combining and blending several water bubble assets together to create a sense of depth. In addition to this before and after slider, I also created a small video that showcases a layer comp time-lapse.

Creative hero image watch retouching for Branded ad campaigns.

This product image required photographing a watch in my studio, and days spent creating a variety of visual assets to be used in the composite image. In the studio, this means paying very close attention to every aspect of the watch, from rigging the watch to sit in the perfect position for a long period of time, to lighting each facet of the watch so the reflections in the glass and metal are perfect. Once the watch was retouched to perfection, I creatively composited a powder explosion and busted glass using a variety of post-production techniques in Photoshop. The final image is a very detailed, high resolution hero shot of watch that could easily be the face of a national advertising campaign for a watch company. This image did in fact, put me on the cover of Photoshop User Magazine!

Watch Retouching & Creative Retouching Services for Luxury Brands & Campaign Imagery.

At first glance, this image may appear straightforward. However, capturing an extreme close up of a small product like a watch, at this angle and with this level of detail, requires highly specialized tools and techniques. Macro lenses, extension tubes, and advanced post-production skills are essential. In fact, it’s wasn’t physically possible to capture the entire watch in sharp focus from front to back all in a single frame. The final image shown here is the result of focus stacking: a technique that involves blending nearly 50 separate exposures to achieve crisp, consistent focus across the entire product. Additional retouching was also required to obtain a dust and blemish free product shot.

As a commercial photographer and retoucher who specializes in product photography, photographing and retouching products sold in bottles is a passion of mine. There are so many glass bottle options available from so many manufactures in the marketplace today. Not only are the bottles unique, but so are the custom labels being created. From craft beer, wine and spirits to boutique staining solutions, there’s so much variety, it’s hard to get board.

When I was approached to create a hero shot for a staining solution company, I was immediately excited by the creative possibilities. With complete creative freedom, I created a small set centered around the staining solutions core demographic; people who enjoy creating scale models. Scale modeling is a hobby enjoyed by people of all ages, with a wide range of subjects including vehicles, buildings, figures, and more. What made this bottle super unique, was its concave shape. I’m always interested in seeing how light disperses through a particular bottle. The thickness of the glass, the viscosity of the liquid inside all impact the way light comes through.

A large part of this project involved prop sourcing and set building. But the post-production and retouching phase was equally as important. When lighting a bottled product, there are so many areas to pay attention to. You want to make sure the bottle has that nice inviting glow. You want to make sure that the black cap has light in just the right places to show the minute details. And the foiled label needs to have a nice gradient running across it while making the brand prominant.

Creative high end retouching for footwear brand identity, hero imagery and advertising key art.

If you need creative footwear photography and retouching for campaign imagery, you came to the right place. I really enjoy creating sets for the product imagery that I create. Sometimes that involves purchasing props alongside set building materials in order to build and construct real world sets in my photo studio. Other times that involves going outdoors to multiple locations to photograph elements needed to build a backplate made up of composited images, as is the case here. This footwear image combines studio photography and composite imagery. I began by photographing the shoe in a controlled studio environment, carefully crafting the lighting and perspective to highlight the sophisticated design details of the shoe.

To develop a realistic outdoor environment for the final image, I captured a series of outdoor, location based elements; like a stump, trees, grass and skys. These elements were used to build a custom digital backplate which the shoe was composited into. This hybrid approach that involves merging products photographed in the studio with composite environments alongside high-end creative retouching, enables me to craft unique, campaign ready visuals tailored to each brand’s aesthetic.

Retouching textile products like shoes requires a nuanced approach, especially when working with a variety of materials such as mesh, leather, and suede. These surfaces often reveal small manufacturing imperfections that become much more visible under high resolution camera sensors and refined studio lighting.

In this image, I applied advanced retouching techniques for footwear, which includes things like frequency separation for texture control, precise masking, and edge refinement. The shoe was clipped and isolated for integration into the composite scene, and environmental blending techniques were used to create a seamless, photorealistic result.

This type of work is ideal for brands looking to produce hero images for advertising, lookbooks, or product launch campaigns, where detail, realism, and storytelling are paramount.

High-End Beverage Photography Retouching for Craft Breweries, Distilleries, Wine & Spirits Brands

In beverage advertising, every droplet, reflection, and highlight matters. High end beverage photography retouching is essential for creating the kind of premium visuals that craft breweries, distilleries, and wine and spirits brands need to stand out in crowded markets. Whether it's enhancing the crisp condensation on a cold beer can, perfecting the glow of a whiskey bottle under studio lighting, or compositing splashes and pours into dynamic hero shots, expert retouching ensures your product photography is nothing short of flawless.

I produce advanced bottle retouching, liquid compositing, and color correction tailored specifically for alcohol brands and creative agencies seeking advertising ready visual assets. From label sharpness and glass clarity to creative lighting enhancements, each image is meticulously refined to capture the craftsmanship behind your brand. If you're a beverage company or agency looking for polished, high impact drink photography that commands attention across digital campaigns, social media, packaging, and point-of-sale materials, high end beverage retouching can be a huge ROI opportunity to grow your brand and compete with the best of the best.

Below, you’ll find a series of select commercial beverage images that I’ve both photographed and retouched.

bottle Photography And retouching for Visual Branding And advertising campaigns • Beer bottle photo retouching for beverage brand visuals.

When photographing bottles, there’s a good amount of prep work that goes into preparing and dressing the bottle for a photoshoot. Often times, I will have craft breweries and distilleries provide multiple bottles and additional labels, so I can apply the labels manually ensuring that everything is centered and straight. Additionally, when adding condensation to a bottle, I want the water beads to stick to the bottle while also avoiding runoff. I typically coat bottles with a variety of canned sprays that provide extra grip and glow to the bottle. I then follow that up with a water based formula with a thicker viscosity through my favorite spray bottle.

For this image called “Bottle Rocket,” I started by photographing the beer bottle in my studio. Conceptually, I knew that this bottle was going to appear as if it were launching into space, so I had to use a variety of grip gear to rig the bottle in a way that I could see the entire base of the bottle. I also added some teal colored gelled lighting to compliment the amber color of the bottle which also added some additional separation.

After that, I spent additional production days photographing visual assets for compositing; things like fire as well as a variety of flying rocks, powders and debris. In the final image, each rock was strategically placed and all of the lighting was adjusted to create a sense of direction.

If your beverage brand is launching a campaign for a new or existing product and you need help creating hero visuals with creative retouching, lets chat!

Creative beverage product Photography And retouching for branded Ad Campaigns

In my opinion, premium beverage imagery should conveys texture, atmosphere and vibe. With that, professional product and beverage retouching ensures that your drink images are captivating. For this red wine bottle with liquid aqueous splash, I started by photographing the wine bottle in my studio using a black seamless for the background. I then spent a day or two in the studio creating a variety of unique visual assets (liquid splash assets) that I could use to creatively immerse around the bottle through compositing in Photoshop.

Bottle Retouching For Beverage Brand Visuals

Whether you’re a consumer brand or agency representing beverage brands, you need cohesive visual storytelling for today’s extremely competitive market. For Pie Eyed Spirits, I created something colorful, bold and playful. Starting in the studio, I photographed the bottle floating above a custom built set. I then poured thick yellow paint over the bottle to create a variety of drips. In post production, I creatively selected, masked and composited each drip exactly where I want them. I also extended the background, enhanced the colors and performed a variety of clean up work.

CGI Product Photography Post-Production And Retouching

Even the most technically advanced 3D renders require expert post-production to reach the visual quality expected in today’s advertising. CGI product photography retouching is a crucial step in transforming raw renders into polished, lifelike visuals that are ready for commercial use. From refining materials and surface textures to enhancing lighting realism and adjusting composition, post-production gives CGI images camera like depth, clarity, and emotional impact needed to connect with consumers. Whether you’re a product manufacturer, creative agency, or brand working with 3D assets, high-end CGI retouching brings a final layer of realism and finesse that makes all the difference.

I work with CGI renders across a range of industries, from consumer electronics, beverage and lifestyle products to cosmetics and industrial design providing color correction, image blending, compositing, and finishing techniques tailored for advertising. For teams producing photorealistic product imagery, investing in professional CGI retouching ensures that your visuals stand up to scrutiny and deliver a truly premium presentation.

Below, you’ll find a series of select 3D product images that I’ve photographed, modeled, rendered and retouched.

Product photography and professional retouching services for footwear brands.

The concept behind this footwear hero shot was to convey a shoe that can conquer a mountain and provide limitless possibilities.

This image combines studio photography and practical effects using real world props with CGI. The shoe and foliage were both photographed on a small studio set, while the mountain range was 3D rendered. Footwear and other textile products present their own unique set of retouching challenges. I used a combination advanced masking and frequency separation techniques in order to create a nearly flawless shoe. Then I composited multiple frames of foliage, the CGI mountain range and a morning sky that I photographed on a beautiful Indiana morning to create the final composite image.

Surtic Sound Tremolo Pedal - CGI Product Photography Retouching. The concept behind this CGI hero shot was to visualize the Surtic Sound Tremolo Pedal in a coastal environment in order to create a vibe reminiscent of the 50s & 60s surf guitar era. This product image is 100% CGI with the exception of the clouds that I photographed individually and composited into the scene. The production of this hero shot involved modeling the product to scale, building a scene around it, creating materials that represented the distressed vintage paint and artwork as well as lighting the scene with dappled lighting to create a sense of the suns rays passing through the leaves of nearby palm trees. All of which are balanced with aesthetically pleasing retro color harmonies. But it doesn’t end there. Multiple variations of the scene were rendered out and composited together in Photoshop for ultimate creative control. (You can read more about this project here: https://digitalartthatrocks.com/blog/2025/1/28/cgi-photography-guitar-pedal-campaign-case-study)

Surtic Sound Electrolux Guitar Amplifier - CGI Product Imagery Retouching. In order to create vibes reminiscent of the 50s & 60s surf guitar era, the concept behind this CGI hero shot was to visualize the tweed covered Surtic Sound Tremolo Electrolux Guitar Amplifier in a 3D environment with retro modern interior design. This product image is 100% CGI. The production of this hero shot involved modeling the product to scale, building a 3D scene around it using a variety of virtual props as well as creating retro style materials. All of which are balanced with aesthetically pleasing retro color harmonies and the warmth of California sun soaked lighting to provide that west coast feel.

You might be asking yourself. Where does retouching fit in with CGI product imagery? I’m glad you asked. Post-Production is a huge part of creating photo realistic product renders. For this image, I rendered out multiple variations and render passes of this scene and composited them together in Photoshop for ultimate creative control. (You can read more about this project here: https://digitalartthatrocks.com/blog/2025/1/27/product-photography-cgi-photography-or-both)

Architectural Photography Retouching for Firms, Construction Companies, Corporate Brands & Immersive Experience Design Studios

Look, anyone can snap a picture of a building. But creating architectural photography that evokes interest and commands attention... Well, that requires creative vision, technical proficiency and an eye for detail. When you hire a commercial architecture photographer, you're paying for more than just a picture of a building with four walls and a roof. You're paying for the power to influence perception, inspire trust and look like a true industry leader.

Top tier architectural photography retouching also plays a vital role in helping architecture firms, construction companies, corporate brands and immersive experiential environments to present their spaces with creativity, clarity, and visual impact. Professional retouching enhances architectural photography by correcting lens distortion, refining lighting and shadows, removing distracting unwanted objects, and aligning color tones to accurately reflect materials, finishes and facades.

Whether it's showcasing the clean lines of new commercial construction, capturing the character of a restored historic space, or creating polished marketing visuals for corporate environments or immersive experiences, architectural photo retouching ensures every image reflects the intention behind the design. My work includes advanced compositing techniques, sky replacements, grass replacements, and creative lighting enhancement that allow for imagery that looks clean, intentional, and brand ready. For architecture firms and brands seeking architectural imagery that performs across websites, pitch decks, portfolios, print advertising, and editorial features, professional architectural and retouching is essential to making your work shine.

Why not give every brick, beam, and blade of grass the glory it deserves? When companies need architectural photography with style, they choose Digital Art That Rocks™ 🤘

Below, you’ll find a series of select commercial architecture images that I’ve both photographed and retouched.

Professional retouching for modern architecture photography.

“Colfax Hill Apartments Architectural Twilight Exterior.” I photographed this modern urban living complex for an architecture firm prior to its completion. In the before image, you’ll notice some plywood over what would be another section of glass. Creating a section of building that didn’t exist prior took a lot of time and expertise in post production. But having these post production skills enabled me to create what the architects had envisioned when they designed it. I lit this scene using a combination of ambient light sources as well as off camera lighting in order to help create dimension and further accentuate the form of the brick facade. I also enhanced the landscaping of the property and replaced the original sky with softer clouds and warmer tones. The final hero shot helps visually portray an inviting downtown environment. The leading lines of the pedestrian walkways helps lead your eyes right through the image.

Retouching photos of modern commercial buildings.

Photographing new builds of modern architecture can be really rewarding but also present some challenges. When it comes to photographing new commercial construction, while the facade and parking lots are often in the best shape they’ll ever be in, often times the landscaping is new. That means shrubs, trees and other foliage hasn’t had time to fully settle in. That’s where having a commercial architecture photographer who also happens to be an expert in retouching comes into play.

I photographed this modern architectural exterior during golden hour as the sunlight diminished on the horizon. I captured a variety of exposures that included ambient lighting with polarization, interior lighting, exterior lighting, long exposure light painting with a flashlight and car light streaks. All of these exposures were creatively blended together using a variety of techniques like luminosity masking. To finish it it off, I replaced some foliage and sky with my own personal library of assets that I’ve created over the years.

(You can read more about how I helped a commercial bank strengthen its branding with architectural photography here https://digitalartthatrocks.com/blog/2025/4/7/architectural-photography-commercial-bank)

High-end editing for commercial architectural photography.

Compelling architectural photography starts with great light. Sometimes you get it naturally, other times you have to create it. When photographing large commercial structures and high rise architecture, it’s really important to perform a location scout and take into consideration a good weather forecast. Planning ahead (pre-production) is crucial for a successful architectural photoshoot. Fortunately, for this shot, I had amazing light to work with. It perfectly lit the brick facade and provided warm directional light across the entire scene.

What wasn’t so great was the parking lot. That split pavement was a real eye sore that required some additional work in post production. Fixing the pavement was two fold; I needed to scout for locations with nice black top pavement, photograph that pavement to match the same perspective as the original iamge. That meant photographing a wide open parking lot at the same camera height, focal length and light direction as the original parking lot in order to create a seamless composite image. The result is a much more visually pleasing hero shot.

Architectural photography post-production services.

Successfully photographing a bank exterior in the middle of a city’s busy downtown square meant plenty planning ahead of time. It also meant getting up at 4:30am on a Monday morning in order to beat the hustle and bustle of city traffic and get a clear 1 point perspective view of the bank architecture. I set up professional camera equipment before dawn in order to get the perfect morning exterior as the sun came up. This allowed me to capture a variety of exposures as the light changed throughout the morning hours.

As you can see from the before and after slider image, there was plenty of cleanup work to do in post-production. Not only were there distracting oil stains and parking lines on the road that needed to be removed, the building’s roof was under construction. This meant, digitally re-constructing a finished roof from scratch. This which entailed a LOT of manual work creating selections, materials, and matching light for a believable finish. It’s important to note that there are no tutorials that show you how to fix obscure issues like this. It really comes down to experiencing these types of situations first hand and relying on expert knowledge of tools like Photoshop. You might think to yourself, just use “AI” to fill it in. I tried it and it failed miserably. This is one of those real world obstacles that only expert knowledge and manual retouching is going to solve.

Creative Retouching for architectural exteriors.

When photographing architecture, you don't always get the weather want. When a client asks you to photograph an architectural exterior at the beginning of November in Indiana, you're in store for some gloomy cold weather. Despite the circumstances, my job as a commercial photographer and retoucher is to create an interesting architectural image. Nothing a one point perspective, some creative lighting and a sky replacement can't fix, right? My client also requested that I put their company logo on the building, as it’s something they were looking to do in the future, so I created 3D signage with the company logo that also emitted light onto the building.

Retouching Luxury Lofts, Stadium Architecture & Modern Urban Living

The View Outfield Lofts at Cooley Law School Stadium. I photographed this urban apartment exterior in late morning on a bright and sunny summer day. This is a really unique space in that the apartments overlook the beautiful outfield of Cooley Law School Stadium, home of the Lansing Lugnuts. A large part of the exteriors modern appeal are the bright and bold colors of the facade intertwined with the 4 toned brick work. This exterior presented plenty of challenges that required additional post-production work. First and foremost, the concrete entry way and black top parking lot needed a lot of cleanup and exposure adjustments. Additionally, the sprinkler system had left a giant puddle of water in the middle of the parking lot that was taking my eye away from the structure. Much of the landscaping had just been completed and didn’t have the opportunity to be fully manicured. So there was patchy grass, leaning trees and foliage with uneven color. Last but not least, the reflections on the windows needed to be tamed down a bit. As you’ll see in the before and after of this image, a ton of work needed to be done in order to achieve this super clean architectural daylight exterior.

Tempe Center For The Arts - Retouching architectural interiors.

I photographed this beautiful, well designed architectural staircase at the Tempe Center For The Arts in Tempe, Arizona. The red carpet on the long winding stairs and industrial glasswork were being washed away by the ambient light on the opposing side creating a really flat image. By creatively overpowering the ambient light with off camera flash and blending exposures together in post production, I was able to really carve out the shape and form of the multi-level staircase and highlight the architectural features of this well designed commercial space which created a much more pleasing and dynamic architectural interior image.

High-end architectural image editing for interior design firms.

This modern hotel interior features abstract art, contemporary furniture, stylish light fixtures and bold accents colors. In architectural photography, a single exposure simply cannot capture the beauty of this home away from home suite. Capturing a combination of exposures with camera flash, window lighting and room lighting, I’m able to balance everything out in post-production by artfully blending exposures together.

Architectural Photography & Retouching - Museum Interior. I photographed this museum interior at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee. This is a single image from a much larger body of work that I created on this shoot. Museum spaces like this present a unique set of creative challenges including but not limited to foot traffic from museum patrons, multi-media displays that project interactive media, highly reflective surfaces such as glass cases, and of course, beautiful wood floors that cast color on everything in it’s path. In addition, these types of spaces have a really wide dynamic range of luminance levels. In other words, the pin lighting is very specular and bright whereas the darkest ares of the ceiling can go almost completely black. In order to balance the exposure out and capture detail in all of these areas, it requires capturing a range of exposures on set and blending them together seamlessly in post production in order to balance out the luminosity levels.

An interior image like this requires shooting multiple frames on set in order to capture the various exposures, polarizations and any additional lighting needed for post production. As you can see in the final retouched image, this shot truly benefited from exposure blending in to see the vast dynamic range of tones, a significant amount of color work to help create visual separation of each design component, compositing of polarized exposures in order minimize unwanted and distracting reflections on shiny surfaces such as glass and finally retouching to remove handprints and blemishes from exhibit walls and glass cases that display and protect historic artifacts. The final shots from this series were a collection of cohesive, vibrant, well balanced architectural photography. No detail went unnoticed.

Architectural Photography & Retouching - Museum Interior Panoramic View. I photographed the panoramic museum interior of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia. This is a single image from a much larger collection of work that I created for my client on this photo shoot.

This space is a truly eclectic mix of American history and modern day immersive experience design. As you can see, there’s a lot to take in. This museum space presented a variety of creative challenges including but not limited to the highly reflective surfaces such as glass cases, touch screen interactives and multi-media projection displays that project video content

With its bright and specular pin lighting to its contrasting dark floors and ceilings, this space had a really wide dynamic range of luminance levels that needed to be properly captured on set. As with all of the other museum and exhibit spaces that I’ve photographed over the years, this interior image required shooting multiple frames on set in order to capture the various exposures, polarizations and lighting variations needed for compositing in post production.

The resulting final image is a perfect example of an image that would be impossible to capture with a single exposure. As you can see in the final retouched image, creating an architectural shot like this is not for the faint of heart. It requires keen attention to detail while on set as well as an immense amount of post production knowledge in order to pull it off. The final panoramic image was well over 100 megapixels in resolution and when you see it on a giant screen in it’s native size, it’s almost like you’re there in person. The results speak for themselves.

Revolution in Automation: An Industrial Architecture Interior. The concept of this photoshoot was to show that the client's facility runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week to meet the demands of their customers, despite only having employees overseeing operations during the course of a normal workday. In order to creatively visualize that concept, I decided to completely cut off all of the ambient fluorescent lighting that you're used to seeing a facility like this and instead painted this space in creative lighting. The end result was truly incredible. 

Here's a video that visualizes my creative process for this photoshoot

Fort Wayne Cityscape Architecture. Using only a combination of natural light and time, I creatively blended multiple exposures together to create this highly dynamic city scape in the beautiful city of Fort Wayne Indiana. This image would have been impossible to create in one shot. In addition to scouting this location over the course of a day, once I had my composition dialed in, I bracketed exposures for a good 2-3 hours of time.

Vintage Sinclair Station. This privately owned space turned vintage Sinclair gas station museum has the aesthetic of a simpler time. I wanted to compliment that by combining soft natural light in combination with ambient interior lighting and off camera flash. Furthermore, I simplified the surrounding environment by removing a nearby lake house and very distracting tree. 

Automotive Photography High-End Retouching & Compositing

Automotive photography demands a level of precision and polish that only expert retouching can deliver. From enhancing paint finishes and refining reflections to cleaning up backgrounds, creating backplates and perfecting lighting balance, professional automotive retouching transforms raw captures into visually striking, showroom quality images. Whether it's a commercial campaign for a new vehicle launch, a lifestyle shoot for digital ads, or studio shots for print and web, professional automotive retouching ensures every detail; grilles, badges, headlights, and body panels look flawless and brand consistent from shot to shot. Retouching helps emphasize the essence of performance, luxury, or innovation, tailored to each vehicle and marketing objective. For car brands looking to stand out across advertising, social media, editorial features, and dealer materials, investing in premium retouching is essential to making a lasting visual impact.

Below, you’ll find a series of select commercial automotive images that I’ve photographed as well as retouched.

Commercial Automotive Photography with Pro Retouching - Mazda Panoramic Composite Image. Here’s a behind the scenes look at an automotive composite image that I created. I first photographed the vehicle outdoors using a strategically placed composition where the ambient light really enhanced the body lines of the car. I shot a variety of exposures that I could later use for retouching and compositing the car itself. After some location scouting, I then photographed a panoramic background plate in a completely different location. This image was meant to be visually alluring and all about creating a mood and vibe. To complement the soul red, I created predominantly monochromatic red color harmony, replaced the sky with more interesting clouds, added some out of focus foliage in the foreground to create more depth and enhanced the lighting to finish the look I was going for.

Commercial Automotive Hero Composite. I won an addy award from the American Advertising Federation for this particular composite image. This type of image requires a lot of work both in planning and production. I started by photographing a mobile kitchen unit on location in a controlled environment, using studio strobes and lighting every facet of the vehicle. Once I had all the frames needed, I then composited them into a single cohesive retouched vehicle on a white background as a standalone product image. Once I had a retouched vehicle as my base image, I then photographed the chef and other elements to create a hero composite which served as the face of an entire campaign for this product line.