Creator Christiane finds maximum passion through her minimalist product photography style

Christiane McCoy is a product photographer based in Bradenton, Florida. With a background in advertising, Christiane's passion for photography has always shone brightly. So much so that she now pursues product photography full-time.

We were immediately drawn to Christiane's clean and minimalist style, and impressed by her professionalism. She excelled in her first project with Creatively Squared and has become one of our go-to creators for product styling. Christiane was entrusted with a product launch, and she certainly didn't disappoint, producing a multitude of colourful stills and motion graphics for the shampoo range BHS.

From her humble home studio, Christiane has now produced many premium-quality assets for our customers, such as Nexxus, Ponds, Smile Direct Club, and Suave. Keep scrolling down to see some of our favourite assets produced by Christiane and get to know this talented creator more.

Let’s meet Christiane

Hey, I’m Christiane McCoy! I fell in love with photography in college when I would spend hours in the dark room, developing films and learning about new and old techniques. Once digital cameras took over, I had to learn a new system of autofocus, raw images, and all the latest and most convenient features the digital system brought us.

After college, I worked in advertising, but I always had photography as a hobby. About three years ago, I decided to take the plunge and finally do what fulfills my soul. I started as a food photographer, but quickly realized it was only natural for me to combine my passion for photography with my background in advertising, and do product photography.

My favourite genre of photography is definitely product photography. There’s something magical about bringing the brand's vision to life through images, especially if it’s a brand that allows me to have some level of creative freedom, combining the best of both worlds.

I would describe my personal aesthetic as minimalistic and clean. Sometimes also being bright and fun. Always keeping the product as the hero and clear main focus.

My Creatively Squared journey

I found out about Creative Squared through Instagram and quickly became interested in working with major brands while exchanging ideas with other photographers in the community and improving my creative skills.

I’d say the most enjoyable project was my first project with Creatively Squared which is for Beautiful Hair and Scalp (BHS). The brand was new in the market, and having my images be the first few images for this brand was a very exciting idea. I went above and beyond to ensure that the images were exactly how the brand wanted to convey their image, and still maintain my bright, clean and minimalistic look.

Tools of the trade

In my home studio, I work with a Nikon camera, Manfrotto tripod, two Godox DP600 III lights, plus three additional speed lights along with many light modifiers like snoots, softboxes, stripboxes, reflectors, umbrellas, octaboxes, and a plethora of A-clamps! (you can’t ever have too many A-clamps).

Fun fact: I have a small-but-mighty home studio. It’s equipped with everything I need to create images for small and medium products. And still, have enough space to show off my collection of vintage cameras!

[#cta]

When it comes down to capturing, uploading, and editing my images, I use Capture One for shooting live, Lightroom for culling images, and Photoshop for editing them.

I love having simple, but effective props - ones that can be utilized many times. The most versatile ones are my white wooden risers. They deliver a clean and sleek look but also allow me to change their color in Photoshop. Acrylic and crystal blocks also have a special place in my heart, always delivering a high-end look.

Christiane’s cleverly uses her go-to white wooden risers as platforms to elevate her products. Source: Creatively Squared

Christiane’s creative process

For my Creatively Squared shoots, when the deadline permits, I plan my shoots with a mood board. Despite having to follow a brief, I still try to find inspiration outside the brief that compliments the brand's aesthetics. I aim to deliver a gallery with enough variety. To do that, drawing inspiration from other elements, like art, nature, architecture, and pop culture is often a key piece in my creative process.

Creating mood boards allows me to get into the creative zone. That usually inspires me and gets me actually excited to spend long days in the studio. I also like to have music playing while I shoot. I find that my best shoots happen when I have music on.

As a one-man team, I’m also starting to consider an assistant to help with tasks I don’t have time for (or simply don’t like doing, like posting on social media…LOL)

Who inspires Christiane

I follow a few of my favourite product photographers on Instagram, and also a few photography and Photoshop-related hashtags. It’s always good to keep learning new techniques, and there are some great professionals out there generous enough to share their knowledge in the form of Reels.

Top creative tip

My top tip for creating amazing content is to keep learning. In my opinion, there’s always room for improvement, no matter how experienced you are. Technology and trends move so fast these days, you just can’t let yourself fall behind.

What’s next for Christiane?

One thing I’m planning to learn this year is CGI for product photography. And also, the shiny new thing everyone is talking about, generating AI images.