Lahjat by Varmasti – product photography in the studio and at Koitelinkoski

Lahjat by Varmasti makes Finnish corporate gifts as a turnkey service. Its slogan is ”rugged, beautiful, Finnish”: brass, reclaimed timber, local flavour. The online store was about to launch, and the images had to do two things at once — sell the product and give a brand-new company credibility.

We started in the studio in Oulu. Product photography is slow, precise work. The brass surface, the engravings and the grain of the timber have to look exactly right, and that comes down to fine-tuning the light. Each of the four products — Varma-shot, Varma-mitta, Valo-kit and Maku-kit — was shot in two ways: clean cut-out product images for the webshop, and mood images for the brand look.

The website turned out dark and premium. It needed striking hero and mood images, and a plain white background wouldn't have been enough. I created them by combining the product shot in the studio with an AI-generated background: smoky darkness and open landscapes. This produced a premium landscape image with the hero product — without travelling to a distant location — while the product itself stayed authentic and correctly lit.

The second shoot took us outdoors. I shot the lifestyle and location images in the evening at Koitelinkoski, by the campfire and the rapids. The client appeared in the images themselves. That gives the brand a face and a human touch that a product shot alone can't. The warm glow of the setting sun and the blue dusk tied the images into the same mood.

The result is a coherent visual world that works on product pages, as the front-page hero and in marketing. Exactly the premium look the young brand set out to find.

See the finished result: lahjatbyvarmasti.fi