Designs the lighting plan for a product shot - one motivated key sized 2-3x the product and placed close, one dedicated source per surface built in layers of 4-8, shaped gradient reflections on glossy faces, rim light 1-2 stops above the adjacent background, and a designed contact shadow - emitted as a numbered rig plan a photographer, 3D artist, or prompt writer can execute. Use when someone asks "how do I light a product shot so it looks premium", "design the lighting setup for our product shoot", "why does my product photo look flat and cheap", "how should I light a glossy device for a hero shot", or when any product image shows pinpoint hotspots or a shadowless floating product. Do NOT use to write the model-facing generation prompt - use photoreal-prompt-craft instead; for sourcing existing photos, use stock-photo-finder.
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name: studio-lighting-design
description: Designs the lighting plan for a product shot - one motivated key sized 2-3x the product and placed close, one dedicated source per surface built in layers of 4-8, shaped gradient reflections on glossy faces, rim light 1-2 stops above the adjacent background, and a designed contact shadow - emitted as a numbered rig plan a photographer, 3D artist, or prompt writer can execute. Use when someone asks "how do I light a product shot so it looks premium", "design the lighting setup for our product shoot", "why does my product photo look flat and cheap", "how should I light a glossy device for a hero shot", or when any product image shows pinpoint hotspots or a shadowless floating product. Do NOT use to write the model-facing generation prompt - use photoreal-prompt-craft instead; for sourcing existing photos, use stock-photo-finder.
---
# studio-lighting-design
The single fastest cheap tell in product imagery is a pinpoint hotspot from a too-small source next to a product floating with no contact shadow. One bad hero poisons every asset built on it, and relighting after a shoot or a render pass is the most expensive fix in the pipeline. Without a designed rig, every downstream frame inherits the same plastic look. This skill designs the light before anything is captured, rendered, or prompted.
## Operating procedure
Run the steps in order: geometry before sources, sources before shadows. Each layer is validated against the previous one, and on a real set the lights go on one at a time - a rig designed out of order cannot be built one light at a time.
### Step 1: Elicit the subject and the charter
Ask for the client's charter first - it supplies canvas polarity and stage values. Paste the charter block if one exists. If the client has a charter but the foundations pack is not installed, elicit the needed values directly and label them provisional. If no charter exists at all, halt and route to premium-design-foundations - never substitute worked-example values. Then gather:
1. **Product** longest dimension in mm.
2. **Surfaces**, named one by one: face, edge, chamfer, rail, grille, strap. Decompose the geometry - the rig is built per surface, not per product.
3. **Gloss level** per surface: mirror, semi-gloss, or matte.
4. **Background** choice: seamless light, dark-field stage, or environment.
5. **Deliverable**: photo, 3D render, or prompt spec.
Neutral geometry defaults only, when the user cannot answer: phone-class device 155mm, semi-gloss glass face, seamless light. If a number is a guess, label it a guess and move on.