Pantone
Color of the Year 2026
Product & Lifestyle Section Campaign Imagery
Photography · Production · Post-production
Photographing Cloud Dancer
Client
Pantone
Role
Lead Photographer
Scope
Photography, Production Support, Post-production
Deliverables
Product Photography, Lifestyle Photography, E-commerce Assets
Overview
For the PANTONE® Color of the Year 2026 campaign, I photographed a product and lifestyle image library for PANTONE 11-4201 Cloud Dancer.
The collection ranged from clean, e-commerce-ready product imagery to lifestyle scenes built around moments of calm, focus, and everyday ritual. Together, the images needed to work both as individual retail assets and as a cohesive visual system across Pantone’s Color of the Year experience.
The Brief
The goal was to create a consistent set of images for the Cloud Dancer collection that could work across multiple online contexts:
- Product listing pages
- E-commerce thumbnails and detail views
- Color of the Year lifestyle content
- Editorial and promotional placements
Each product needed to remain clear and recognizable at a glance, while the larger image system needed to communicate the quiet, tactile atmosphere behind Cloud Dancer.
The Approach
Product Photography
With a near-white palette, the product photography depended on subtle tonal separation rather than strong contrast. Soft directional light and restrained shadows were used to define edges, surfaces, and material differences without making the images feel heavy.
Particular attention went to preserving texture across ceramic, paper, textile, metal, and packaging while keeping the collection visually consistent.
Lifestyle Photography
For the lifestyle imagery, the products were placed within three everyday narratives:
- Morning Ritual
- Creative Flow
- Everyday Calm
Rather than styling the products as isolated objects, each setup placed them within a recognizable routine – making coffee, working, writing, or pausing at home.
Soft blues, warm neutrals, textured surfaces, and natural materials introduced enough contrast and warmth to define the scenes without competing with Cloud Dancer itself.
The Result
The final image library gave Pantone a consistent set of product and lifestyle assets for the Color of the Year 2026 launch, spanning e-commerce, editorial, and promotional use.
Across both the controlled product images and the more contextual lifestyle scenes, the photography maintained a shared visual language built around subtle contrast, material detail, and tonal consistency.