On the first discovery call, the owner and CMO of Specialty Wood Products walked me through a frustration I hear often from building product brands. Their siding is high craft, finished to exact specs for every kind of design, from rustic to modern to fire resistant. They had hired photographers before to put it on their website, and the photos never converted. The color, the grain and the shine all got lost on the screen.

I knew right away we needed to borrow from e-commerce. Photograph every board perfectly, under the same light source, and rotate it 45 degrees in each direction so a viewer can watch the sheen travel across the grain the way it does when you hold a sample in your hand.

Before production day, we tested the setup in the studio until the workflow was locked: one key light through a large softbox with an egg crate to control spill, and a custom rig to hold each board at exactly the same angles.

Before we ever set up a light, I built SWP a mock-up story page with a working rollover so the team could see the idea for themselves. That page is what sold the approach, and it grew into the case study you are reading now.

The concept board

The shoot ran one full day in March 2023. We loaded straight into SWP’s warehouse, where their inventory lives. It was winter, the building was heated only by a few blast heaters, and the garage bays had to stay open for ventilation. It was cold the entire shoot, and we kept going.

Steve, my assistant and digital tech for the day, set up a tech table with tethering and external drives so we could review color on site. Exposure mattered most. Shadows in wood tones can look right to the eye in many different shades, and having the editing bay on location is what let us get them exact. The tripod and rig held each board at the correct angles, shot after shot, for perfect consistency and framing. Every frame was captured with pixel shift, a multi-exposure technique that pulls out the finest fibers of the wire brushing.

While the boards were being photographed, Steve set up our largest chroma key green screen in the warehouse. We lit the backdrop and the scene to mimic outdoor light, the way these sidings are actually seen. Behind a prop wall clad in each color, we dropped in scenic backgrounds and blended the wall into them, swapping the siding on the wall as we shot each finish.

For the full product line, each finish was delivered as a straight-on and an angled frame, stacked so the light can be turned on screen. Eighteen finishes, each photographed the same way: the wall straight on and angled, a close-up straight on and angled, and the wall placed into three scenes. Choose a finish, then turn it through the light.

WallStraight on · Angled

Close-upStraight on · Angled

Move across either image, or tap it, to turn the siding through the light.

SWP also offers its finishes as small sample panels for architects and builders. Twelve more products, including the Accoya and Douglas fir lines, were photographed the same way.

Each small sample panel was photographed straight on and tilted back, under the same light as the full walls. Move across the panel, tap it, or tip your phone forward and back to see the finish catch the light.

• Late JanuarySWP calls about photographing roughly thirty siding products, with multiple angles of each, on a wall their team built for the purpose.
• Early FebruaryAfter weighing several options, SWP chooses Architectural Storytelling, followed by a walkthrough of their facility.
• Early MarchBefore the shoot, I build SWP a working mock-up page with the rollover effect so they can see the idea live.
• Mid MarchOne full production day in the warehouse, with tethered review and an on-site digital tech. Proofs are delivered two days later.
• SpringClipping paths, composites and scene blends with specialist retouching partners, every frame aligned and art directed by me.
• SummerFinal delivery of the complete library: walls, close-ups, scenes, small panels and transparent cut-outs for SWP’s web team.

The full library covered thirty products: every New Age finish as a full wall straight on and angled, close-ups at both angles, each wall placed into three scenes, plus the small sample panels and clean cut-out versions for SWP’s web team. It was made for SWP’s New Age Siding website, so architects, designers and builders understand the material before they order samples.

Photography and art direction: TJ Romero · Assistant and digital tech: Steve

See more commercial and architectural photography.

Jeff, who led the project for SWP, said the mock-up page “opened our eyes to what can be done.”