Here’s a helpful 6-minute tutorial by photographer Dustin Dolby on how you can photograph group product photos using only a single speedlight.
Dolby places a number of shampoo and conditioner bottles on a sheet of acrylic and then uses light to craft space.
Using a 8×36-inch stripbox and Yongnuo YN560 III flash, Dolby shoots photos while illuminating the scene from the left, right, back, and front. Here are the original 4 exposures that resulted:
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823737_121_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823738_729_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823739_450_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
These frames can then be composited into a single image using Photoshop’s Lighten blending mode.
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823739_619_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823740_967_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823741_692_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/freepreset.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1582823742_688_How-to-Shoot-Group-Product-Photos-with-Only-One-Flash.jpg?resize=800%2C530&ssl=1)
The fact that you’re blending in the background as a separate frame means you can apply a hue saturation to that layer to make it look as though you used a colored gel.
Here’s the final group product photo that resulted from using this technique with a single speedlight:
“I don’t think things should be shot with one speedlight like this typically or in a professional environment,” Dolby says, “but by boiling things down to the one light, we help people out who have [less] gear […] but also it forces us to understand each exposure.”