For a physical reference, I purchased a jar of juice from my local health foods store. I removed the label and scanned it. If this had been a real job, however, I would most likely have access to digital copies of the actual label art. The pattern in the glass was created with what is called a "bump map", a grayscale image whose white and lighter areas become high points, and its black and darker areas become low points in the surface relief.

Having constructed a computer model of the jar, I can quickly and easily change the label, the color of the cap, and the color of the liquid inside and make an unlimited number of product images, all of which will have perfectly consistent coloring, size, and lighting; All of which will will look as good or better than a photograph, and which will cost far less, too.

An alpha channel is made automatically as part of the rendering process, so background elimination takes only a couple seconds. Though rendered images could be virtually any size, I typically scan labels at 300 dpi so that I can create actual-size rendered image masters which are of adequate resolution for offset lithography. Lower-res copies for websites can be made, also, of course.

Download a flyer outlining the advantages of virtual photography (PDF format 184 Kb).