Ghost Mannequin Lipstick Photography: How Brands Make Lipstick “Float”

Floating product images are everywhere in beauty marketing, lipsticks floating, caps opening mid-air, soft shadows anchoring them in place.

This look isn’t magic. It’s smart rigging, multiple plate shots, and clean compositing, very similar to professional ghost mannequin effects used in high-end product and apparel photography.

Great visuals matter: over 90% of buyers judge products by appearance, and strong images can boost conversions by 30–40%.

This guide breaks down how floating lipstick images really work, from setup to editing, so brands can create premium visuals that actually sell.

The “Floating Lipstick” Illusion, Explained in 20 Seconds

On social feeds the effect appears effortless: a lipstick tube levitates, perhaps split into cap, bullet and base, with crisp reflections and a soft shadow. In reality there’s a three‑part formula:

1. Support – Something holds the product in place. That might be a clear acrylic rod, thin fishing line, a clamp that grips outside the frame or simply the product resting naturally.
2. Plates – Multiple photos (called plates) capture the hero shot, clean background, shadow reference and any extra details. These are composited in post.
3. Polish – Post‑production removes supports, perfects edges, matches highlights and shadows, and cleans surfaces. The result must look physical, not like a cut‑out.

What viewers think is happening vs. what’s actually happening

Perception: A lipstick floats weightlessly above the set, its cap separated from the base with perfect alignment. The shadow underneath provides weight but doesn’t reveal any rigging. Highlights on the tube and bullet are soft yet defined, describing the cylindrical form.

Reality: The product is physically supported, often by a clear rod or filament line. Photographers capture a sequence of shots, the product on its support, the scene without the product (a clean plate), the product resting naturally to get a realistic contact shadow and sometimes a reflection plate on glass or acrylic.

These plates are aligned and layered in Photoshop. Masking removes the support while preserving highlights; cloning and healing rebuild missing pixels; and shadows or reflections are added based on real physics.

Quick glossary

• Ghost mannequin: In apparel photography the ghost mannequin (or invisible mannequin) effect removes a mannequin from multiple photos to create a lifelike 3D product image. It involves photographing the garment on a mannequin and combining images so the mannequin disappears.
• Levitation shot: A photograph where an object appears to float. In product work the levitation often uses strings, wires or props; after photographing the supported object, the supports are removed in post. For example, hanging items from thin strings and then erasing the lines in editing is a popular approach.
• Support removal: The retouching step where rigging (rods, wires, clamps) used to suspend the product is removed from the final composite. Clean plates make this easier.
• Contact shadow vs. drop shadow: A contact shadow is the dark area directly where an object touches a surface; it prevents the object from looking like it’s floating unnaturally. A drop shadow is an offset, blurred shadow that makes an object appear to rise above the surface. In floating product images, a contact shadow grounds the product and gives it weight, while a drop shadow alone can look fake.
• Specular highlight: A specular highlight is a mirror‑like reflection of a light source on a glossy surface. Properly used, specular highlights reveal the shape of reflective items such as metal lipstick tubes and signal a premium finish.

Why Brands Love The Float (It’s Not Just “Cool”)

High‑impact floating shots aren’t merely eye candy. They deliver measurable business benefits:

• Conveys premium engineering and clean design. A hovering lipstick with perfect symmetry suggests that the packaging was engineered with care. Specular highlights from large light sources reveal the metallic finish and evoke luxury.
• Hero product energy. With no distractions around it, the product becomes the star of the frame. The human eye is drawn to the floating object, which increases attention and memorability. In e‑commerce, high‑quality product photography can increase conversion rates by up to 40 %.
• Stops scrolling. Unexpected visuals, like a lipstick suspended mid‑air with its cap hovering above — interrupt the endless scroll on social feeds. Customers pause to examine the image, giving your product a better chance to be noticed.
• Versatile placements. Floating lipstick images work well as hero banners on product detail pages (PDPs), collection headers, paid social ads and email campaigns. The isolated object allows designers to easily overlay text or graphics.

When Floating is a Bad Idea

Floating shots aren’t appropriate everywhere. Marketplaces like Amazon have strict image requirements and may reject photos where products appear to float or are shown on colored backgrounds.

For listings where shade accuracy and texture details are paramount, a natural resting shot or ghost mannequin effect may be better. 

Ultra‑minimal catalog images, where dozens of SKUs are displayed together, might also forego levitation to keep the presentation consistent. Use floating shots strategically as hero assets rather than for every image.

Pre‑Shoot Setup That Saves Hours in Photoshop

Polished levitation images start long before you open Photoshop. Careful preparation reduces retouching time and improves realism.

Product prep checklist (the “fingerprint tax” is real)

• Cleaning kit essentials: Use lint‑free microfiber cloths, compressed air, cotton swabs, and latex gloves to remove dust, fingerprints and smudges. A rocket blower and soft brush gently dislodge particles without scratching surfaces. Alcohol‑based lens wipes work on glossy tubes.
• Label alignment and cap seating: Misaligned labels or crooked caps are obvious in close‑up shots. Use a reference line on your set to ensure logos face the camera and caps sit flush.
• Surface inspection: Shine a hard light across the lipstick to spot dust and imperfections. Inspect from multiple angles because macro lenses reveal everything. Cleaning now is far easier than cloning out dust later.

Pick the float style before lighting

• True levitation: The lipstick appears completely suspended with no visible surface. Use fishing line or two‑plate compositing to achieve negative space. This style offers striking visuals but requires careful shadow creation.
• Hover above surface: The product floats just above a surface, creating a soft contact shadow that anchors it. A clear acrylic rod or small stand under the base is later removed. Because the shadow is real, this style sells realism.
• Floating with reflection: Placing the product on a glossy surface like glass or acrylic creates a reflection, adding polish. You still remove the support but keep the real reflection or blend it with a separate plate.
• Exploded view: Cap, bullet and tube are separated but remain aligned. Each component may be supported individually on rods or lines. When done properly it feels dynamic yet believable.

Background decisions that affect retouching difficulty

• Pure white vs. soft gradient vs. brand color: White backgrounds are standard for e‑commerce but reveal dust and are unforgiving with shadows. Soft gradients or colored backdrops add mood and complement brand palettes but require careful lighting and edge blending.
• Seamless paper vs. acrylic vs. glass: Seamless paper is inexpensive and non‑reflective but doesn’t allow real reflections. Acrylic sheets provide clean reflections but attract dust; glass gives crisp reflections and drop shadows but can produce glare. Choose based on the desired effect (reflection vs. minimalism) and your ability to manage reflections.

The Four Most Reliable Ways to Make Lipstick “Float” on Set

Each rigging method offers different strengths. The choice depends on the shot’s style, production speed, risk tolerance and editing skill.

Method 1 — Clear acrylic rod/support (the studio favorite)

Best for: Hover shots and catalog series where dozens of lipsticks must look consistent.

Gear: Clear acrylic rods (⅛‑inch or ¼‑inch diameter), clamps or putty to secure the rod, micro stands. Place the rod under or behind the product, entering at an angle that will later be easiest to retouch.

Key tip: Position the rod so that specular highlights run along it. When removing the rod in post, the highlight from the light source will mask any minor cloning artifacts. If the rod casts a shadow, capture a clean plate for removal.

Risk level & editing: Low risk. The rod offers stability and allows precise positioning. Editing difficulty is moderate; cloning around the rod is straightforward with a clean plate.

Method 2 — Fishing line or thin filament rig (high reward, high patience)

Best for: True levitation with negative space above and below. According to levitation guides, one accessible method is simply hanging the product from thin strings or fishing line and then removing the lines in post.

Gear: Strong, transparent fishing line; overhead bar or C‑stand to suspend the line; small clips or hot glue to attach the line to the lipstick; sandbags to stabilize stands.

Common fail: Fishing line often reflects light or causes the product to spin unpredictably. A small twist can misalign the label. Line reflections are tricky to remove if they overlap with specular highlights.

Editing difficulty: High. Removing thin lines that cross over the product requires careful masking and may involve painting back lost texture. Use a clean plate and consider photographing additional angles for safety.

Method 3 — Hidden clamp/arm outside frame (fast for production)

Best for: Speed and batch shooting with heavier packaging. A clamp or arm holds the lipstick just outside the frame, leaving only the floating effect visible.

Gear: Articulating arms or magic arms, spring clamps, C‑stands. Attach the clamp to the product’s base or side and position it so that only the product appears in frame.

Advantages: Quick to set up and stable. Because the support is outside the frame, there is no physical rig to remove, saving retouching time.

Editing difficulty: Low. Since nothing intersects the product, compositing is minimal. However, ensure the clamp doesn’t cast stray shadows into frame.

Method 4 — “Two‑plate cheat” (no risky rigging)

Best for: Situations where rigging is risky (fragile packaging) or time is limited.

Process: 1. Photograph the lipstick resting naturally on the surface; 2. Without moving the camera, remove the lipstick and capture a clean background; 3. In Photoshop, mask the lipstick and move it upward to create a hover. The real shadow and lighting remain because the product was shot in the scene.

Editing difficulty: Low to moderate. You must carefully cut out the product, reposition it and blend edges. The resulting shadow is real, but you might need to warp it slightly for the hover height. This method avoids any physical rig but limits positioning freedom.

Quick decision guide (choose the method in 30 seconds)

• Need a real shadow anchor? Use hover methods with a rod or two‑plate cheat.
• Need perfect negative space? Use fishing line or two‑plate compositing.
• Need consistency across 50 SKUs? Use an acrylic rod with a plate plan so every product is lit and positioned the same.

The Plate Shot List Brands Use (The Secret to “Looks Real”)

Professional retouchers rely on plates — extra shots that provide pixels for compositing. Shooting smart plates up front cuts hours of editing later.

Minimum plates (the “no regrets” set)

Pro plates (when the product is glossy or metallic)

• Highlight recovery plate: Slightly change the light or exposure to capture details in blown‑out highlights; essential for metallic tubes where specular highlights define shape.
• Label detail plate: Shoot a macro close‑up of the label for extra sharpness; blend it into the final image to ensure legibility.
• Cap/bullet separate plates: For exploded views, photograph each component separately to control focus and lighting.

Camera discipline rules (small moves = big compositing pain)

• Lock your tripod and tethered capture. Even tiny shifts between plates cause misalignment and ghosting. Use remote triggering to avoid bumping the camera.
• Manual focus strategy. For macro product shots, autofocus can hunt between plates. Use manual focus and mark the focus ring or note the distance.
• Consistent exposure and white balance. Shoot all plates in the same lighting environment. Changing exposure will cause mismatch in brightness and color, making composites unnatural.

Lighting Setups That Make Floating Look Physical (Not Cut‑Out)

The “softbox + flags” recipe for premium tube shine

Metal lipstick tubes need soft, gradient highlights to look cylindrical. To achieve this:

• Use a large softbox or strip light as the key light. The light should be about 45° to the product, above eye level.
• Place black flags (black foamcore) on either side of the product to create negative fill and sculpt edges. Without negative fill, chrome looks flat.
• Position reflectors or white cards opposite the key to fill in shadows subtly. Adjust until specular highlights run smoothly along the tube, describing its roundness.

One‑light setup for speed (and how to avoid flat results)

If you have one large softbox, you can create a quick, professional look by placing it above and slightly in front of the lipstick. To avoid flat images:

• Angle the softbox so that the key light hits the front of the product while leaving the back slightly darker. This creates depth.
• Use a white bounce card opposite the light for fill or a black card for contrast.
• Watch the label. If the label isn’t readable, adjust the light angle or use a small reflector to brighten the logo.

Glossy cap problems (and how lighting fixes half the work)

Plastic and glossy caps reflect everything in the room. To minimize distracting reflections:

• Surround the product with black cards and only allow controlled specular highlights from your chosen light source.
• Use a light tent or diffusion material to create large, even light sources. A larger light source produces smoother specular highlights and reduces hot spots.
• Avoid mixing colors of light; keep your key, fill and background lights at the same color temperature. Adjust until the cap looks premium rather than cheap.

Pricing & Time Planning for Floating Lipstick Sets

Producing floating lipstick images is labor‑intensive. Pricing depends on complexity, surface type, number of plates and consistency requirements.

What actually drives cost (not just “per image”)

• Surface difficulty: Glossy and metallic surfaces require more plates and careful lighting. Retouching metallic tubes to maintain specular highlights is more time‑consuming than editing matte packaging.
• Plate complexity: Adding shadow and reflection plates increases capture and compositing time. Additional highlight recovery or detail plates add cost.
• Consistency demands: Shooting one hero image takes time, but shooting 30 SKUs with identical positioning and lighting requires meticulous setup, rigging and batch editing. Bulk editing may lower per‑image cost but increases total time.

Estimation table (use for quoting or internal planning)

Revision policy that protects margins

• Define what counts as a revision. Minor exposure or color tweaks? Included. Major repositioning or adding reflection? New request.
• Approval checkpoints. Send hero composites with and without shadows/reflections for approval before performing final polish. This prevents re‑doing hours of work.

Final Wrap

Convincing levitation is less about making a product float and more about respecting physics. Shadows anchor weight; specular highlights describe shape; reflections hint at surface and environment.

Get those three cues right and your audience will believe what they see. The rest is craft: clean preparation, smart plates, careful compositing and rigorous quality control.

Shoot smart and edit thoughtfully, and your floating lipstick images will feel tangible, premium and irresistible.

Ghost Mannequin Lipstick Photography FAQs: Real Tricks Behind the Magic

How do brands make products look like they’re floating?

They suspend products with clear supports, shoot multiple plates (with support, clean background, shadow), then remove supports in editing while keeping real shadows.

What’s the easiest way to create a floating product shot?

Shoot the product normally, then shoot the empty background without moving the camera. Cut the product and lift it above its real shadow.

How do you make floating lipstick look real in Photoshop?

Use real shadows, match highlights to your lighting, and avoid hard black shadows or over-smoothed edges.

How do you create realistic shadows for levitation photos?

Shoot a shadow plate with the product resting, then place that shadow under the floating product and adjust blur and opacity.

What background works best for floating cosmetic photos?

White or soft gradients work best. Bold colors can work but need careful lighting and clean edges.

How do you remove fishing line without ruining highlights?

Use a clean background plate and rebuild any damaged highlights carefully, don’t blur them away.

Can you walk me through ghost mannequin techniques for lipstick packaging?

Shoot the lipstick supported, capture clean and shadow plates, remove the support in editing, then place the tube above its real shadow so it looks suspended but natural.