Have you ever been frustrated as to why your cake photo just doesn’t look like the ones in the magazines? Have you ever wondered how to photograph desserts ?
For those of you who have or are thinking of starting a baking business you know how important great photography is for your website and/or social media.
Believe it or not, even with simple digital cameras, you can achieve nice, simple and clean photos of your cakes. You can also get creative with your photos by throwing in a splash and dash of food styling, too, if you wish.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you photograph your desserts!
1. Spend a few minutes reading your camera manual or simply playing around with your camera.
I’m talking about a simple consumer point-and-shoot camera, that digital SLR you picked up on a whim, or even your smart phone — all consumer cameras have adjustable settings. Play around with your camera for a good while. Practice by photographing an apple on a plate, or whatever you have lying around. Don’t feel intimidated by it, just play around. The more comfortable you are with your camera and the more you experiment and try out what the different settings do, the better you will get at taking photos.
2. Use natural light.
Do you have a room in your home or cake studio that has an abundance of beautiful natural light? Choose a time of day when the light is bright in this room. Open the blinds and let the light shine in. I recommend using a plain white sheet or sheer white curtain to help filter the light, too, to cast a softer photograph.
Try a few different angles to take your photograph. You want the light in front of, to the left or the left side of your cake. Taking a photo in front of a window often leads to the cake being a dark silhouette. Basically you want to avoid using your camera’s flash, and you also want to choose natural light over any artificial light, such as your kitchen overhead lights. Try to take your cake photos in the day time. If that’s not possible, then still try and limit the use of your flash.
3. Eliminate background clutter.
Nothing ruins a nice beautiful cake like a cluttered background jammed up with your bag and last night’s leftovers on the counter. If you’re photographing your cake on your kitchen table, for example, try using a large piece of poster board behind your cake as a backdrop. Buy pretty colored poster board, or cover it with fabric. You can also use a nice clean wall in your home as a backdrop.
Also, be sure to remove all the clutter (i.e. pots and pans, your bowl of keys, magazines, cups, whatever is lying around). You don’t want to detract the viewer’s eye from the pièce de résistance: your cake!
4. Use a tripod.
Our hands naturally move and shake when we take photographs. A tripod allows you to take a photo without fear of camera shake. Don’t have a tripod and don’t want to spend the bucks to get one? Improvise! Balance and stabilize your camera on a stack of books or even the back of a chair. It will help you achieve clearer photos.
5. Achieve even MORE light by reflecting or “bouncing” light onto your cake.
Try using a large white piece of poster board (you can buy these at craft stores for a few dollars), or, if you want to get really fancy, you can purchase a professional photo reflector. Think of creating a cake sandwich with “natural light” bread. For example, say you have window light on one side, the cake in the middle, and the reflector on the other side, the reflector will bounce the window light onto the cake.
6. Style your desserts
Sometime you want to add a little jazz and pizazz to your cake photos. Have some fun with desserts styling, especially if it’s for your own personal use or personal blog.
7. Play around with your camera angles.
I’m a big fan of the bird’s-eye view for desserts styling. Try moving your camera close to your desserts for a detail closeup. On most point-and-shoot digital cameras, there is a macro setting (the icon is a tiny little tulip). Try snapping pictures with your camera both vertically and horizontally and see which photo you like better.
Now go show off those cakes and desserts with some beautiful photographs! And be sure to share them with us on instagram @nigeriandesserts.
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