I thought I would combine two of my favorite passions – cake decorating and photography. I thought this would be an especially useful topic for home-based bakers. Unlike storefront bakers, you don’t have the luxury of people just stopping by your store, seeing the cakes in person, smelling how delicious they must taste. You need to show your customers the same thing, but through photos. If you have a website, blog or printed brochure, having good photographs are a keen element to your marketing efforts.
You don’t need to go out and buy an expensive camera, although I do suggest you at least have a digital camera that way you can take tons of pictures without having to worry about the developing costs. You will also need some kind of photo editing software. Again, I’m not saying you need to go all out and get Photoshop, but a basic photo editing software will do most of what you need.
So here are my top 5 tips to get you started:
- Use natural light. Please don’t use a flash! It will just “blow out” your photo. Start taking notice about what time of day your home is lit up the best. For example, in my apartment, one side faces the east and the other the west. So, I will get the best light in the morning on the east side of my apartment and best afternoon light (around 3:30 to 4pm) on the west side. Personally I prefer the afternoon light. When you determine the best time and place, create your setup near a window for maximum light.
- Use the highest resolution setting on your camera. Although photos used for online use only need to be at 72ppi and printed photos look best at 300ppi, take all your photos at the highest setting and then when you are editing later on, you can change it to 72ppi for use on your website on blog. You can always go down, but you can’t start from a low resolution and edit them to a higher one.
- Use simple backgrounds. I say the simpler the better. Your baked goods are the stars! You don’t want a busy background to compete with your wonderful works of art!
- Show off your best work! Let’s say you’re photographing a cake covered in fondant, try to make the fondant as smooth as possible. Your mistakes will definitely show up in your photos. If you notice a small crease or imperfection, turn it to the back and photograph the good side. It’s true that you can fix some of these things while you are editing, but it will save you so much time if you just get it as close to perfect before shooting.
- Shoot from different angles. Make your photos more interesting by trying different angles. You may think that the straight head on shot will look best, but if you play around with different angles you will be surprised at the results you will get.
Most importantly, desserts are fun so have fun with your photos!
About the Author
Stacey Natal – a native New Yorker, owner of Total City Girl and loves all things creative. Follow her on her blog at http://TotalCityGirl.blogspot.com
