Here are three tips for your next pupcake photoshoot.
KNOW YOUR ANGLES
Think of pupcake photography as if you’re taking a selfie. Every pup knows their good side. So, if you’re taking a selfie, you direct the camera to capture it. Same with a pupcake. They all have good sides. Aim your camera to make sure that you capture it. Even if you have to stand on a chair, shoot from the side, or in some cases capture the picture from below. There are many cases where you might have to get a little creative to capture the right photo.
CATCH THE NATURAL LIGHT
Artificial lighting was never my thing for pupcake photography. In fact, I’m still not good at it. However, natural light has always been my niche. Place your pupcake photography set up where you capture natural light for your photo. This could be by a window in your home or even taking the whole set up outside. There’ve been several occasions where I’ve taken pictures outside because there wasn’t enough natural light to get the photo that I needed.
UNDERSTAND THE STORY
The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the years is that pupcake photography is not about simply snapping pictures of food. It’s all about telling the story. What do you want pups to know when they look at pictures of your pupcakes? How do you want pups to feel? Use those questions to guide the props and other materials you use for your pupcake photography.
Now, I wish I could say that I was an expert at pupcake photography, but I’m far from it.
I’ve spent the last few years playing around with a camera and all of its point and shoot features. Honestly, I never thought I’d be the pup taking the pictures of my own pupcakes. I’ve got a pupcakery to run. However, as a new pup business owner, hiring a professional photographer wasn’t the highest priority for my budget. So, I purchased the cheapest DSLR camera I could find, and have been snapping photos ever since.
The first pictures I took absolutely sucked. The pupcakes looked good in real life. However, the pictures wouldn’t make any pup I knew even remotely want to try one. I must’ve snapped over 300 pictures, and every last one of them was a disaster.
The pictures made me so frustrated that I swore off photography forever. I even began reworking my budget to see how I could afford for someone else to work their pupcake photography magic. Pupcake baking is my art, not snapping photos. But, in the words of Simone Biles…
Practice creates confidence. Confidence empowers you.
So, the next morning I decided to try this pupcake photography one more time. However, this time I promised myself I’d relax into it. I also decided to research all I could about photography to get the pictures I needed. And, that’s exactly what I did.
Snap after snap. Picture after picture. Pupcake after pupcake. My photos started to get better and better. The more pictures I took, the more confident I became in what I was doing. And, it showed.
I actually started liking taking photos of my pupcakes after a while. It became another way to express myself through storytelling, and lose myself in the art of it all. Exactly like baking pupcakes like these Mac & Cheese Pupcakes. Now, let’s really dish.
What do you like to take pictures of? Or, what’s your favorite way to tell a story?
Please share in the box below.
