Friday, November 21, 2014

Cake, Anyone?

These past few days I've been playing around with my new photography set up in the basement. It's proving to be quite a challenge to figure out my lighting, staging, and settings.

This is my first real attempt at styling and photographing food. I honestly haven't studied a lot about this area of photography, but it's something I'm very intrigued by. After some searching on Amazon and comparing books on the subject, I ordered Plate to Pixel by Helene Dujardin. It arrived yesterday and I can't wait to dive in and start learning.

I thought I'd start by baking a cake and then photographing it. First challenge...baking and decorating the cake! I've never made a two tiered cake, so this maybe wasn't the best idea to start with. Thank goodness I had my mom there to show me how to frost it properly! I probably will pick something a little easier next time I want to practice lol.

I was so excited to photograph this cake. I found an amazing platter at St. Vincent, of course, which I thought was a cake plate, but apparently it's just a serving platter. The napkin is from a collection of old linens that were given to me by my grandma. They were her stepmom's. I switched out my wood backdrop for a piece of plywood that I painted with chalkboard paint. I liked the contrast against the wood "table" and how the light reflected on it. It really made the color in the cherries and the napkin pop.


 
The below photo is my favorite :)
 
 
I loved how detailed the handles are.

 
I'm still trying to figure this all out, but I think for my first attempt it turned out pretty good! Head to the comments and let me know what you think and if you have any tips or pointers :)
 
Until next time.
 
Much love,
Liz

4 comments:

  1. That cake looks delicious!!! And the photography looks GREAT especially for your first attempt!! I can't to see what you end up doing after reading these new books!

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    1. It sure was Michelle! I was debating on even posting about my first few tries at food photography, but I figured some day I'll be happy I posted them so I can see how far I'll have come. I'm loving the book so far and can't wait to read more tonight! I've got some fun shoots planned already :)

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  2. Congratulations on your first layered cake! It looks so delicious! No one would have ever guessed it was your first attempt at food photography! Kudos! The lighting is great too! You styled it perfectly with the platter, napkin and wood added different but complementary textures. I have one minor tip. In the first picture, you can see the black background. It might have been a little better to have the wood go all the way to top of the frame. The black suits the composition of the other photos because the angle you shot from is a little different. I look forward to your next mouth watering post!

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    1. Thanks Sue Ann!! I will definitely try that tip for next time :) This has been really fun and I can't wait to post again. I look forward to continuing to get feedback from everyone!

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