Cake Photography

On the Huh

On the Huh

Little Ball of Fur
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Zulfi
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OK, there's a local ad wanting someone to take a few photos of cakes :love: for a website. Of course I applied. He is looking for a student or graduate with a high spec camera and willing to pay, but probably not much. :shrug:

Anyhows, I like to shoot people. I have shot a few wedding cakes in the past, but that isn't really product photography in the way this guy is probably wanting shots.

If I get asked to do the shots,(which is probably unlikely, I'm 49 and not a student for a start), I would like any tips to this. Mainly lighting I suppose, although I am thinking window light rather than flash?

I am a cook and Licensed Vitualler by trade and have been thinking of photographing some of my food, especially puddings, for my pub's menu.

Any tips appreciated.
 
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There's a guy I used to work with produced some of the food shots for the sainsbury's recipe cards.

I think he used to use two large softboxes to give an even all around light.
 
Used to take pics of cakes my wife had created (100% edible, marzipan figures etc) a few years ago. Just had a compact back then and used window light (sliding patio doors, so large area) with a piece of foil to reflect some light back onto the shady side.

All on film, I'm afraid and since a computer upgrade/replacement, the scanners don't work, so can't post any results.

IIRC, most of the cakes were iced with plain white royal icing with the decorative elements being either coloured marzipan or coloured icing.
 
I photograph a few cakes, my wife makes them. She's not going to do another black one though, her hands were dirty for a week. I use this basic studio set up which is easy to replicate and compare the cakes. There's no attempt here to create any atmosphere or sense of occasion with a table setting or anything, which would be nice but more difficult.

The usual way is to put the cake on a small platform (plate underneath) which creates a shadow for it to sit on and put a softbox directly overhead and slightly behind, facing forward. Shield the lens from flare. Angle it so that you get a bit of gradation on the background, and stick a reflector in front to fill in. The butterfly was highlighted with a mirror. You'll perhaps be surprised at how little depth of field you've got for close ups of details.

The last cake I did I was a bit stuck so ended up putting it on a nice wooden floor and simply bounced a hot shoe gun off the ceiling, with a reflector in front and a coat hanging over the back of a chair creating the graduated shadow background. It looked fine! Sorry I can't find the pic right now :)

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IMG_2804-1.jpg
 
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Thanks Byker, Nod and Hoppy.
Appreciated.
 
My other half also makes a few cakes and i get roped in photographing them.
We usually place a piece of fabric under the cakes and either bounce flash off the ceiling or just use natural window light.The dark background can make it difficult to see the board though as shown below. What did you use under your cake Hoppy?





Taller cakes also present problems, creases etc.






I would also appreciate any hints/tips anyone may have.

Regards
Tom
 
I have shot a few but nothing I have been really happy with. The best usually use bounced flash off the ceiling. I have tried them in light tents all sorts of stuff but I usually only have a short time to get them done before they are collected. The biggest tip is to iron your background before using it.

Other than that large light sources to prevent shadows helps but you can play with small and direct the light a little if you want somthing a little different to the norm.
 
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