Which digital camers for photographing cakes

lynndy-lou

lynndy-lou

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lynne
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Hi,
I need help I only have a point and shoot olympus FE-120 6.0 Megapixel that I have been using to take pics of my cakes for the last 4 years. I now have a website and need to take better pictures.
I dont have a huge budget but have seen some slr cameras on ebay for around £120 but they have lower megapixels so am not sure what to do?
Thanks in advance
 
any entry level dslr should be ok. i would think the lighting would me more important than the camera for cakes
 
As he says - it's all in the lighting...have a look around the web for images of the sort you're after, link one into this thread and ask again how it was achieved...we'll then be able to give you more of an idea how to proceed...
To link an image elsewhere on the web, right-click on the image, select 'properties' and highlight the URL bit that starts 'http******'.
Click on the little mountains icon above your post and copy that URL into the space provided.
 
Lighting is definately a problem but as Im a complete novice I have no idea what to do! Im so confused
 
The pictures will be taken somewhere in my house and will be predominantly ivory or white. I am going to create some sort of box with different fabrics on to sit the cake on so that there is no sign of my kitchen or home. Im not sure what colour back ground colours work well with ivory and whitewww.lynndy-lous-cakes.co.uk
This is my website only one of the cakes was photograped profesionaly
 
well there's plenty of people on here to tell you exactly how to get straigh into it but you'll need to read around a bit for yourself. I would be looking at off camera lighting if youre going to do it properly. It can be expensive at first but you don't need to buy the best of everything and some things like light modifiers (things to soften light) can be made with arts and crafts stuff. I'm not sure whether you would need a light box or not for cakes or softboxes and umbrellas but someone on here will know. As for cameras i would go for a canon or nikon entry level DSLR - why? because they're common and there's lots of cheap lenses and attachments for beginners and if you get really serious about it and want to go all the way they're also well supported at the very top.
 
A basic 'light-tent' can be made from a few bamboo canes from a flower-shop and some tracing-paper or an old cut-up white bedsheet...shine an off-camera flash through that and you'll get a lovely soft light...
 
I'm doing this for my sister, so far its been on camera flash I have just bought some off camera kit waiting for it to arrive and hope to play a little so will let you know how things work out. I did try a few the other week with a flash off to the side a little and it did look better so with the other 2 I have sourced I hope to get better results.

The main thing I have found to be a problem is getting everything in, some of the cakes are large nevermind before the explosion is on top so I have now got a wide angle lens as well, my next purchase will be a light tent, I hope that an 80cm one will be big enough. some inexpensive light tents come with back grounds and yes the kitchen wall doesn't look good as a back drop.
 
Well Im completely lost lol. Will have to go and do some research I think
 
Oh right now I get it. Looks a bit like a pop up wash bin. So thats how they get a complete white background?
 
Hi Lynne
Just had a look at your site.....mmmmm......nice cakes, Right, the problem is definitely lighting. As you are selling cakes professionally, you need to present them professionally.
To keep the costs down, I would suggest an entry level DLSR which comes with a kit lens
Learn how to shoot manually, believe me it’s for the best. Google Light Tent; here you will see a vast selection to choice from. You need one big enough to take your biggest cake with a bit of room to spare. There are some reasonably priced tents out there and some that come with back grounds. Next, invest in an off camera flash gun, again you don’t have to spend a fortune If you can stretch to a system that allows you to trigger more than one light, do it and have two flashes.You can alter the colour of the tent by using colour gels. It’s cheap and it’s easy and is done by placing the gels in front (not on)
of the lights. There you have it, a table top studio that can be simply erected and
used over again. You just need to experiment with the lights and gels by moving them
closer to or away from the tent. It’s a lot to learn but if you want to do it your self this is a fairly inexpensive way of doing it.
Hope that helps.

Terry
 
Just another little thing Lynne, the watermarks you have running across your images are a bit of a distraction. I would either crank them down a bit so they're not so pronounced or loose them all together.

I'm going to see if I can find some cake in the cupboard now!
 
lol the watermarks are standard on the website I only put them on because people steal my cakes and pass them off as thier own cheeky beggars. I dont mind people taking my designs and re creating them because thats a compliment.
The cake on my home page is a fake cake!
 
what do you reckon on this.
Fuji Finepix S5000 SLR Style Digital Camera.

In excellent condition and fully working. Ex-studio camera used only in a studio room so it's very well looked after. It takes super quality pictures - very near SLR quality.

What you'll get exactly: Camera, lens adapter, lens cap, lead and memory card.
Fuji FinePix SLR STYLE Digital Camera - 37-370mm Lens

Technical Specifications:

10XOptical Zoom lens equivalent to 37-370mm on a 35mm camera
Compact and stylish SLR-style body design
4G SuperCCD HR sensor with 3.1 million effective pixels (delivering 6 million recorded pixels)
Multiple exposure modes includingAperture and shutter priority AE and full manual
CCD-RAW format enabling unprocessed file saving
Photo mode button for fast access to main menus
High sensitivity settings (up to ISO 800)
Improved autofocus for faster shooting response
 
lynndy-lou said:
what do you reckon on this.
Fuji Finepix S5000 SLR Style Digital Camera.
Click to expand...

Nope.

Fix the lighting, not the camera. You have shown us that the cake filling is irrelevant to the picture. Now please believe us that the camera makes little difference either. :-)

Lightbox and off-camera slave flash. Is the sort of thing you want to spend your money on.

Andrew
 
Once my kit turns up I will show you some of the photos, I hope they arrive before next weekend as she has 4 cakes to do due to someone not knowing the date of the party and makeing a mistake. She doesn't do them professionally just for freinds and family to fund her shoe and handbag problem.
 
I shot this:
4430548190_08430477c7.jpg


Canon 400D, Canon EX430 II Flash pointed straight up in the air. Not professional but I feel it's a shot that would have sold that cake ;)
 
cool pic I never remember to take in progress pics. If she wants big swirls use a pastry nozel they are much bigger.
 
80cm light tent from ebay £16
2x canon 430EZ flash guns with light stands and umbrellas from here in the classifieds section and some radio triggers.
RF-602 wireless trigger and receiver, I will be getting some more receivers I think so I can use all 3 flashes at once.

I already have canon 580EX2 flash
OC3 off camera cord
Canon 500D with a selection of lenses, I got the canon 10-22mm very reciently.

This was one I took with the kit I currently have, far better with the flash not attached to the camera, it was only held just above the camera but made a huge difference.
23778_368025193386_673418386_3749952_10016_n.jpg

the 10-22mm allows me to get very close to the cake and fit it all in shot, this may have been a problem with my other lenses, when I use the 24-70mm getting everything in I usually stand as far back as I can and miss the tops off explosions.
 
It does look similar, a company called Axfords supplied it they are based in Farnworth near Bolton.
 
I bought the kit that Tracey was looking to buy for the same purpose but will probably replace the triggers. the flases are manual on remote triggers anyway so older non TTL flashes are fine. I do hear that there are some older flashes that can't be used on triggers due to the trigger voltage being too high.
 
lol listen to you 2 talking worktops! The cake is brilliant she should be in business but Im sure she has heard that a thousand times.:bonk:
 
Well my flashes, stands and umbrellas arrived this morning, her dummy cakes are not here so I can't try them on cakes I will wait till next weekend for the cakes she has to do.

As for going full time, it is just a hobby for her, somthing she did to fill a night a week at college for 6 years and she does them for pleasure and shoes and handbags and yes everyone says she should do it full time.

If your looking have a look at flash in the pan in the traders section, he sells inexpensive flash guns, light stands, light modifiers and other lighting kit. You only really need to light from 2 positions I think for product photography, I guess I will find out next week. My light tent is coming from ebay a guy over in Guernsey for £16. I'm not sure how suitable the light stands will be for light tent use due to their height but will give them a try I may be better useing a mini tripod or somthing.

So a shopping list
2 flash guns, the 460 2's look great for manual settings
2 wireless receiver and trigger
then its somthing to hold the flash guns and receivers, stands or mini tripods I will see whats best when my tent arrives.
 
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