If you can afford a professional photographer to take pictures of your bakery’s creations, that’s wonderful! But did you know that you can even take some amazing photos just with your phone or a basic camera?
Just like the art of baking, photographing your baked creations takes some know-how and a lot of inspiration. Here are some photography suggestions for promoting your bakery.
Lighting
The most important element of any good photography is decent lighting. It can either make your baked goods look like they belong in a magazine or in the trash. The best lighting for food photography is natural daylight since artificial lights tend to cast a colored hue that can display your creations in a different color than they really are.
If your bakery has a window that gets sunlight, that’s great, but beware any harsh sunlight. It the sun is shining directly on your photograph’s subject, then you will want to soften it yourself. One simple way to deal with sunlight that’s too bright is to place a semi-transparent white curtain across your window. This will help your picture from looking washed out or displaying harsh shadows.
Lighting Tip: Try to catch Golden Hour, either the hour before sunset or the hour after sunrise. This is the best quality of natural light.
Angles
Another important element of any good photography is the angle at which you take the picture. There are three main angles for food photography:
- Three-quarters view
- Overhead
- Straight-on
Your choice of angle should depend on what you’re photographing. If you have a cupcake with ornate decorations, you might want to take a photo of it from a three-quarters angle so you can capture the beautiful decorations as well as the size.
Once you get a feel for the best angle for any given item, you may be tempted to use it each time, but try to resist. Capture plenty of pictures from a variety of angles and poses. You never know what’s going to look best.
Capturing multiple angles also helps your social media feed. When people are going through your website or your Instagram, you don’t want all the pictures to look the same. It might get boring to see a slew of cupcake pictures all in the same position.
Composition
In photography, the composition of a picture is simply the placement or arrangement of elements captured. Now, you may be thinking, “I’m taking a picture of a single pie, how hard can it be to arrange one thing?”
But if you make your pictures interesting, people will spend more time looking at them. And that’s more time for them to decide that your apple pie looks absolutely scrumptious.
One great way to create a more interesting composition is to include more than just the baked good you want to show off. While it will still be the center of attention, you can add other elements that help make the picture more interesting.
A fun option is to include some of the dry ingredients you used to bake your subject. Not only does this create a dynamic composition, but it can also help create a visual recipe. Whatever you choose to include, make sure it’s as pleasing to the eye as your creation. A bag of flour isn’t as pretty as a spoonful of a colorful spice or fresh herbs.
The Rule of Thirds: the rule stating an image is divided into nine equal sections. To take the best photographs, place your subject anywhere except for in the exact center of the image frame.
Tell a Story
Food has a wonderful ability to show people the similarities in one another, and you can tap into commonalities to tell a story with your pictures. This can make people more interested in your photos and allow them to attribute their own connection to it.
A bagel isn’t just a bagel; it’s the start to a productive day. Add a day calendar and a glass of juice to spice up your composition.
And don’t forget about the power of people. Adding a human element to your photos is another technique that you can use to tell a story and connect with the viewer. A glimpse of a hand makes it look like the photo has been captured from a particular point of view.
Take a few pictures of your baking process as well. Remind your customers that there are hardworking people behind every success.
Storytime Tip: Keep some commonly-used props around only for photography purposes. The beautifully decorated spoon you use in photos is probably not the one you bake with.
With just a few simple suggestions you can take your photography from meh to mouth-watering. High-quality photos of your baked creations will help inspire potential customers to order from you. And if you can entice people with your pictures, then the taste will keep them coming back time and time again.
With more traffic, you may need help streamlining your bakery. Schedule a demo with BakeSmart and conquer the chaos.
