How To Be A Master At Dessert Photography

Dessert photography is a specific type of food photography where the photographer captures every aspect of that perfect bite, from the preparation to the plating. It’s not just about capturing beauty, it’s about telling a story.

The moment you take your first bite, you know that this is an experience worth documenting and sharing. A dessert photographer captures all the intricacies that go into making these perfect treats and distils them to create magical moments for your viewing pleasure! 

Let’s learn more about this type of photography and see if you want to take it up as a food blogger.

What are some qualities of a great photo-worthy dessert?

One of the qualities of a great dessert is that it is delicious. Another quality is that it’s visually appealing. A third important quality is that it has a great “story” behind it. The presentation can also be very important.

The photographer will need to capture the look of each dessert so that the reader/viewer sees what you mean. For example, if you’re talking about how delicious something is, show a picture of someone enjoying it. The reader will get a sense of how it tastes by seeing the person’s reaction.

If you’re talking about how visually appealing something looks, take a picture of it from different angles so that the reader gets an idea of what it looks like and can see why it’s appealing to them. You can also create images with your own lighting or with a setting that brings the dessert to life.

How do photographers capture those qualities?

Knowing the story is one thing, understanding how to capture those qualities and that story is another.  While the food photos are important, it is also a good idea to think about complementing photos that help tell the story.

For example, if you’re talking about your grandmother’s apple pie and how it was so popular that people had to line up for it at her restaurant–you could include a picture of someone holding a plate with a space where the pie used to be. You can also take pictures of the pie being made, or you can take a picture of your grandmother holding the fork that she used to eat it with. You get the idea!

What you put around the photo also plays a big part in telling the story. For example, cupcakes and other small bites look great in the centre of a white platter surrounded by the appropriate accessories, like a mini-glass of milk for a child’s birthday cake. A layer cake has to look amazing because several layers look great on camera from different angles.

What’s the best lens for dessert photography?

The 100mm macro lens is the best lens for taking pictures of dessert, hands down. This means this lens will enable you to take close up shots that highlight the details of your desserts and even tiny pieces that our eyes normally can’t see.

The small size and tight focus also do wonders in highlighting colour nuances with clarity. Distractions are minimized and light transmitted from an on-camera flash or a DSLR’s pop-up remote/built-in flash can be used to freeze action at any speed.

The sharpness of the images is only limited by the camera’s sensor resolution so it might not make sense budget-wise to buy a brand new high-end model, but just know there are some great bargains out there if you’re willing to look for them. One way to get a cheaper model is by renting it.

The 85mm macro lens can also be used in some cases, but the trade-off here is that you’ll have more depth-of-field if you shoot from some distance away. It’s important to keep in mind that you don’t always want extremely small depth-of-field with these images because you want everything to be in focus.

The type of light will determine how much depth of field (DoF) you’ll have, but it’s a good idea to take lots of pictures and figure out which settings work best for your situation.

Just make sure that the background isn’t too distracting by taking away from what the dessert is trying to say. It’s often helpful to take a picture of just the dessert first and then taking pictures of it with different background scenes.

Top tips for great dessert food photography

That covers a few ideas on how to plan your photos but what about the actual photography?

Learn the Basics of Food Styling

Food styling is an important step in building the best dessert photos so you need to become a bit of a food stylist. A few simple tips will let your photos become next level and more interesting.

For example:

• Take a straw and blow gently on the edges of the ice cream to soften them
• Use a fine-mesh strainer to sprinkle cocoa or powdered sugar on a cake or mousse
• Grab a grater or vegetable peeler to get some fine curls of chocolate then use tweezers to place it carefully as a garnish
• Drizzle sauces to create leading lines like below.
• While some will use things like shaving cream instead of whipped cream, but I prefer to use firm whipped cream.

Learn to Capture Frozen Desserts

Taking a picture of a frozen dessert doesn’t have to be difficult and you don’t need much in terms of equipment for great pictures:

• Use a tripod so the dessert can be in focus
• Make sure you use a remote release so that you don’t shake the camera when taking the picture
• Set your settings to manual mode so you can have full control over all of your elements
• Use different angles and zoom levels, and work with layers for more interesting photos. You should also try using lighting so you can capture the real beauty of your dish.

It’s important to note that the light will affect what types of settings you need to use and also how it looks on camera. Fortunately, we have the technology available to allow us to digitally edit our mistakes out, but that doesn’t mean it’s not critical to get all the shots right before you start editing.

Use a Grey Card for the Correct White Balance

There’s nothing more frustrating than editing a photo and then finding out that it’s way off from what you were expecting to see. One of the biggest problems is colour temperature, which can be corrected by using a grey card.

For example: If you’re taking pictures of desserts with red apples in them, don’t use the white balance setting for your scene. If you just set it to Auto, then your cameras’ sensor will try and compensate for the reds and end up making everything else green or blue.

In this case, you’d want to set the white balance for incandescent light using a grey card. This is only one example because many different factors can affect what setting you’ll want to use.

It’s important to note that some colour temperature settings can be set automatically, but it never hurts to take a few test shots and then pick the best one for editing later on.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean you’ll get things right every time because if you’re in an environment that’s already warmly lit, you have to decide if it’d be better to use a white piece of paper or a grey card.

The bottom line is that you should always take some test shots before going straight into shooting the pictures for your dessert blog or food magazine article.

Choose Relevant Props and Backgrounds

If you want your photos to be effective, then it’s important to pay attention to what’s in the background. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if there are too many distractions in the images, people won’t notice the desserts!

Try zooming out and taking pictures of your dessert on a plain white backdrop first before moving onto something more complicated.

At the same time, you’ll want to think about props and how they can help tell your story with your photo. In this case, it’s all about knowing your dessert! If you’re photographing a strawberry shortcake, then find some strawberries on a vine that look appealing or even better, pick them fresh and use them!

You can also use props like grilled bread for enhancing your dessert shots. For example, if you’re taking pictures of a chocolate soufflé, you can buy a grill tool from your local store and use it to make an impression on the top of the dessert. You could also try putting different types of jams in the centre for extra pizzazz.

Getting the best dessert photographs

Dessert photography is a complex process that requires the photographer to take into consideration all of the intricacies and create magical moments for their viewers. As such, it’s important to know your dessert before you start taking pictures!

To have great shots, set up your camera with manual settings and use props creatively or strategically so that they enhance your story. It might be worth testing out different lighting scenarios if you’re not sure what looks best on screen.

Don’t forget about colour temperature either – using a grey card can help fix any mistakes when photographing desserts with red apples or other brightly coloured fruits/foods.

Most importantly though: don’t take anything too seriously (after all, editing software exists!), but make sure everything looks perfect before you shoot.