Quarantine got us all brainstorming for ideas that can pass the time. We aimed to be productive without being stressed. As such, many of us explored hobbies that we never tried before, and one activity that stood out is baking.

Whether you’re starting a home-based bakery or a food blog, your desserts shouldn’t miss one important quality: visual appeal. The presentation of your decadent desserts highly matters in catching attention and invoking cravings.

Thus, we’ll teach you the hacks to making and photographing an Instagrammable dessert that your audience will indeed find irresistible.

1. Prep Your Ingredients and Tools

You may think preparing the ingredients is a no-brainer, but in food photography, the precision of ingredients is highly crucial. Use too many egg whites, and your cookies will look flat and unappetizing. And no amount of props and photo-editing can save it.

Plus, photographing the prep process can make for engaging content, too. Neatly lay out your ingredients on your work surface, and position them for a flat-lay shoot.

You can use your phone to take photos, as long as its camera takes high-quality and vivid images. But if you’re using a DSLR, consider switching to a 35 mm or 50 mm lens to capture the best indoor food photos.

2. Choose a Complementing Background and Props

Desserts look more appetizing in the right setting. If you’re shooting flat-lay, ensure that the surface is clean and that it makes the dessert stand out. Use the proper dessert plate and lay down the appropriate utensils as well. Drizzle some powdered sugar on the pastry if necessary. If you’re photographing a blueberry cheesecake, scatter some fresh blueberries around the dessert to make it more visually appealing.

And if you’re photographing with a background, be sure that it matches well with the idea or story behind the dessert. For example, if you’re capturing a pie, you can depict a scenario of a cozy afternoon in a countryside estate. Thus, photograph the dessert with beautiful vintage home furnishings visible on the shot.

3. Start With Desserts That Are Already Photogenic

If you’re starting, making frosted cakes can be tricky because they may look too messy in a photograph. So focus on desserts that are already photogenic, instead, like macarons, panna cottas, or meringues.

Play with color to add more appeal to the desserts. Since fall is approaching, consider hues associated with the season like red, purple, orange, and brown. Try chocolate macarons, mixed-berry panna cottas, or cocoa meringues. Or any dessert that you like or sell, as long as they look alluring in photographs!

4. Try No-Bake Desserts

No-bake desserts are effortlessly irresistible. They don’t take long to make, too, allowing you more time to play with your props. Consider raspberry cocoa trifle, rhubarb and gin sorbet, milkshakes, and more. They may look a little messy, but that’s just part of their appeal.

5. Use Fresh Fruits

Zesty fruits add freshness to any dessert, making them twice to ten times more delicious. Use them as props for your berry cakes and pastries, tarts, and pies as they can be the cherry on top of your photos!

6. Add More Visual Interest

Aside from fruits, steam and liquids also add more interest to dessert photos. If you’re photographing cakes, consider using a mug of hot coffee or tea as a prop to incorporate steam. For a caramel mocha cake, let the caramel syrup drip freely on the sides. Use a tripod to avoid blurry shots.

With these tips and tricks to guide you, your dessert photos will no doubt earn a flood of likes and shares. If you’re selling them, expect an onslaught of orders! Product photos significantly influence a consumer’s purchasing decision, so don’t skimp on your snapshots.