If you own a small bakery or sell your yummy baked goods online, then you must be aware of the power of social media. But merely posting about your cakes and cookies on your Facebook or Instagram account isn’t enough. You need to include photos of your food if you want to reach more customers.

According to an expert, Facebook posts with accompanying images received up to 37 percent more engagement than posts without. But its not enough that you take pictures haphazardly. Here are five suggestions for taking great photos that will earn you more shares and showcase the scrumptiousness of your treats more effectively.

Style the Food

Just like any other photographic subject, your food needs to be styled and made beautiful before you snap a shot. Although professional photo editing services can work wonders on your images before posting, their success depends on how good your photo is before they begin working on it.

Choose the most delicious looking samples of your products and make sure they look their best. Ensure that the icing on a cake isn’t melting by refrigerating it properly. Take photos of food when they’re fresh, which is when they usually look their best. Remember that the images should never mislead your customers, only highlight the best parts of your product.

Play with Colors

The color composition is as vital to excellent food photography as the right ingredients. Take a good look at the baked good you want to take a picture of and see what kind of colors look suitable around it. Try complementary color schemes, such as putting a cake with orange icing on a light blue plate, or a mint-topped cookie on a red tray. As you probably know, reds and oranges make people hungrier, and incorporating these colors in your shot could make people crave your food more.

Mind the Light

Lighting can and will affect how appetizing your food appears to your viewers. Think about the last time you saw food under the glare of fluorescent lighting. Did you find the food appealing under such intense brightness? Using natural light is one of the best ways to make your food brighter and more appealing. Never use flash photography, as the intensity of the light makes baked goods look fake and unappetizing.

Explore Angles

Don’t just take one photo and call it a day. Explore which angles your pastry looks good in. Are they more appetizing from afar? What happens when you tilt one way and then the other? Will taking a close-up of its glazed fruit topping make it look even better? By taking multiple shots from different angles, you increase the possibilities of finding the perfect shot.

Don’t Forget Background

Finally, just as you stage your food, so must you pay attention to its surroundings. Remove anything yucky and off-putting, like dirty dishes and the like. Clean up the area around your subject’s plate or tray and be selective on what you put around it. If it’s a fruit tart, maybe whole pieces of its fruit filling will be evocative. A few props, such as your shop’s logo on a paper bag or cake topper, can also be useful.

Expanding a small bakery or online pastry shop depends on people liking your food before they even taste it. Taking the perfect photographs is the best way you can showcase your products and make your customers hungry for more.