Cake Smash Photography Tips
Every Sunday I will share easy photography tips for new photographers, busy bloggers, or those who just want to learn more about staging and styling photographs. I'll let the experts teach the technical stuff, but I'm teaming up with Mariah Meyer Photography to bring you ways to save money on your gear, easy ideas to take better photos, and simple styling tips. Today's topic is all about how to take cake smash photos!
Cake smashes are one of the best ways to have your child’s one year photos done. They can be themed, or just simple, as well as done in studio, or outdoors, or even at your child’s birthday party for everyone to enjoy. Here are some tips and tricks for cake smash sessions to make them run smoothly.
Cake Smash Photography Tips:
- Be sure the surface you are using can easily be wiped up. Cake and frosting is messy. Add in your one year old, and you will have one heck of a baked goods mess to clean up. Be sure you are on some sort of flooring that will wipe up easy. If you are using seamless paper or carpeting, use a large piece of plastic Plexiglass underneath. It will make clean up much easier. If you are outdoors there are less concerns about this.
- DON'T wear clothing. A diaper cover works best. Clothing WILL get stained, although there are cute one year themed outfits, they aren’t the best for cake smashes. You can always do a few photos before you bring out the cake and remove the outfit before continuing.
- Using a high chair isn’t out of the question. In fact, it can make for some adorable shots! Modern day high chairs might be a distraction in the photos, but a wooden one will not only add to the look of the photos, but can keep the mess contained rather than all over the floor.
- The cake should be white cake like vanilla as chocolate does not look good in my experience. Let’s face it, brown cake? It looks like poop, literally. White or vanilla cake (or any light colors) look the best for cake smashes. The frosting should be light colors. Avoid dark colors or it will stain everything.
- Cake stands are cute, but take caution if it’s glass. Cake stands can add some cute colors to your images, but try to avoid using glass with one year olds. They tend to tip them over and it could quite possibly break. No one wants a cake mess on top of glass breaking.
- When purchasing your child’s smash cake, it’s best to go to a hometown bakery versus a chain store bakery. The frostings from hometown bakeries are dyed much better. It will stain less, and it will probably taste better as well.
- Use angles and different locations to create a variety of looks. Locations are very versatile. You can use a photography studio, head outdoors, or do it at a party!
- Use baby wipes, NOT a bath. Water and frosting will only make a slimy mess, do NOT put them in a bath right away! Use baby wipes to wipe them down first, get the majority of the frosting off, and THEN give them a bath. Baby wipes also work best to clean up the floor.
- Pro tip: Cupcakes work just as well as a cake would. If you are not up for giving your child an entire cake, a cute cupcake will work just as well as a cake would, and will be much less of a mess to clean up afterwards.
Note from Krystal: Our cake smash was nothing professional, but we did have a lot of fun. Our little one wore a bib and we had dark frosting. It was definitely messy! I wish I had Mariah's tips then. 😉
Did you do a cake smash with your little one?
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