These days, it’s not enough to just bake and decorate your own custom iced sugar cookies from scratch, one must also have an eye for aesthetics and photography to be successful in the cookie business. Knowing that, we set out to find a style and overall vibe for our cookie set pictures that would unify our brand and promote a consistent product. We landed on something we call “the floating cookie technique” which, for those unfamiliar with it (who should ALL be immediately going over to our insta page for research!) we are ready and willing to explain in very easy to understand instructions (with pictures!).
First, what you’ll need for this technique are a few items, all of which can be purchased for very little at Amazon. Material list is:
Contact Paper/Poster Board:
We used this basic poster board for our base, and settled on this choice for adhesive contact paper after some trial and error. I’d recommend searching online for something you like and buying it when it’s on sale, as these items seem to get discounted fairly regularly
Cookie Baking Tray:
For our cookie tray, we use a copper/bronze colored sheet, like the ones here. Remember, try to keep this sheet just for cookie photos, no baking!
Skinny Vase, Scrunchy Holder (works best!):
When we started experimenting with this photo technique, we were using a green skinny flower vase from IKEA that we had laying around the house. It was causing small issues though, as the green color from the vase was visible. Since then, we’ve settled on this perfect scrunchy holder that is clear and perfect for cookie photos!
Camera:
We have had great success using our iPhone 13 Pro Max, as almost all our content is for social media, so the formatting is already handled. That being said, this technique would work with any other digital camera as well.
Okay, so now that you have what you need, it’s time to discuss the logistics of our photo process. First things first, we always start with our complete set photo. To begin, set up your shoot in a room with as much natural light as possible. Trust us, we tried artificial lighting and it just wasn’t the same. Next, apply your adhesive contact paper to your poster board (flatness matters) and place it on a flat surface (we use our coffee table). Then place your tray of cookies on top of that, like so:
IMPORTANT! Arrange your cookies to be visually appealing. This takes some maneuvering, as we want our cookies to be spaced evenly in regards to actual space, as well as color separation from other cookies in the set (basically we don’t want all cookies of the same color next to one another: we take great time and care to scatter the individual cookies to maximize the visual effect of the overall set).
Next, we frame the photo, making sure the full tray and an equal amount of background is exposed. Final draft of set photo for reference below:
Once we have our cookies arranged properly and take the perfect set photo, (FYI I’m crazy about this step and have been known to take 10-15 minutes just getting the set photo right 😬) we then set out to start our floating cookie photos, the steps of which follow below. Note: When it comes to your set photos, or all your photos for that matter, we recommend taking a few, just in case one or two aren't to your liking. We personally alternate between ‘Photo’ and ‘Portrait’ modes on our iPhone, as we find this gives a nice selection of photos to choose our favorite from.
Ok, get excited! It's time for the moment you've been waiting for; get out your magical vase, scrunchie holder, or whatever else you may be using to create that magical floating cookie technique and get ready to elevate your product! Below is the item we used for this set:
Now, take your floating shaft and place it in the middle of your cookie tray, trying not to displace your set arrangement more than necessary. Once that is set, place one of your cookies on top, framing it in to ensure that the stand isn’t visible below the cookie that you are floating:
If done right, your photo should look just like ours! Here’s the finished photo of that cloud cookie showed from a different angle above:
In closing, we must share that this technique has really helped us hone in on our marketing and branding consistency with a pleasant, consistent theme in our presentation. We believe that this technique leads to maximizing the quality of our cookies by minimizing everything else around them. Please reach out with any questions or different ideas, as we’d love to keep improving! And as always, stay Sweet, stay Frosty, and always try to keep livin’ that Sweet Life.
- DZ
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