My Arch Nemesis: Photographing Cookies

At Spring Fling this year, Glory from Glorious Treats gave a fantastic talk about photographing cookies.  If you haven't seen her site, you seriously need to go check it out.  It's beautiful.

She emphasized the importance of using natural light whenever possible, editing your photos, and experimenting with different setups, props, and angles.  She also made me realize that I almost never allow myself enough time to photograph my work.  Why would I spend 12 hours baking and decorating a collection of cookies, and spend 10 minutes photographing them!?  It really doesn't do them justice.  At all.  So I'm trying to allow myself more time for photography.

Glory taught us to layer cookies in a shot to give it more life and dimension.  I attempted to do that in this photo.  And oops, you can also see that I took Maryann's advice to use a piece of plastic wrap on your platter to prevent the cookies from slipping.  I'll have to remember to edit that out next time :)

Some wadded up pieces of aluminum foil were perfect to prop up the cookies for this shot.  Lace scrapbooking paper made for a prettier background than my standard white posterboard.

This was another attempt to layer cookies in a different way.  I made these cookies for my cousin's wedding and they were included in the hotel gift bags.  I thought that was such a great way to add a personal touch for all of the out of town guests.

And finally, my addition of a prop - the beautiful wedding invitation.  This was my "one pine cone" as Glory would say.  I think it's my favorite shot!

Obviously these photos are nowhere near perfect and they aren't even close to the fabulous photos on  Glorious Treats and other beautiful food blogs out there.  But hopefully you'll continue to see my photography evolve as I get braver with different props and layouts and learn more about my camera and Photoshop.  Big thank you to Glory for showing me the importance of photography and for pushing me to improve!