Styling and Photographing Ice Cream Alone

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The unique challenges of styling and photographing as a one-person show, in your home studio space or shop, are never more prominent than they are when working with…

Ice Cream. 

It’s a different kind of screaming that might take place when your scoops begin to melt while you scramble to capture the shot you envision. 

After taking on a 5-recipe development project with styling and shooting for an ice cream mix start-up out of L.A. a few years back, and with the ice cream projects that have followed, I’ve learned a few things about capturing the look you are going for. 

Whether it's a firm, just scooped ball in a bowl or a slight melt over a warm dessert. 

Take a few of these back to your own set and take away some of the frustration. 

For scoops:

• Pre-scoop ice cream and freeze on a baking sheet covered in parchment. Make more than you need. 

• Work, freeze, work, freeze. Keep any unused ice cream in the freezer until the moment you need it. 

For serving:

• Consider your subject in real life. If you created an alternative, non-dairy, or vegan ice cream and it doesn’t freeze to rock hard. Don’t feel the pressure to photograph it that way. Highlight its best qualities. 

• Shoot scoops from the freezing container, focus on close-ups and garnishes. 

• Chill everything you are working with - bowls, cups, spoons, supporting surfaces.

• All ice cream doesn’t need to be served in a cone or a fluted dessert bowl. Cocktail glasses, mugs, wooden bowls, shallow plates, and jars are all options. 

• Keep shooting even when you think it’s past its prime. Real-life shots with a bit of melt have their place and you may end up liking them better than you thought.

Eye on the air:
Of course, it is best to shoot in a cooler environment, but make sure there is no moving air, cold or otherwise. Turn off fans, block vents, keep drafts from opening and closing doors to a minimum. 

A combination of these practices will keep your ice cream holding steady so you can shoot longer and help you get some shots with creative character that reflect you and your work.

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Pros and Cons of Creating Your Own Photography for Your Small Business

The reason for creating your own food and product images for your business is usually pretty clear. 

It’s a need. At this point, you can’t afford to outsource, but you need images to promote your work. 

It’s a want. You want some creative control over the identity of your brand and business. Part of that is styling and photographing your own images. 

It can also be a combination of both. 

There are a lot of pros to building your skills to shoot your photos in-house:

• You save time. You can do it when you want to without coordinating schedules.

• You can create what you envision and not have to figure out how to define that for someone else. 

• You save money for your business when you keep gear expenses minimal and learn to master natural light. 

There are some cons, too. 

Luci Petlack of the women’s lifestyle website Luci’s Morsels and I talk about both those pros and cons in a recent video call. She also throws in some tips about mastering her own work across the multiple genres she currently photographs for her brand. 

You can watch (or listen) below.

How to Choose Your Best Photo

This one. No, wait, maybe that one is better. Gah! I can’t decide! 

Have you been there? That point where all of the photos you’ve taken for one subject grab you and you can’t decide which is the one. The one you should post, share, submit.

Answer these questions as you review each shot. The results will get you much closer to choosing your hero shot. 

Hero Identity
Each of your shots has a hero subject. Which image most accurately shows that hero subject in the way that results in immediate identity? It has the best lighting, the best angle, so that someone will look at that vegetarian flatbread (for example) and think - that is a vegetarian flatbread. 

Hero Clarity
Which image pulls the viewers eyes directly to the intended hero subject? This can be due to the lighting, styling or angle, and it relates to Hero Identity above. 

Primary Goal
What is the primary goal for the image? Social sharing. Which platform? Ad placement. Do you need some extra negative space for text or to allow designers to crop? An ebook. Same question. If there are multiple goals and intended uses, pick the most important at this very moment. 

Aligning Your Vision
What did you envision when you set out to take this photo? Consider what it was that you wanted viewers to immediately think when they saw it. Which photo most closely aligns with that vision?

Minor Details
Scan the minor details of the images. Notice some things that are rubbing you the wrong way? Maybe at one angle the linen is a touch too close to the plate. Maybe in the overhead that herb is too far away.

Truth:  It still may be a tough decision. Like choosing between your two all-time favorite meals. 

But the positive here is that you have a lot of images you like from your shoot. While it may be easier to choose between a clearly good and clearly bad shot, it’s much more rewarding when you’ve grown your skills to a point where you are forced to choose between two good options. 

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