DIY Cake Smash Photoshoot

Having missed out on doing a newborn shoot with Jacob, I was really excited to do a 1 year/cake smash photoshoot. I wanted to attempt to do it myself and although I am really happy with how they turned out…it was not easy.

Before attempting to do a DIY photoshoot with a baby/toddler, I would recommend taking your little one to a professional…trust me it's much less stressful. However, if you are a photography nut like me then here are some tips on capturing photos of your little cherub.

Get someone to help out

This is why people take their babies to a professional! It's hard work figuring out your photography shots/style whilst also looking after an active 1-year-old. My husband looked after the boy and made sure he had a nap before bringing him into the shoot. I think it took me 3 attempts across a month until I finally managed to do it successfully, factoring in Jacob not being in the mood or ill and just having enough time to get it done right - make sure you have nothing else planned for the day/weekend.

Prepare

Depending on how much space you have, you could set up all your photography equipment the night before. I did not have this luxury and the best room for me to shoot the photos in was actually Jacob’s nursery as it has black-out blinds. So, unfortunately, it all had to be set up and taken down on the same day.

It helps to take some practice shots so you don't have to think about camera and lighting settings on the actual shoot.

If like me, you want to make life more difficult for yourself and make your own cake (I actually love baking so didn’t consider this a pain) then again, try and bake this the night before. I actually have some really good recipe ideas for a cake smash cake.

The ‘What Mummy Makes’ book by Rebecca Wilson has a really good low sugar recipe for a celebration cake. I actually made this one for Jacob’s birthday party but decided not to use it for his shoot as I wanted a bit more height to the cake. I did however take her recipe for the cream part of the cake.

I wanted a simple-looking naked-style cake with some fruit on top. I ended up going with a classic sponge recipe with a lot less sugar just so I could get the height of the cake combined with the cream ingredients from the Rebecca Wilson celebration cake.

The Right Equipment

I already had the equipment needed to achieve the photos I wanted but if you are starting from scratch, here are some of the essential items I used.

• Canon 6D Camera - I have had this baby for 9 years and it is my pride and joy however its not all about the make and model of the camera. You can use any camera you have and to be honest you could even use a mobile phone as the cameras on them are pretty good these days.
• Tripod - I ended up taking my camera off the tripod after a while but it helps to have one so you don’t get camera shake, making the photos as sharp as they can be.
• Photography backdrop - I bought this recently, specifically for this shoot but thought it would be handy if I wanted to use it for any other photography projects. This helped create a nice clean backdrop for my subject and props to go on and meant that I had less editing to do at the end. I opted for an adjustable backdrop stand and background paper roll.
• Lighting - I wanted to control the lighting as much as I could which is why I mentioned using a blackout blind. I had one softbox light and one Elgato key light. The Elgato key lights are great because you can control the temp and amount of light it gives off right from your computer or phone however, they are on the pricey side. To avoid casting different colored lights, I made sure the Elgato light matched that of the softbox (which I could not control the temp of).
• Editing software - As much as I would love to say I didn’t need to do much editing. I did…a lot! But if you want a particular style then sometimes you have to go heavy on the editing. When I had a look at the photos after the shoot, I realized I wasn’t that happy with the general mood so needed to use Adobe Lightroom to fix this. There were also some photos that needed a bit of cropping and touching up which I used Adobe Photoshop for.

Let your Baby/Toddler be themselves

This is probably the thing I struggled with the most and didn’t really give much thought to beforehand. I thought that my son would just naturally play with what I put in the shot…how naive I am. He was actually more interested in all the shiny lights and camera equipment.

I would say try not to get frustrated with your child and just let them be themselves. I had a lovely new cuddly teddy bear for Jacob and as soon as I took a photo, he wasn’t interested in it because the sound of my camera was much more appealing. Luckily as soon as I brought the cake out, his focus went to this and I was able to get the shots I wanted.