January 19, 2017
Pics or It Didn’t Happen
We know how it goes: You’re sitting in front of an utterly mouth-watering meal, ready to dive in with reckless abandon — but wait! —first, pictures. Whether it’s a perfect shot of your bowl of Strawberry Cheesecake or your first attempt at the Bacon Breakfast Sandwich, your Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook followers will reward your efforts with hearts, likes, and retweets galore. (You might even get one or two to lick their screen longingly.)
Believe it or not, we know a thing or two about photographing ice cream. And nothing makes us happier than when dessert-lovers like you take amazing pictures of your dessert concoctions.
Here are some quick, easy ways to make your ice cream pics pop right off the screen:
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Tell A Story
The best photos are the ones that tell a story or capture an emotion. Look out for perfect ice cream moments that you could capture with your smartphone. Like when you hand a toddler an ice cream cone and their whole world turns happy. Or when you curl up with a bowl of Chocolate Therapy and a good book, ready to melt into relaxation.
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Let There Be (Natural) Light
Any pro photographer will tell you that the key to great pics is lighting. And natural light (i.e. sun), always ends up looking best. So try to position your ice cream near a window, outside, or in a ray of glittering moonlight. However, bright sunlight can cause dreaded shadows, so often a shaded spot works best.
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Compose with Care
Think about your composition before you start. What’s the background? What props or details can you arrange around the bowl or cone to make it look even more perfect? A few chocolate shavings, a nice napkin, a wood tabletop, a cute centerpiece in the background — the magic is in the details.
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Use Your Phone’s Cool Features
If your smartphone has a grid feature, use it to either center or artfully off-center your bowl or cone. And — duh — filters! Pick the one that enhances your shot without washing out the subtle nuance of all those chunks and swirls.
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Play with Angles
Take your photo from a bunch of different angles, then you can choose which one you like the best (while you’re devouring that sundae, obviously). Sometimes the angle you think will be the best turns out not to be so. Better to have a whole bunch of options.
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Ice Cream Makeover
You don’t have to do much to make that bowl of Americone Dream look mouth-watering. Seriously, those swirls speak for themselves. But you can get your bowl or cone looking its best by gently cleaning the ice cream off of a few chunks so they’re clearly visible, making sure it’s juuust the right level of melty-ness, and arranging the scoops so they look fluffy and appetizing, but not too perfect.
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Inject Some Humor
Funny photos are always the big winners on social media. Use your cone as a microphone. Or something completely unexpected as a spoon. Put the bowl on your cat’s head. Try to make the most insane sundae you can from the ingredients in your pantry. The possibilities are endless.
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Speed Matters
You probably already know this, but ice cream melts. Crazy, right! And it doesn’t take its time either. Work quickly so that your subject stays in tip-top condition. No one wants to see a caption that reads “Mmmm, ice cream sundae” under a photo of chocolate soup.
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Make it Yours
The absolute best social media photos always have a little of you in them. Sure, anybody can learn the ins and outs of photography and take pictures that would look at home in a magazine. But finding a style that’s truly you is even more rewarding. Maybe you like black and white photos. Maybe you show off your wit in every caption. Maybe you like to make use of some artful shadows. Let your ice cream quirks shine through, dessert lover!