Gigi’s Cupcakes is in on this Fall thing, too. Gina shows up at the studio with a cornucopia of Fall themed cupcakes and Darlene and I set out to photograph thirteen cupcakes for their Fall menu. Flavors like Apple Pie, Pumpkin, Banana Pudding and Sweet Potato just to name a few.

If you’ve been around me for very long you know that I LOVE food, but contrary to popular belief, I don’t eat food off the set. I honeslty don’t know any food photographer who eats food off the set. It’s a good policy to keep, even as tempting as it might be to just sink your teeth into a wonderful looking juicy filet or slice of moist chocolate cake.

Just like many things in my world, there is a way around this chivalrous policy … extras! The extras on a shoot are those poor souls that were trying out for the lead role but didn’t quite make it. Maybe they had a lopsided top or a bent bottom. (Oh, by the way, we’re talking about cupcakes here.) The hero is the one that gets the spotlight and while he (or she) might enjoy that brief notoriety, they go from set to trash in the blink of an eye.

So, at the end of the day we end up with a kitchen full of extras just hanging around wondering what to do next. Being the curious one I am, I like to give each extra a chance, so we have somewhat of a free-for-all and do a cupcake tasting. May I give you my all time favorite? It’s the Derby Pie Cupcake. See below. I’m a fan for life. This up and coming star should not just be on the Fall schedule but should be front and center year ’round.

There you have it. Now, go down the street to Gigi’s and experience yourself. You won’t be sorry.

- Kyle

ps. Don’t forget about their mini-cupcakes. Super good which means they are super dangerous!

After spending a couple of days processing the images, I’m quite pleased with the results. It’s so nice when a shoot goes well. Additionally, having great equipment, super nice client and reasonable schedule makes the food photography formula work, too.

I’ve been shooting with the PhaseOne P40+ digital back and it makes for such nice pixels. Almost 40 megapixels to be exact, almost. In case you don’t know, it’s a medium format camera setup. I’m using the PhaseOne back on a 555 ELD Hasselblad camera body. My lens of choice is usually a 120mm macro.

I thought it be fun to show you a couple details from one of the 31 cupcakes we shot.

This is the full image (scaled down for web resolution) of Gigi’s Chocolate Sundae Cupcake. Processed, color balanced and a little retouching.

This is just a cropped detail of the full image. Doesn’t this look yummy! It might look like ice cream but it’s frosting. Yummy frosting … so I hear.

This is a 1 to 1 detail to show exactly how clean the pixels are at capture.

Confession: While I didn’t eat any food ‘off’ the set (you know my rule), I did find the opportunity to taste a few of the cupcakes that didn’t make it to set. You gotta hate it when one falls over and wrecks it’s appearance and just has to be eaten. Such is the life of a food photographer.

- Kyle

When it comes to styling what is a great looking food product to begin with there are certain challenges to arise. The camera sees everything. I mean everything. That’s the advantage (and sometimes disadvantage) of shooting with a 40 megapixel PhaseOne digital back. Shooting at super high resolution provides fantastic image quality and huge files but it also shows any slight oddity that might present itself in the food. One example were some teeny tiny sugar crystal garnishes that hitched a ride on an unsuspecting cupcake during transport.

So, the food styling wasn’t anything too terribly crazy on this shoot, just different than keeping a burger patty looking fresh or making sure pasta didn’t dry out. There’s nothing better than having a beautiful subject, and I can tell you, these cupcakes were outstanding creations … and very cooperative as well.

After we completed the photography I had a little fun dissecting a number of the cupcakes and … well, uh … we had a cupcake ping pong party here at the studio. Thanks to John, Michael, Elvis, Cory and Burk for coming by to share in the left overs from the shoot. The only thing missing was a nice tall cold glass of milk.

-Kyle