Colorful (check), nostalgic (check), frosting and cake in a smaller portion (check): I’m talking cupcakes with sprinkles! I love cupcakes as a treat, they are yummy and just the perfect size for a treat!
Makenzie at Phoenix Artistry decided to combine these two treats for another set in our Sugar Editorial Series! Let’s dive in and check out a few fun highlights from this cupcake and sprinkle fashion photoshoot!
Colored Cupcakes that are sweet and fun (not sultry)
The biggest thing that Makenzie conveyed (and I agreed with), is we didn’t want this to be a ‘sexy’ relationship to sweets. We wanted it to be a ‘healthy’ relationship (ironically enough). So the goal was to just have fun, and capture some care-free moments with sweets.
Makenzie put it best by saying that we often have an unhealthy relationship with sweets, and she wanted to celebrate the healthy relationship we can choose to form. I personally believe, that moderation is key and what helps us form a healthy relationship with sweets like cupcakes with sprinkles. For me, this photoshoot was about the nostalgia of eating a cupcake and simply enjoying it. Not over-indulging, not worrying about how big of a slice of cake you had, but just being a kid eating 3/4 of a cupcake and feeling happy at a birthday party.
Playing with Sprinkles
Of course, we had to bring sprinkles into play and we get cupcakes with sprinkles was the perfect combination for a photoshoot! The question was, how could we utilize both without one completely dominating the other?
The easiest way was to choose cupcake with frosting that would match rainbow sprinkles! I could then incorporate those colors into the lighting and time in both elements! We did have some other fun with the sprinkles though:
Sprinkle Lips
This was all Makenzie’s idea/doing! Sprinkle covered lips just screamed a child who truly enjoyed their cupcake. She used a gloss or a jelly like product (not sure exactly what it was) to create a sticky base for the lips. Then, we had the model ‘kiss’ a plate of sprinkles. From there, she touched up the lips by adding a little bit more gloss and a little bit more sprinkles.
Two things to be aware of when ‘sprinkling’ your model’s lips:
- This is going to be sticky and it may be a little awkward feeling for your model. Just make them aware before hand, and wait until you have shot the other items you wanted before you have them do sprinkle lips.
- Longer sprinkles will have a harder time sticking than smaller sprinkles because they are heavier and require more surface area to stick to the lips. I haven’t tried this yet, but I would recommend trying smaller circle sprinkles if you want more complete coverage.
Through the Sprinkled-Looking Glass
I have actually had quite a few individuals ask how I get shots like the above. I’ve actually done this in other photoshoots. You can check out my Glitter Hand Shoot and Cherry Shoot from the Fruit Series (coming soon) to see this technique used in different ways.
The easiest way to achieve this look is to use clear, plastic sheet (like the plastic from a large picture frame from Walmart) or use a sheet of glass. The glass sheet will be much heavier, so I recommend the plastic (also if the plastic scratches no big deal). Your model will lay down on the ground and hold this above their face. You can then cover the top of the plastic sheet in whatever you want–cherries, glitter, or even sprinkles!
Keep in mind your lighting and surrounding colors. If you do this outside, it will reflect the blue sky or green of tree leaves onto the plastic. If you are using studio lights, you’ll want to watch for large reflections or hot spots from your lights. If using gel lighting (like in the shot below), the gel will need to be on the ground aimed at the subject, and the gel color WILL appear more saturated due to bouncing light off the plastic.
Want to check out other sugary shoots from this Editorial Series? Click below to checkout the entire series:
You can see more images from the cupcake and sprinkle editorial sugar shoot below:
