New here with a question about the rules

Cakebaker · Feb 15, 2025

I bake cakes and am trying to get clearer pictures of my cakes. There is an Instagram account I follow that has the most beautiful pictures of their cakes, and I would like for my to be of the same quality. Is it okay for me to post one of their pictures and one of mine so that hopefully someone could tell me what I need to do to make my pictures better?

snowbear · Feb 15, 2025

Welcome aboard. No, you can't post a photo that is not yours. You can put a link to the photo is it's oline.

cgw · Feb 15, 2025

Google "food photography."

480sparky · Feb 15, 2025

Just post your own photos. We don't need a comparison image.

Jeff15 · Feb 15, 2025

Hello and welcome ... :encouragement:

Cakebaker · Feb 16, 2025

snowbear said:
Welcome aboard. No, you can't post a photo that is not yours. You can put a link to the photo is it's oline.

Jeff15 said:
Hello and welcome ...

Thank you.

Cakebaker · Feb 16, 2025

Cakebaker said:
Yes, I can post a link. My picture is the one that is posted and the link is given to the other one.

Thank you.

My pic is below. I tried to give a link to the picture whose quality I want mine to have, but since it is an Instagram, it posts the picture which serves as the link. I just want my picture to be clear and not have a blurry look and I want the lighting to look better. I want my piping on the cake to stand out more. The Instagram page whose pictures I love is @aprilsbakerlondon if anyone wants to look. Thanks.

4rum · Feb 16, 2025

Welcome and thanks for being considerate enough to ask.

480sparky · Feb 16, 2025

Looks like you need more lighting on the front. All I can see is a single light above it.

Also, the contrast is very flat. Setting the black & white points in post will increase the contrast.

Blurry may be caused by incorrect focus, not enough DOF (use smaller aperture), camera movement, ISO too high, mechanical issue in lens....

Cakebaker · Feb 16, 2025

480sparky said:
Looks like you need more lighting on the front. All I can see is a single light above it.

Also, the contrast is very flat. Setting the black & white points in post will increase the contrast.

Blurry may be caused by incorrect focus, not enough DOF (use smaller aperture), camera movement, ISO too high, mechanical issue in lens....

Thank you so much!

Thiophilos · Feb 16, 2025

You are off to a great start. The pic is evenly lit and we can clearly see the features of the cake. But consider making the light a bit more directional. That will give the pic more pop. There are tons of ways of doing that and most will be effective. You need to read a bit and experiment. To my eye the photo is not tack sharp. See if you can find out why that is and then correct it. Maybe the camera needs to be on a tripod, or maybe you need a more advantageous aperture. Also consider using a more interesting background, and maybe a prop like a cake spatula.

As they say, there is nothing new under the sun. And cake photography is an example. It's been done before! Here are some web pages with tips.