Planning a food photo shoot might seem a little overwhelming but following a few simple steps will make the process less stressful.

1. Research and Concept

Inspiration can come from anywhere. You could be walking down the street and see a child licking an ice cream cone. Half of the dessert is melting over his little fingers, and the other half is all over his smiling, purely joyful face. Despite the messiness, his ice cream LOOKS AMAZING and would make a great food photo.

You might research your subject online via Pinterest or other social media or be struck by a great idea while at a thrift store or grocery shopping. Stock photography sites like Pexels and Adobe Stock also are good inspiration sites if you need to kickstart your brain into creative mode.

Gather your ideas and draw them out. How many variations do you envision for each concept? Creativity sometimes flows during the photo shoot with some photo ideas. Others? You need to plan. Create your detailed shot list and determine the desired angle, look and feel for each shot as much as possible ahead of time. This will save you time during the actual shoot.

Schedule a meeting with your professional photographer and food stylist to make sure everyone is on the same page and you have a complete list of items needed for each shot in your food photo shoot. When planning the order in which the shots will be taken, consider the camera angle. For instance, if multiple shots will need to be taken overhead, plan to take those shots before moving on to something that will need to be shot into. If using the same backdrop, take those shots before switching to a new setting. The more organized you are in your preparation, the smoother the photo shoot should go.

Because our treats are the stars of the photos, we bring more than enough product to our photographer to ensure only the most perfect make the cut. No cracks or broken edges are allowed. We also like to include wrapped treats as well as unwrapped in our photos.

If you are featuring a finished product or a specific process to a recipe, you can capture the different steps at the shoot by having the product prepared in its various stages. Having an assistant or two will save you time, but if you are the only person prepping, do this ahead of your food photo shoot.

3. Time to Shoot

Know this: Something might not go as planned during your photo shoot. Technical issues, bad weather, poor composition. Expect it and work through it. You will survive.

Most of our professional food photo shoots take place at the photographer’s studio. So, we bring everything needed for each shot to him. He shoots tethered so we can see everything immediately on the computer and adjust accordingly. Catalog cover shots generally take longer to shoot. Gift product shots – less time.

Here is an example of a recent Christmas cover that transitioned from concept to finished product.

Come take a walk through the Fairytale Brownies Bakery with us. You might even be able to smell the brownies baking from where you are!

The Retail Store

Upon entering the bakery, you’ll be greeted by two things – the smiling face of our friendly retail associate and the mouth-watering scent of rich chocolate brownies baking in the oven. Here, you can sample the day’s treat flavor while perusing the shelves of different gift options that Fairytale offers. Or our associate can help you find the perfect gift and help you choose your flavors if needed.

Want to see what the folks at Fairytale have been doing for the past 30+ years? Look around the store. We have memorabilia ranging from our first brownie cutter, to awards, to media mentions. You also can watch videos from Fairytale Brownies You Tube Channel and watch the bakers working through our large viewing windows.

But wait. This is a tour of the bakery – we’re going to take you INTO the kitchen.

The Kitchen

Put your hairnet on and become a #hairnethottie as we walk through the steps of baking delicious Fairytale Treats.

Once completely mixed, the batter bowl is lifted and moved to the Flavor Topping station. Here, the batter is weighed, poured into trays, and topped off with whatever toppings the flavor’s recipe requires. Are they baking Chocolate Chip Brownies today? If so, chocolate chips are measured into bowls and carefully sprinkled all over the batter tray so that every brownie piece will have a crunchy bite.

Or is it Toffee Crunch today? Bakers will be extra careful to make sure each toffee piece is placed so that the toffee floats like a boat instead of sinking into the batter when the brownie is baked.

The brownie trays are placed in a rack and wheeled into the oven. The rack is then lifted and rotated until the brownies are done.

 Once cooled, the brownies are cut – either into full-size Brownies (3”x3”), snack size Sprites (3” x 1.5”), or bite-size Morsels (1.5” x 1.5”). All our treats are center cut.

Depending on the flavor, some brownies are then hand decorated with icing and are then wrapped and packed into gifts to be shipped to spread joy worldwide.

The Shipping Warehouse

When you enter the warehouse, you will see a buzz of activity.

Team members will be building gifts ensuring you receive the correct flavors and sizes. Because our brownies are preservative-free, we want them to stay as fresh as possible until they reach their destination. During the hot summer month, we ship the treats frozen, in insulated packaging and with reusable cold packs.

While gift building is taking place in one area, other team members might be shipping gifts. Fairytale ships worldwide and it seems people all over the world do love our brownies. We’ve shipped to Australia, Ireland, Japan, and Poland to name a few!

Our custom printing specialist is always busy printing logos and photos on our gift bands, tin lids, wooden box lids, and brownie and cookie labels. Each gift is checked to make sure the logos are smudge-free and clear. Knowing that Fairytale offers same and next day turnaround on custom orders under 50 gifts keeps him on his toes, too!

You’ve now completed your virtual tour. Whether you’ve ordered a gift for one person or 10,000, know that they were baked, packed, and shipped with care. Enjoy!