Capturing the Cake Smash

Over Mother’s Day weekend I had the opportunity to witness the biggest and best cake smash of all. Jack was turning one year old and at his first birthday party took cake smashing to a whole new level. Take your event photography to a new level by following these tips.

Perspective & Timing: These are essential when photographing events. Be there before the event (cake cutting) takes place and stake out your perspective. Know the schedule to make sure you're not out of the room during the event (blowing out the candle) and always anticipate the next moment.

Think About the Album: I treat every event like a wedding. I start with those close up shots of the food, decor and then focus on the honorary party and their family.

Do I have a close up of the cake, baby opening gifts, sitting on grandpa's knee etc. Tell a story with your shots.

Create Your Location to Steer the Shot: With this series, I was able to request the cake smash be outside. One, because of the beautiful and soft lighting which sun and clouds provide and two for the space it allowed for the guests to all be in one shot. Mom and dad liked this idea too because since we were outside they could just hose the kid down afterwards.

When Shooting Indoors: If you have to photograph indoors try to bounce your flash off of the ceiling and move your subject away from the wall. This will eliminate or at the very least soften what would otherwise be a harsh shadow.

Before & After: The before shot is essential. Clean kid. Dirty kid. Or in this case dirty dad as well. The progression is what you are documenting. The change from sugarfree to sugar spree.

Now that I have a kid of my own she gets invited to all sorts of birthday parties and I love to be along for the ride especially when they provide “juice” for the adults as well. Besides, all of her friends are older than her so I’m getting a lot of great ideas from her friends creative Pinterest loving parents.

I hope you enjoyed Jack’s comic cake smash. As you can see from the faces in these photos we all clearly did.

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