There is always a new reason to take photos of your kids, but sometimes paying professionals for every event can really start to add up. Instead of spending almost $300 on a cake smash photoshoot, we chose to set up our own at home!
Here are my tips to ensure the best results for your DIY cake smash!
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Buy a backdrop
One of the things that make studio photos so professional are the clean backdrops. I have a backdrop holder that I always use for at-home photo booths but you can use a sheet and hang it on something or tape it to the wall as well. I ordered these solid black and white backdrops for future shoots and we ordered this specific galaxy one for the Star Wars theme we wanted.
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Use the props you have/can reuse
Our daughter’s nursery is Star Wars themed so we already had all of these stuffed animals to use in the background. The X-wing plane and Millennium Falcon were purchased at a thrift sale as toys/birthday décor which brings me to the next tip. If you can take items for the cake-smash and re-use them for party décor, you feel a little bit better about spending the money on them (at least I do). Nothing about the cake smash set up was purchased JUST for the cake-smash.
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Make your own cake
This also helps save money (although it doesn’t save time). I used some “healthier” cake options that had no added sugar (and also didn’t rise, oops) so I could feel a little bit better about the fistfuls of dessert my child would be taking. Totally unnecessary but even if you use box cake and boxed frosting, the $5 you will spend is significantly less than the $20 or more for a real cake that no one else will get to eat!
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Invest in a good camera
I have had a DSLR since 2008 and while I am by no means a “photographer,” I know that the quality I can achieve is better than an iPhone (even if those iPhone 12 cameras are pretty amazing). I currently have a Nikon D7100 and I chose to shoot in manual. You can too if you just watch a couple YouTube videos and practice on your baby before the photos! If you still are worried, try practicing in S or A mode instead where you don’t have to control ALL of the settings. Again, I am not a professional so I will refer you to “google” for that one.
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Have someone back you up
Even though I use my DSLR for the main photos, I still have my husband back me up with an iPhone so that if something happens and I messed up every photo, I still have decent ones. Like I said, cell phones these days take awesome photos – they just aren’t as quality when you start to increase in size.
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Find good light
I specifically shot these in the early afternoon on a sunny day when I knew we would have the most natural light into our living room. Because that room STILL doesn’t get tons of light, I also invested in this ring light. It happens to have a cell phone attachment so I could also record the shoot while I was doing it which was fun.
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Have someone with props
If one or two of you are taking the photos, someone else will be holding up props trying to make your baby smile. If you were paying a professional, you would probably being the one jumping up and down to get a smile or laugh but you can’t really do that with the camera in your hand. If you don’t have another assistant (re: friend or family) then that just means your partner puts down the cell phone every now and then for the puppet (or whatever).
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Feed your baby first
You may think you want a hungry baby to get the best shots but what you will probably end up with is a cranky, crying baby. We gave our daughter milk and a little snack first, then did the cake smash, and then offered her any more lunch. That way, she was full enough to wait for her meal but hungry enough to dive into the cake with lots of smiles.
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Get a little messy
I had to show my daughter that the item in front of her was in fact edible and hers to play with. I took little pieces out of the back, where the camera wouldn’t see so that I could let her try it. We also put her hands on the cake some so she knew she could play on it. Unfortunately I had the cake in the fridge a little too long so it was harder for her to really smash up and so she was banging on it for a while without any real damage
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Have fun
At the end of the day, a cake smash is a totally millennial made up thing and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Have fun with it and don’t stress if your photos aren’t studio-perfection. There is a sense of fun chaos in doing it yourself and accomplishment in seeing the results.
There is a lot of pressure to have the adorable professional photos of your babies all the way from the hospital, holidays, ½ birthdays and the birthday. If you try and keep up with that you could end up spending thousands which just isn’t feasible for a lot of families. Even if all you use are balloons, a backdrop, and cake, you can create super cute photos on your own.
Some of my favorite editing apps are:
Laptop – Lightroom, Photoshop
Cellphone – PicsArt, Lightroom, Snapseed, Facetune, and VSCO
If you still choose to pay a professional, that is awesome too – we love our photographers!
Happy planning!
Xx
Kali
