Balancing Hard and Soft Light in Our Gingerbread Cookie Shoot

I challenge myself by consistently exploring fresh and imaginative ways to photograph food.

We wanted to add something a little different to our portfolio for our latest shoot, so we photographed gingerbread cookies. We thought the combination of gingerbread cookies and Christmas would be a perfect match.

Props and Color Palette

We kept everything simple (such as styling, props, and background) to keep the focus on the cookies. My friend Ana gifted me this beautiful rusted metal serving platter, and I thought this would perfectly give the images a cozy vibe. The cool black background created this super dramatic contrast that made the cookies’ warm tones pop right off the screen.

Combining Hard and Soft Light

We are huge fans of chiaroscuro art and love recreating that lighting style whenever possible. We used a combination of hard and soft light to create a visually interesting and dynamic picture. Hard light creates sharp shadows on the cookies and adds a dramatic and edgy look with dimension and depth. On the other hand, the soft light gives the image a more delicate and subtle look, adding warmth and softness. This mix of hard and soft light improves the look of the picture as a whole and helps to make the final result look cohesive and good. This mix of hard and soft light creates an image similar to chiaroscuro but with a twist.

Putting it all together

Combining hard and soft light in food photography can really make an image look better. We created a dynamic and visually interesting image showcasing the warmth and coziness of the gingerbread cookies. If you’re interested in seeing more of our food photography portfolio, feel free to check out our website. And if you have an upcoming project that you think we could add a dramatic touch too, don’t hesitate to contact us!