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The Life of a Cake Smash Photographer

Posted on 29 Mar, 2020 by Sarah Hart

What does it entail?

The role of a cake smash photographer involves being creative, having a bit of a giggle and usually getting messy with cake or wet! Sound fun? Well, it is! Here at my studio in Tonbridge, Kent, clients get to celebrate their baby’s BIG milestone. Yep, their 1st birthday! And what better way to celebrate, than with cake?!

Planning

When you first book in for your little one’s cake smash, you may already have an idea of a theme or colour scheme. I always recommend taking a look through my Cake Smash Gallery first to see if there is anything that catches your eye. My job as a cake smash photographer is to listen to what ideas you may have or whether you’d like me to guide you. Perhaps you only know what colours you like (think about colours that you use in your own home). Or perhaps you’d prefer me to make suggestions – this absolutely fine and usually after a little conversation we can work out a set-up that’s perfect for your little boy or girl.

Designing

So the creative part of being a cake smash photographer, starts with the designing of the set-up. My style dictates that I naturally am drawn to simpler cake smash designs than overly fussy set-ups. So my main consideration is thinking about which colour paper backdrop I’ll use, which outfits would work and what I’d like the cake to look like.

Sometimes, the set-up is fairly straight forward. The client below was really clear on what colours she wanted. She liked the white backdrop and wanted pale blue and silver to be the additional colours. So I used a pale blue and silver tassel garland and had a large iced cupcake made with blue icing from Cakes Unlimited UK.

At other times, I’m given a theme that they would like. This client wanted a “Woodland” theme for her daughter’s cake smash. She mentioned that she loved foxes (and I did already have a fox outfit). So I set to work designing a little woodland banner with some card and felt that I had. I really love crafting and so being creative is one of the best parts of being a cake smash photographer!

Taking The Photographs

This can be the messy part! I say “can be” as very often the baby’s are super delicate and only pick at their cakes! Clients have been known to try and wipe a little smear of butter cream across their baby’s nose “to make it look like they smashed their cake”! But sometimes, I get a baby who will just dive in! They squelch all that butter cream between their fingers and toes and enjoy a nice, fat chunk of birthday cake.

These are the shoots that both the parents AND the cake smash photographer will end the shoot with little splatters of icing in their hair, on their jeans and definitely on their feet! Here are just a few images of some of my messiest little smashers (it’s a good job a cake smash session involves tub time at the end to get them cleaned up)

Finally, a cake smash photographer gets pretty wet at the end of a session too! Lots of little ones go crazy in the tub! Sometimes, it’s the bubbles that get them giddy. Sometimes it’s just the water that makes them wild. This one certainly liked a good splash!…….

If you would like to see more cake smash ideas, head over to my Cake Smash Photography Gallery. And thinking of a cake smash for your own little one? Drop me an email at sarah@sarahhartphotography and we can get planning for your baby’s big milestone.