Back inside the Pinterest test kitchen with these one of a kind Shortbread Button Shaped Cookies. They are not only a yummy shortbread cookie recipe. They also give a beautiful presentation that's perfect for stunning guests, gifting for holidays or special occasions. Let me take you through both, the recipe & food photography for these cookies.
Shortbread Button Shaped Cookie Recipe
because we have to make them before we can style them of course...
Shortbread Button Shaped Cookie Food Photography & Styling
The original inspiration behind these cookies was the time of year. Spring was on it's way but not quite here yet. I wanted to make something I could enjoy with a cup of tea (morning or night :). Then of course scrolling through Pinterest for a recipe and really get your creative juices flowing. I saw this recipe with a beautiful button cookie display but it was just that, a shortbread recipe. So my photographer brain met with my delusional "I can do anything" personality and here we are. I'll let you know step by step how these cookies were from the initial cookie cutout to the end presentation.
The hardest part was the actual cutting out of the cookie if I'm being honest. I'm not sure it it's just because of the small spaces in the cookie cutter or if there really is a better strategy. The obstacles that I found cutting out the button shape from the shortbread dough was it was either too sticky or too firm. Then I found the right balance of temperature and found the thickness of the cutout was important too. This I think is helpful to note if you plan on this being a quick one and done - it took me a bit longer than I expected. Worth it though! Pro tip: only cut out as many as you need. The dough recipe above is a lot and we know we don't need two dozen button cookies to make a good food photography session.
Okay on to the actual photography part. I used my Sigma Macro lens.. again. She just never fails me what can I say! My Sony A7IV never leaves my hands, so naturally that's the camera body I used to shoot. I focused entirely on natural light this session. Admittedly I was on a time crunch, that cookies took much longer to cut than I was hoping for and for some reason so did stringing ribbon through them. So I brought the cookies and very few select props to the window in my kitchen letting in the most light. Lighting can really give a photography session a different look all together so it's important to know the feel I was going for.
A bit about styling the Shortbread Button Cookies...
I wanted the cookies to feel cozy but still light and simple. I think sometimes cozy can be associated with chunky, dark colors. Chunky wasn't the vibe but I'm certainly all for rich muted colors. So for the ribbon I went with velvet for a nod to that cozy feeling, dark green- that could lend to any time of year and a thinner ribbon, of course, to go through the holes of the cookie. The cookie itself is shortbread and when I think of shortbread I think of rich, melt in your mouth and butter. So that in itself (I think) screams comfy cozy. The button its cute and gives a cottage vibe which I think is also associated with a cozy feeling. So it felt like the cozy elements were covered and now I needed to balance that out with a bit of simplicity. How do you achieve simplicity without adding too much? I'd say its a fine line and less is more definitely comes into play. We already have a lot of interest with the shortbread cookie, the shape, and the cozy ribbon. So I made sure only to add elements that would compliment the already established pieces. I used a green dish towel as a base to help the cookies pop, still keeping with warm and cozy. Then I switched it up to a wooden surface that felt similar to the cookie so there wasn't competition. Once you saw the green ribbon you eyes go right to the cookie. That's how I kept the styling cozy and simple for these shortbread button shaped cookies. Now back to the photography side of things.
taking the photos...
I had a very short amount of time to use the natural light cascading through our kitchen window. Luckily this cozy simple styling aloud for me to move quickly through shots. I wanted people to focus on the texture and outcome of the cookie. Small, golden brown, crunchy but melty and delicious. Food will tell a story if we capture it well!
"Food will tell it's story if we capture it well."
So I went about taking photos from the same angle that the sun was coming in to maximize the amount of light on the shortbread. I found it was a bit too harsh for my liking and it was washing out all of the important details I wanted to capture. So I played with overhead shots to make sure I got that beautiful button details. Then I played with staking them like I would to create a little present of beautifully wrapped shortbread cookies. I shot from the that side that was half in the light and half in the shadows to capture the perfect cascade of light through the stack of cookies. I played with the dish towel and made sure the focus was still the cookies. I used a lot of s-curve composition while I was working with this styling.
What is an s-curve composition? Just imagine a snake slithering through your beautiful food styling - ha! But seriously it's simple. The s-curve is simply guiding the viewers eye by drawing an "s" through your subject matter. Putting together a solid styling composition makes it easy for you to shoot from different angles building a final album of interest. Here are some visuals to help.
Here's a list of all the items I used and where to get them!
- Green velvet ribbon
- Button Cookie Cutter
- Dish towels - I got mine at Marshalls but I found these on Amazon that are similar!
- my camera & lens.... and thats it!
Like I mentioned before this was a quick food photography session. I have 12 really beautiful fully edited pictures from, maybe, 30 minutes of shooting. If you're interested in trying food photography at home baking is a great way to start! Low cost and simple things like cookie cutters and details can make a big difference! If you liked this one you'll have to check out my Earl Grey Donut Food styling and photography. That's one of my favorites to date!
Do you enjoy a visual? Here's a link to the youtube video!
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