I do a lot of stuff around here, that never makes it onto my blog. Sometimes I have dead batteries in my camera, or pictures might languish on my memory card until they are no longer timely and relevant. Who wants to see Halloween decor in November, right? Well last year, I had made some Shamrock Cupcakes, took a few pictures, then didn't get the post written.
I thought to myself, "I can just save these for next year." Except when I pulled up the pictures, I was horrified to see what really bad pictures I was taking last year. I actually hesitated to show you these, but this blog is supposed to be documenting my life, and it seems my life includes some new photography skills. Here's the apple tart, I posted about yesterday.
It's well lit with the pic taken next to the living room window, and the background kind of falls away because I have the focal length shortened. I'm taking pics in manual mode, now. Notice the bamboo placemat underneath the plate. That's for a bit of texture.
And here's last year's Shamrock Cupcakes.
No glamour shot by itself. Just sitting on the plastic cupcake travel tray. Bad indoor lighting with flash. It's a jumbled mess. What a difference a year makes. I'm not a photography expert by any stretch of the imagination yet, but I'm learning, and it's nice to see how far I've come. For more photography tips check out Emilie's blog.
Back to the cupcakes. I baked my favorite chocolate cupcakes, but feel free to use boxed or whatever your favorite cupcake recipe is. In a pinch, I like Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Mix.
When they were cooled, I frosted them with some green buttercream frosting.
When they were cooled, I frosted them with some green buttercream frosting.
I took marshmallows and cut them into petals, using a toothpick to push in one side as I cut.
Cut marshmallows are very sticky, and you can dip them in colored sanding sugar to create flower petals, like in the cupcakes in my header, bunny ears for easter, or shamrock petals like for my shamrock cupcakes.
Thanks for popping in and cupcake decorating with me. I'm linking this up to Cuisine Kathleen's St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl.
I like the texture of the bamboo. It is a beautiful picture.
ReplyDeleteThose look so good. Very impressive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and I'm glad you posted them. Recently I was updating my recipe index and had to go all the way back to when I first started my blog. Oh man those pics were cringe worthy, taken at night in the kitchen under heavy yellow lights, eekk! Look at how far you have come with the apple pie as a fine example.
ReplyDeleteTake care..
Hi Marcia! That apple tart picture is awesome. Nice work...and I love how you explained about how you added the placemat for texture. Very nice. I'm still super new at learning about photography...and it's fun to learn tricks and ideas from others.
ReplyDeleteI think the tart and the cupcakes both look so good. And I love your idea with the marshmallows. I would've never thought of that. Super cool! :)
Thanks for linking up! Your 4 leaf clover cupcakes look delicious!
ReplyDelete