Halloween Black Cupcakes With Cherry Filling

Up until recently, I really hated photographing halloween food. Trying to get that spooky atmosphere, with moody lighting and creepy props should sound like fun, but I ALWAYS seem to end up with photos that look dull, dark and tacky (stupid plastic spiders!). I even made Halloween fungus carbonara last week - using black spaghetti and some weird and wonderful mushrooms. I thought it’d look awesome, but honestly? It looked and tasted vile! Black bean spaghetti? eugh. Never buying that stuff again. Anyway, I was sitting at my desk, drinking coffee and pretending to work, when it hit me. Why am I trying to take photos in the dark? Literally, in the dark.

I’ve never actually been formally taught how to use a camera (ok, I went to a one-day course ages ago, but it was terrible - the tutor was taking food photos under fluorescent strip lights for goodness sake). So I don’t actually know the technical side of this type of photography. My method is often trial and error, along with bits of advice from Chris. I decided to have a play to see what works, and it seems that moody photos aren’t taken in dark rooms. It was actually pretty obvious when I took the time to think about it.

In fact, I’ve found to get the best photos, using concentrated light - coming from one source - seems to be the key to get nice moody shadows. The shadows can be further enhanced using black card, propped up opposite to the light source. For more light in a certain area of the picture, white card or a reflector works great to bounce light back onto the food. Darker props and backdrops are also a must! So in the end, I really enjoyed photographing these cupcakes. Much more fun than the black spaghetti disaster! If you like these then why not try some of our other Halloween recipes;