Sprinkle Product Photography with India Tree

I’m back with another shoot for India Tree! If you missed the post about my first shoot with them, click here to check it out and see their gourmet baking sugars in action.

I was so excited to be asked to do another shoot for India Tree, and even more excited when I learned it would be of their sprinkles! All of India Tree’s sprinkles are made with vegetable dyes and they even offer vegan options. Natural dyes don’t imply dull colors though - these sprinkles are vibrant, colorful, and taste good too!

During the baking sugar shoot, our goal was to focus only on the sugar and capture the textures and colors. For the sprinkles, we wanted to shoot them on food to show how they look atop baked goods and other treats. During our planning meeting, the client told me that their two biggest customers are ice cream shops and bakeries, so we decided to shoot the sprinkles on ice cream and donuts! Ice cream and donuts are both fun, playful foods, so I knew I wanted to bring in some more color while also ensuring that these photos are cohesive with the last shoot we did.

To do this, I purchased these cute bowls from Anthropologie. They’re the perfect size to bring in some color without being too overwhelming, plus the colors matched the sprinkles perfectly! For additional props, I brought in some larger white bowls, vintage ice cream scoop, and parchment paper. I was very intentional about the props I chose so that they didn’t overwhelm the photo or distract from the star of the show - the sprinkles! I used the same marble surface from Club Backdrops as last time to keep the background consistent as well.

For the donut shots, I enlisted the help of Bitchin Donuts in Albany, NY. Tania and her team were so accommodating and were willing to use India Tree sprinkles to decorate their donuts. The donuts came out beautifully and were the perfect treat to display the My Party and Rainbow Nonpareils sprinkle varieties. My favorite shot is the single, purple donut surrounded by the nonpareils. This was done by placing the donut in a glass dish and then pouring enough sprinkles in the dish to create a thick, even layer. The photo was shot with a 100mm lense using an ISO of 250, a shutter speed of 1/400 sec, and f/6.3. I love that the nonpareils are blurred but not so much that you can’t make out what they are.

Any food photographer knows that when it comes to photographing it, ice cream poses its own special challenges. If you’re using real ice cream, you need to work incredibly fast so that it doesn’t start to melt. It can also be tricky to get those perfect looking scoops and style the ice cream exactly how you’d like. Despite these challenges, I do enjoy shooting ice cream! The dessert lends itself naturally to very fun, youthful photos that can also portray a sense of nostalgia.

For these shots, I knew I had to get one of the sprinkles falling on to the ice cream cone. With the help of my husband, who did a wonderful job pouring the sprinkles 😄, I was able to get a gorgeous shot! The little, out of focus sprinkles scattered throughout the frame make me so happy. I also really love this shot in the middle of scooping ice cream. It was important to the client that ice cream photos appeal to ice cream shops in addition to the everyday consumer, as they’re one of India Trees biggest customers. I think the middle image appeals to both demographics and is an eye-catching image that would make anyone want to dive in to a scoop of ice cream!

Finally, I delivered two stop motion GIFS so India Tree has some more videos to incorporate into their content strategy. I’m always happy to create some stop motion videos for my clients that will capture their audience attention and get them excited about their products.

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