My little nephew turned one last week! Being the creative, photo obsessed Auntie that I am – I had a little DIY cake smash photo session at home for him. Sharing all the details on how to have your own DIY photo shoot!
The most important thing to nail down for doing an at home DIY shoot is lighting! I took the photos at my sister’s home and scoped the areas around the house with the best lighting. I knew I was going to take the photos around noon when my nephew wakes up from his nap, therefore I tested the lighting in that area of the house around noon to decide where to take the photos. My sister happens to have a loft area on her top floor and there is a ton of natural light that flows in, which makes for the perfect photo spot!! Be sure to find the best well-lit spot in your home to take photos.
For the photo backdrop I purchased a roll of Fadeless Paper in Weathered Wood from Michaels. At first I wanted to get a white backdrop. I drove out to 3 different Michaels and they all happened to be sold out, therefore I decided to go with a wood backdrop, and I actually loved how all the photos turn out! I set up two areas for photos – the first set of photos were pre-cake on a white blanket with a one balloon hanging and a bunch of balloons blown up. The second backdrop was where the cake smash happened. The cake is messy, therefore I made sure to put a plastic tablecloth down under the contact paper to avoid any cake getting on the carpet. I used clear packaging tape to hold the contact paper up on the wall. I decorated the area with banners and balloons in the blue theme and did a few test shots to make sure everything was in the frame.
I purchased all the decorative items from Target! I actually ordered it all online since not all the items were available in store. The one banner and balloons are by far my favorite!!! I linked all the items below to easily shop.
The smash cake outfit is from Amazon and my absolute favorite! Thankfully my nephew isn’t too picky with clothes and let me get away with this ridiculous outfit. I baked the cake for my darling nephew however as I expected he had no reaction to it! Since he never eats sweets and this was the first time he had cake – he had no idea what to do!! Funny kid. I snapped some photos of his reaction before he bailed on the photo shoot. Instead we took family photos and just had fun with the shoot!
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