How To Photograph Ice Cream and Popsicles Before They Melt into a Sad Little Puddle

One of the things that I’ve inadvertently become accustomed to, especially during the VERY warm Florida summers, is photographing food items that melt.

It can be a total pain to try to photograph something, like an ice cream cone, for example, when it’s 90 degrees and the second you step outside the whole thing falls apart. BUT there are ways to combat some of those melting issues when it comes to photography things like ice cream, popsicles, etc. 

So, I thought I’d share a few tips on that topic today, as part of the Behind the Scenes series. Here are seven tips for photographing things that melt…

1. Set up ahead of time. Don’t take anything out of the freezer until you are absolutely positively ready to shoot. That means setting up everything you can before bringing in the potentially melty item.

from strawberry limeade popsicles recipe

2. Work fast. This is an obvious one, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind. You have a small window of time to photograph melty items. So make ’em count.

from candy mini donuts DIY project

3. Keep a tray of ice around. This is especially helpful for popsicles.

4. Use a tripod and set it up ahead of time. This will be super helpful when you have sticky hands and can’t touch anything without making a mess.

from strawberry limeade popsicles recipe

5. And speaking of sticky hands, don’t forget the paper towels. Things can get sticky fast when you’re working with popsicles or ice cream and you don’t want to get that stickiness on you camera when you’re shooting. So, keep some paper towels or a rag handy for easy clean up.

from 3 delicious ways to eat toasted marshmallows

6. Try again. If it doesn’t work the first time, try and try again. Sometimes things don’t  go as planned the first time around, but if you keep trying, you’ll get there.

from 6 DIY ice cream topping ideas

7. Embrace the drips and the puddles. Once you get to a certain point, drips and puddles are going to happen. So, I try to embrace those and get a few final shots as things are visibly melting. Sometimes I include them in the finished post and sometimes I don’t. But either way, it’s good to give it a try and see what you end up with, photo-wise.

from sweet peach iced tea popsicle recipe

from 6 DIY ice cream topping ideas

So those are my tips for photographing ice cream and popsicles before they melt away.

Have your own tips to share? I’d love to hear ’em.

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, it’s my husband’s birthday today! Happy birthday to the funniest guy I’ve ever known. I think I’ll keep ya.