I photographed these beautiful cupcakes (truly delectable despite primary ingredients consisting of styrofoam balls, adhesive, and baker’s twine) during a recent studio session to create a cover image for the April 2012 issue of a popular crafting magazine.

After completing an image styled for the magazine’s cover, my assistant and I plated the cupcakes on these vintage cake stands and set them in the sunny studio window. It was a lovely autumn morning, and the warm sunlight streaming through the window of the old studio storefront lent to the vintage styling of the set-up.

I photographed the image using a Nikon D3 and 200mm AF-D Micro-Nikkor lens mounted to a Kirk BH-1 ballhead on a Studio Titan camera stand. Shooting tethered via Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 directly into Lightroom allowed me to view the images large on a Dell studio monitor (my usual set-up for editorial and commercial studio work) to ensure I had exactly the image I wanted before moving to another composition. Post-processing in Photoshop, I added a texture layer and the rough frame edge to complete the vintage look.

Bon appetit!