Pastry Photography
Glazes, lamination and brûléed tops — photographed for bakeries, pastry chefs and dessert brands across Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego.
The crackle of a brûléed top, the shine on a glaze, the shatter of good lamination — photographed for bakeries, pastry chefs and dessert brands across Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Sweet on camera.
Pastry and dessert photography.
Cakes, cookies, ice cream and plated desserts, lit to show every crumb, drip and swirl. For bakeries, pastry chefs and dessert brands across Southern California.
Pastry & desserts
Every layer, every drip.
Texture you can almost taste. Careful lighting brings out flaky layers, glossy glazes and soft crumb, so your desserts look as indulgent as they are.
Timed for melting moments. Ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate move fast. I set up in advance so we capture them at their peak.
Made for menus and social. Clean, bright images for your website, menus, wholesale catalog and Instagram, with unlimited images from the shoot.
Love at first slice.
A great dessert photo makes people want to stop in on the way home. Bright, playful and irresistible, just like the real thing.
Pastry and dessert photography
I'm Alan De Herrera. I photograph for bakeries, pastry chefs, patisseries, ice cream makers and dessert brands across Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego and Riverside — case boards, menus, packaging and the vertical video that sells them.
Pastry is all detail: the crackle of a brûléed top, the shine on a glaze, the shatter of a good lamination. Light it flat and it turns into a beige lump, so nearly all of the work is in the angle the light comes from.
What I shoot
Case boards, menus, packaging and ice cream
Full case boards for a bakery, where thirty items have to sit together and look like one shop. Plated desserts for a restaurant menu. Packaging and retail shots clean enough for an ecommerce listing. Wedding and celebration cakes, which need a room and a whole different scale of light.
Ice cream and anything frozen is its own discipline. I work in short bursts with backups in a cooler and shoot the hero frames first, because the second attempt is never as good as the first.
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We agree a shot list first, grouped by where the images are going — the case, the menu, the website, the ordering app, social. Then I build one lighting set-up that carries the whole list, so the last item looks like it belongs with the first.
Your own team can plate and finish to camera with me directing, which costs you nothing extra. Ice cream, melting chocolate, pull shots and anything that has to hold up for hours under lights really do benefit from a food stylist. When a shot needs one I bring a stylist in and quote it separately, so you only pay for styling where it earns its keep.
What it costs
Flat rates from $495
Unlimited images, no per-image fees and no licensing tiers, edited and delivered in three business days. A bakery case of thirty to forty-five items is comfortably a single day, cropped and named for your menu, your website and your delivery app listings at the same time.
Tell me how many items, your city and roughly when you need them, and I will come back with a straight number within one business day.
Pastry photography questions
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Flat rates start at $495 and include unlimited images, editing and delivery within three business days. A full bakery case of thirty to forty-five items is normally one day. No per-image fees and no licensing tiers.
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Yes, nearly always. Everything is freshest where it is made, and your counter and case give the lifestyle shots somewhere real to live. I bring all the lighting, so I can work in a back room or a corner of the shop before you open.
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Fast, in short bursts, with backups waiting in a cooler and the hero frames shot first. Modern lights are cool, so the enemy is room temperature and time rather than the lighting. For hard campaign work a stylist is worth bringing in, and I quote that separately.
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Thirty to forty-five items is normal. Whole cakes and anything that has to be assembled on set take longer, so tell me which pieces are heroes and I will build the day around them.
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Often not. Most case items, plated desserts and packaged goods photograph beautifully straight out of your kitchen with me directing, which costs you nothing extra.
Ice cream, melting chocolate, pull shots and anything that has to hold for hours under lights really do benefit from a stylist. When a shot needs one I bring a stylist in and quote it separately.
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Yes. A tall cake needs room, height and a different light to a plated dessert, so it is worth planning as its own set-up rather than squeezing it in at the end of a case shoot.
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Yes. Clean shots on white for ecommerce and retail listings, plus styled versions for social and advertising. Boxes, sleeves and labels need care with reflections, which is a lighting build rather than a retouching job.
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Three business days for the edited set. That is my standard turnaround, not a rush fee. If you are up against a menu print date or a product launch, tell me the deadline and I will work to it.
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Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Corona, San Bernardino and Palm Springs, and I travel beyond Southern California for brand and packaging work.
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