17 Popular Tricks That Clearly Demonstrate the Underside of Advertising Photo Shoots

Soft-boiled eggs

Here you will need a few more eggs than you’ll end up with in the picture. To make it easier to photograph the product from all angles, a bunched-up napkin is placed under the egg in the bowl, or egg holder, thus giving it a little lift. Then, a little more yolk from the other eggs is poured over the dish to create the mouth-watering effect of a runny yolk.

Tons of steam over a cup of hot coffee or tea

Chances are, by the time the photographer gets ready to shoot, the drink will have cooled down. The effect of steam rising over a mug can, of course, be created with photoshop. But real steam will look more natural. To help capture it, the container with the liquid is placed against a dark background.

The steam itself can be created with a smoke machine or the steam setting on an iron. If there is no such device at hand, professionals resort to various tricks. For example, soaking a tampon or cotton wool in water, putting it in the microwave, and then hiding it behind the cup. Small containers of boiling water or dry ice are also used for this purpose.

Juicy berries and fruit

Outdoors, fresh fruit quickly becomes weathered and loses color. For this reason, professionals soak the fruit in water with lemon juice. To brighten red berries and hide any imperfections, they are often colored with lipstick.

To make fruits, vegetables and berries look appetizing, as if they had just been taken out of the fridge and still have traces of frost on them, sprinkle the surface with talcum powder or baby powder before giving everything a coating of hairspray.