This was a test shoot with Krispy Kreme donuts!

A couple weeks deep into winter, I found myself absolutely unable to fall asleep. I had spent the evening playing Pathfinder with some friends and after going through my entire evening routine and attempting to fall asleep for almost 2 hours….well none of that worked. At this point I realized that not only was it 3 am, but that Krispy Kreme opened up in just a few short hours.

Anyways long story short, I decided to get a dozen donuts (6 chocolate glazed, 6 original glazed) and do a test shoot with them. After having dipped my toes into the world of food photography for my combination senior thesis/APAHM inspired cookbook, Second Generation Plates, I was fixin for a little more action.

There was no large production budget, no complicated lighting setup, no nothin. Just me, my camera, and these donuts.
In terms of setup, this was shot with my Sony A7iii, with a 24-70 f/2.8 GM. 1/200 shutter, f/8.0 ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom and Photoshop. Lit with a single Alienbee B1600 at bare bulb 1/8th power and a piece of white foamcore opposite to act as a reflector. See? Nothing too difficult! What I did learn was that while I personally enjoy the original glazed donuts better, the chocolate glazed donuts read much better on screen as “donuts”. I found that the pale, matte sheen of the original glaze made them look like bagels at times. Additionally, there was a lot of time I spent retouching the shape of the donuts themselves; something that I might skip entirely next time! I got them to look the way I wanted for this shoot, but maybe for the next shoot we’ll skip the liquify tool entirely.

In terms of inspirations and direction, these were heavily influenced by the likes of Scott Choucino, Laura Murray, and Melanie Kim.
One of the images is actually an attempt at emulating one of my favorite photos from Scott! I wanted big, bold colors, and solid light to make these donuts look like they belonged in a mid-2000’s pop art advertisement.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be doing more of these this year. I hope you stick around :)
If there’s any food that you’d like me to work with, let me know!

If you’re interested in working with me for a project like this or if you’re looking for a Maryland/DC wedding photographer, please shoot me an email (winston@wzhouphoto.com) through my contact page.