About.com Rating



If you've ever admired the beautiful food photography that's all over the internet nowadays, and wondered how photographers manage to make food look so enticing - wonder no more. This excellent guide to food photography will show you exactly what goes into taking gorgeous photos of food, or of any other composed subject. There is a wealth of information here, presented in a very clear and accessible way - on topics ranging from equipment, lighting, styling, composition, and editing.

There are many comparison photos to illustrate the different techniques - like side by side photos of the use of a flash versus diffused light on the same bowl of noodles, for example. This book made me excited about taking better pictures, and gave me lots of ideas of how to go about doing it.

Poring Over the Pictures

Each chapter of this book starts with a section entitled "Poring Over the Picture" - a two page spread of a beautiful photograph, overlaid with text bubbles explaining how certain techniques were achieved (aperture, styling points, lighting angles, etc). The first chapter of the book covers some photography basics - things I thought I knew and understood but realized I didn't fully grasp when I read the chapter. There is a great section on equipment, but the author also advises against rushing out to buy new equipment and shows you how to use what you already have. There are equally enlightening chapters on lighting and composition - again, I thought I understood something about these subjects but now realize that there is much more to them.

Each section ends with a set of optional exercises - if you choose to try them, you can share and compare your photos on Flickr with other readers.

Food Styling and Photo Editing

 

How food is "styled" for a picture is always fascinating - I still remember my surprise when someone told me that the "milk" in a cereal commercial was really white glue. This book includes some food styling pointers, but nothing extreme or fake - just tips for making food look as appetizing as possible when captured in still-life. But there is plenty of information for those who want to learn the true tricks of the trade as well (such as how to create and capture steam rising off of a shrimp).
Photo editing is is one of the most daunting areas of digital photography, but it can be a great creative outlet and a way to understand how pictures come to be. This section may be the most helpful of all, as the author includes many screenshots and demonstrates how to use Adobe Photoshop to correct problems and improve the overall look of your photographs. (If something goes wrong with the composition, styling, and/or lighting, there's still hope thanks to photo editing!)
 

Putting it All Together

The final chapter of the book walks you through the creation of several photos from start to finish - lighting, composition, styling, and editing. It demonstrates how much thought goes into a really great photograph, yet makes these gorgeous photos seem achievable for the novice photographer. This book really conveys the fun of photography, and I know it will help me to improve the photos on my site (which have plenty of room for improvement!)