Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots
- Author: Nicole S Young
- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (August 13, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0321784111
- ISBN-13: 978-0321784117
ABOUT FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
You know that moment when your food arrives at the table, and it looks so good you want to take a picture of it? Or do you have a food blog that you’d like to enhance with better visuals? Do you want to create photos that conjure up the flavors of your favorite foods but lack the photographic technique to make it happen? Then you want to read this book.
In Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, photographer Nicole Young dishes up the basics on getting the right camera equipment – lights, lenses, reflectors, etc. – and takes you through the key photographic principles of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. She then discusses lighting and composition and shoes how to style food using props, fabrics, and tabletops. Finally, she explains how to improve your photos through sharpening, color enhancement, and other editing techniques.
Follow along with your friendly and knowledgeable guide, photographer and author Nicole S. Young, and you will:
. Use your camera’s settings to gain full control over the look and feel of your images
. Master the photographic basics of composition, focus, depth of field, and much more
. Learn to enhance your food photographs using professional food styling techniques
. Get tips on different types of lighting, including strobes, flashes, and natural light
. Improve the look of your photos using Adobe Photoshop
And once you’ve got the shot, show it off! Join the book’s Flickr group to share your photos, recipes, and food photography tips at flickr.com/groups/foodphotographyfromsnapshotstogreatshots.
Nicole S. Young is a full-time photographer specializing in commercial photography, and she licenses many of her images through iStockphoto and Getty Images. Nicole is an accredited Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Photoshop and a Help Desk Specialist with the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. The author of Canon 7D: From Snapshots to Great Shots and Canon 60D: From Snapshots to Great Shots, she blogs at nicolesyblog.com.
MY THOUGHTS
I received a copy of Food Photography. As someone who has a food blog and blogs about recipes there are times when I want or need to include my own photos. I have always considered my own food photography to be somewhere between weak and tolerable, and definitely an area that needs improvement. Food Photography isn’t just a book about taking photographs of food, it’s also a book about photography.
Chapters include:
- Photography Fundamentals
- Photography Equipment
- Lighting
- Styling & Props
- Framing & Composition
- Processing Images with Adobe Photoshop
- Behind the Scenes
I love that the book contains such a wealth of information. Her writing style is casual and easy to understand. What I love most about this book is that all of the food photos contain the settings used to achieve the shot. This way people like me can stage sots at home and have a guide to go by until they have their own “a-ha” moment. For me I think the Lighting chapter, the Styling chapter, and the Framing & Composition chapter will be most helpful. I have terrible lighting in my kitchen, so found it helpful to learn about different ways to light things. For styling, I have tried to get shots with steaming food, and the steam always goes away so fast I couldn’t get a good shot. I never thought about adding some extra steam of my own! And I never even thought of adding grill marks on food that wasn’t grilled! And I always wondered how sandwiches looked so full in photos! I don’t wonder anymore! I don’t have Photoshop but am sure those sections will be helpful if I ever do get it. Food Photography is a book that would be helpful to anyone with an interest in food photography, and even those with an interest in photography in general.
The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This post has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.