Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots Paperback – January 1, 2011

I'm reviewing the Kindle version of this book. Sometimes kindle versions fall short in the photographs but this one had all the high quality photos required of a photography book, so don't hesitate to get the e-book.I absolutely loved this book, and I don't shoot food! After being disappointed about another book for photographing arts and crafts, I was looking for something to help me photograph handmade soaps and beauty products. I thought the psychology of food photography was pretty darn close to my own product so I got this book. BY FAR the best photography book I could have gotten! She explains light, reflection, angles, and even has helped me decide on a camera upgrade because I need more aperture control. Most books would never go that deep. The way she chooses props and colors was incredibly helpful. Most books just expect you to decode that from their sample photos but this book points out why each element in the shot was chosen. That was exactly the help I needed. Even though this book is aimed at beginners and it's easy to understand, I think she goes way beyond with the equipment options and the bokeh setup which I absolutely loved! This book will teach beginners how to have advanced looking photos.And then she even goes into post-processing and how to make things look more appetizing via photoshop. That was a great bonus.I've read a few general photography books and spent many hours reading articles on the web. But I can honestly say this book on food photography helped me more than anything else I've ever come across and my photos are improving significantly. After reading other reviews here and being reminded of the blog, I will make sure to check that out as well.

Absolutely Outstanding!I own over 12 different photography books and I took a photography class in college and I have been a hobbyist for many years in photography. After you read your first few dozen books on photography and spend a few years making pictures, you then begin to take your hobby seriously enough to find the books that offer you more than the basic info. However, there are not a lot of these books are the market compared to the all the basic info books. This book, is one of the best, if not the best, book on photography that I now own. Why?Photography is about making images, not taking images, but not every category of photography demonstrates this as well as others. However, food photography is what will take an entry level photographer and make them a veteran photographer faster than any other kind of photography. Think about it. Everyone says that food photography is one of the hardest kinds of photography. So, if you buy a great book on the hard subject and then do the examples in it, will it not make you a much better photographer than something that is not so difficult? Of course it will. Making images is about control. You are the one that has to set everything up, prepare everything, set up the lighting, choose the right subject, colors, and backgrounds, and then of course capture the image and then edit it. But the key part of all this is controlling the image from the beginning. This books teaches you just how to start learning to do that completely, and that, is the beginning of creating masterful images, no matter what the subject is.This book will help you make all of your images better, not just food photography images. This book will teach you how to elevate all of your photography by teaching you the methods of controlling an image. How do you light for texture? Softness? What makes food (or any subject) more appealing? What colors will contrast or support your subject best? How should you edit your photographs in Photoshop to make the subject more appealing still? This book will teach you.A warning though, you must practice this art to get better at it. This book shows you what to do and explains it well, but you have to actually do it to learn it.

I originally bought this to get tips and ideas on food styling and composing photos to tell a story. I did get a lot of good tips, but this is better for someone w/o wants to learn about food photography as a whole. It provides a lot of beginner info (making it a great refresher course), but also delves into more technical points of photography as well. There is also a great resource for editing photos (something you can never learn too much about) I love how she analyzes each photo.and goes over her entire process. it's a well thought out book with information for all skill levels. I would have given it five stars, except that there wasn't as much information for styling and props as I hoped.

I brought this book at $14.76 on 8-Sep-2011 on Amazon.It's a basic book for beginners or for someone who has no clue of food photographing. You will know how to take competent food photos after you finish reading this book.It is filled with many generous knowledge and tips. Nicole dishes up the basic knowledge of cameras, gears, lights etc and take you through the key photographic principles of setting - aperture, ISO, shutter speed. Then there is the composition, food styling, using props and techniques. Finally, she explains how to improve the photos through photo processing, showing you the steps by steps of using Photoshop.There are beautiful photos to explain the differences of lighting and lens used to let you have a better understanding than just plain reading. Diagram is also used to show you how the setup is done.A challenge is waiting for you at the end of each chapter. Hands on for you to experience and understand lesson better. Towards the ending, there is "behind the scenes" for how each photos is created.The photos are amazing and mouth-watering. But here is a warning; the food pictures will make you go really hungry!Check out the Customer Images Gallery to see some pages inside the book.