Today we look at two books on food styling directed toward the photographer and the commercial approach to food images.
With the lowered budgets these days, the commercial photographer is being called on to style food on many assignments. And while the pure food editorial and cookbook photography usually has a separate stylist, lots of “lifestyle” and other editorial work can be assigned without budget for a stylist.
What to do? Learning to become a food stylist is not the answer; we want to be photographers. Hiring beginners to do it is non-sensical, as it takes a while to build confidence enough to style all kinds of food. And having a chef do it can be a bit of a challenge – they can style it for presentation on a table, but that is NOT necessarily the best way to present it for photography.
I have always had a kitchen in my studios. Loving to shoot food means there has to be some way to prepare it. My first kitchen was purchased and installed by Home Depot a long time ago. The current kitchen has a state of the art Wolf range, but alas, it is not used nearly as much as I would like. Partly because so many clients want to shoot on location and partly because some of the nuts and bolts kind of food photography I did has been lost. Things change.
Before we get into the reviews, I want to link to this fun set of images from our Project 52 food assignment.
Choclolate was the assignment for this shoot. You can see the set of images and hear the critique if you like.
Now let’s take a look at these two excellent books for photographers who want to step up their food shots.
First up is Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food For The Camera
By Delores Custer
This is an excellent book for the commercial photographer who wants to learn a lot of great tricks and approaches to building a food presentation that will photograph well. It is a large book, and it is well illustrated with step-by-step instructions on all sorts of styling issues.
From making perfect lemon peels to styling a ‘roasted’ chicken, there is plenty of great information you can use anytime you are shooting. There is also a full set of chapters on bidding, preparing a billing and how the ‘flow’ of a food shoot works.
Get it at Amazon:
Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera
Next up is Food Styling for Photographers
by Linda Bellingham and Jean Ann Bybee
This is a smaller book, but it is full of great information on how to style food, as well as input from the photographer. Step-by-step instructions on working with many of the most common food products will have you shooting some very nice food in no time.
The addition of having the photographers comments, tips and info will help a lot of photographers begin to visualize how they will light and create excellent food photography.
Get it at Amazon: Food Styling for Photographers: A Guide to Creating Your Own Appetizing Art
I am sure both of these books will help your photography grow, and I am certain that you will find them incredibly useful.
Thanks for coming along. Follow me on Twitter, see the Learn to Light site for Workshop info, and find out more about me here.
Make sure you are signed up for Selina Maitreya’s incredible Teleseminar for Professional Photographers coming in June. It will be one of the most important days in commercial photography, and I want you to be involved.
