Anyone looking for an excellent starter book on tips and techniques to take magazine quality food shots should read this book. This book provides the basics of what goes on during a professional food shoot; food stylists, prop stylists, how to handle clients, and protecting yourself and your equipment. It contains tips and tricks food stylists use to make food look deliciously tantalizing even though the technique would ultimately gross you out if you knew what they were actually using. Like using glue instead of milk for cereal shots.

There are a lot of helpful examples of what photos not to take and focuses on the artistic and creative. According to award winning food photographer Lou Manna, magazine quality photos are "always" post processed and manipulated. A little post processing never hurt, but you need to be a Photoshop pro to do the best. He provides an example of using Photoshop on a photo with simple step-by-step instructions.


Further, food lightning is an area that was disappointingly downplayed. So if you're looking for information on how to light food, look elsewhere. The information in the book is easy and straightforward. Read it a couple times and the information will be well retained. It is great, but it doesn't contain enough valuable information for me to buy and keep. Borrow it from the library and read for yourself before making a purchase.

One important tip I learned from taking food shots for a magazine, is sometimes you need to find out where the photo is going to be on the page. If it is on the left page, the food should not face left or else it will lead the reader right out of the page.

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