Customer Reviews

Digital Food Photography

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a professional photographer, and I was greatly looking forward to receiving this book.

I was hoping to get some detailed information on lighting techniques, specifically for food. The additional sections on food and prop styling were handy extras.

What I did get was a nice easy read, and some useful tidbits of information that I can use. Some of the sections on Photoshop were useful (and would be more-so for serious amateurs and up).

What I wasn't expecting and was very disappointed with, were the large chunks of the text dealing with the relationship between ISO, aperture, and shutter. Come-on! This should be a book about digital food photography. Anyone who doesn't know about the basic photographic relationships should be reading a book on basic photography. There were other parts of the book that likewise contained very basic general knowledge I would not expect in a specific book.

Additionally, much spaced was used as almost a portfolio for Lou Manna rather than providing useful information. He does have some beautiful work, but that is not what I was paying for.

All in all, I was disappointed with this book, although it was not a total waste, especially if you were just wanting to get into professional photography.

I was a little dissapointed in the content of Digital Food Photography. The book, layed out in textbook style, is a little basic for the complexity of the subject. Mr. Manna spends too much time on the "old days" and takes too long to dive in to the meat of food photography. It would have been helpful to show specs of each shot; ie camera, lights, exposure, etc. Instead there is a lighting 101 class in the book that does little for the example shots shown. Overall though it's a great book to add to your basic arsenal of photography books.

I have been working with a fantastic commerical photographer in boston for the past year and a half who shoots food regularly. I have since decided to pursue food photography as a career. I've been looking for a 'text book' to help me pull together everything i've learned...finally, I've found it.

Manna's book is like going to food photography school. Reading every chapter made me relive my entire experience working on set: dealing with art directors, clients and food stylists....understanding complex lighting situations, camera angles, stand-ins...understanding the importance of post-production and how to digitally get the results needed.

Shooting food is one of the most difficult work experiences for a photographer, and manna has broken it down so even the novice can become successful. Kudos to him for explaining the process in such a concise and clear cut manner.

For those who have never had hands-on experience, make not mistake...he brings you through the entire process....you'll be in the trenches the entire way.

If I could give more stars, I would.

I highly recommend this book, and I'll tell you exactly who this book is for -- it's for me. I am a semi-professional photographer who is still learning, and trying to step up to the next level shooting full-time. I shoot still-life photography, with many of my images containing food and other organic subjects.

This is the most comprehensive digital food photography book available today. I have looked high and low, and this one book covers more material, in an accessible format for any level of photographer, in a style that is warm and generous of information.

But most importantly, here is what I specifically liked best -- information that is not just hanging around out there:

- Lou reveals many tips and tricks about "food magic" and styling, the oh so important starting point for any food shot.

- He also discusses the importance of the teamwork between prop stylist, food stylist, photographer and client -- they all make the shot.

- He gives an informative overview of the industries that support food photography, from print to packaging to advertising uses.

- His explanation of digital photography equipment, and digital workflow are VERY appropriate to anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the minimum information you'll need to get great results. I am a knowledgable photographer, but I appreciated that he did not take for granted that everyone works in the same manner, and sharing what works for him answered my question, "how'd he do that?"

- MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE part of the book is his section on COMPOSITION -- this alone makes the book worth it's salt. He gives many examples of a play-by-play sequence of shots that lead him to the final image. Not surprising is that the first frame is usually what the client requested. But as Lou experiments and collaborates with his prop and food stylists, a really solid and beautiful shot materializes. I can't thank him enough for sharing this level of insight -- it is invaluable.

- And additional sections that are well presented include lighting (great ideas for photographers on different budgets & many sample set-ups you should try to see what works best for your subject and style); digital retouching techniques that enhance the work and don't overwhelm it (Lou reminds us that our ultimate job is to make the food look appealing); and data organization and storage which is a real concern once you have built a library of images.

- Lastly, it's truly amazing the results he gets from his 8mp Olympus. Just goes to show you don't have to have a Megalo-Canon camera to get the job done, and to create beautiful images as Lou does.

Overall, this book is comprehensive, well-organized, in good sequence, with ample real-world examples of shooting for various types of clients.

What I learned most from this book is that Lou truly loves what he does, and he really emphasizes experimentation and pushing the shot -- even benefitting from happy accidents that occur while shooting. This is what makes me want to shoot!

I had the pleasure of meeting Lou at the Photo Plus Expo in New York this year, and he is a very warm and open person, willing to share detailed information which I think is just wonderful.

I will definitely check out his workshops to get more hands-on insight into the world of food photography.

Lou Manna's book Digital Food Photography is a MUST MISS for any photographer searching for material on how to light food for photography purposes. To begin with, I believe photographers looking to purchase books such as these are not as interested in learning techniques on how to poach a pear, create grill marks on a steak or turn Elmer's Glue into milk for a bowl of cereal (which Manna amply covers). More than likely, they are looking for lighting techniques. After all, properly lighting food is 90% of the battle in most well produced photographic imagery. I sent Manna an email telling him that I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't add any lighting diagrams to show how he lit any of his food images in his nearly 300-page mess. His email reply stated defensively that he mentions time and time again that this is a book for beginners. Due to the complexity of some of the topics he does cover, such as composition and how to make fake ice cream from his secret recipe, one would expect lighting (the single most important aspect in all photography) would be one of the topics covered. Interestingly enough, Manna encourages his readers to contact him - which I did. Sadly, once I got him on the phone I quickly discovered that this entire set up is for him to take your credit card to then give you high-priced, over the phone lessons. He doesn't even allow you to get a word in edgewise until you give him your credit card information so he can bill you for his time. My cell phone must have quit on me, for the next thing I knew, I received a voice mail from him screaming at me and telling me that I need to call him immediately and apologize for hanging up on him. In my opinion, Manna has a couple of screws loose.

If there is a literature equivalent to the cinema's Raspberry Award and karma is indeed a fact of life, I am certain Manna's book will achieve that honor.

I am a semi-pro photographer and was looking to expand my photography. Food photography from what I've heard is an advanced art. But this book covers too much basic photography and not enough on how to shoot food.

The chapters on food and prop styling where good. The chapter on composition was also good with lots of examples from the bad shots to the keepers. The lighting chapter was a joke with no real advice on how to best light food. His description of lighting ratios was less than half a page and didn't explain how to setup the lights to achieve the ratios.

His Photoshop retouching examples are very-very basic. The last chapter on "Getting into the Business" has very general and basic business advice.

If you are new to photography and looking for your first photo book, this book could be helpful. Amateur and advanced enthusiast photographers should look elsewhere.

Okay, when you were a kid playing video games, were you a purist or did you love learning the cheat codes right off the bat? When you read a mystery, do you read as you should or do you ever flip ahead to preview what happens next and how the story ends?

If you went with the second option in either of the above than this is the food photography book you've been waiting for. Sure, some define the techniques here as cheating. I personally define them as smart.

Soapy water to make coffee look fresh, mashed potatoes in the cherry pie to make the cherries stay in place under the lights and glue those sesame seeds down baby! You can use these techniques and spend a few minutes with a camera, or not use them and spend a couple hours or days in Photoshop. (Actually, that's an exaggeration. You will have to spend time in Photoshop either way, but at least you can get a step ahead with these technique.)

So I say bring on the dirty tricks and thank you, Mister Manna!

I wanted to know more about setting up to shoot food photos. More about the strobes and less about cameras and fstops. If you have made it to the point that you are doing this type of photography, you already know about those things! Half of this book was wasted on stuff people of this level already understand

Although this is touted as being one of the better books on food photography available, I didn't find it to be all that informative until I got towards the end. The section about how to edit images of food in Adobe Photoshop was interesting, and I often refer to that section when I choose to edit the pictures of my food (I rarely do so, though).

In my opinion, readers are better off learning solid fundamentals in the craft of photography. These fundamentals will help young photographers in many diverse situations, not just when dealing with food. Better pictures of your food will follow once you understand that a good picture of a plate of fruit is more like a good portrait picture than it isn't, if you get what I'm saying.

So long as you understand the principles of good lighting (read Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting for more information), understand why you want to use fill lighting or reflectors for your shadow detail, you can produce some pretty amazing pictures without this book. You might not be as good as Lou Manna, but this book won't make you as good as him either. Just keep practicing your craft and you'll get there one day.

This book also contains a section about starting your own business doing food photography for those who are interested in getting into the industry. Again, I found this mildly informative at best, but others might disagree.

As a semi-pro moving into commercial work I found this book very useful to explore my interests in food photography. The text was well organized and covered items specific to this genre of photography very thoroughly. "Digital Food Photography" presents a comprehensive look at all aspects from tips and tricks, styling and lighting, to business, data management, and marketing concerns. Especially well done was the lighting comparisons demonstrating the various effects of different types of lighting. Definitely a must have for anyone interested in getting started in or improving upon their food photography.