Customer Reviews

For Food and Drink Photography (Lighting)

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This is a beautiful book full of beautiful shots of food in all its glory. Each shot is accompanied by a diagram showing you how to position your lights, camera, and subject. You also get info on which film was used, which camera was used, what the exposure was, plus a host of other insider info on this specialty trade. You'll need a basic background in lighting to be able to replicate the techniques. And I suspect you'll want to learn some basic food styling skills, if you ever want to master this field. Still, the book is a must for someone who wants to practice shooting food shots. By mastering each technique illustrated, you can then let your imagnation soar and move on to creating your own fabulous food shots.

At the time I purchased this book is was out of print and very, very expensive. This had me slightly worried that I was going to be disappointed when it arrived. Boy was I happy when I opened it up. Stunning photography and perfectly illustrated lighting schemes. This book is a valuable learning tool and also great for inspiration. I couldn't recommend a book more.

My original review on PixSylated.com: This book is the Holy Grail for many food photographers. It presents the work of more than 20 leading food shooters in the classic format of RotoVision books. Nearly every spread presents a seductive, full-page shot paired opposite a how-to description and explicit lighting diagram. The book starts with ambient light shots, then works through one light setups, two light setups and then "sophisticated" setups. This is the book I open when I need a dash of visual inspiration. Although published in 2001 and full of anecdotes about shooting film, the book is more valuable today than when it was published with a cover price of $35. IF you can find it, expect to pay something north of $200 for a good used copy. In my correspondence with RotoVision, they said that they have no plans to reprint or issue a new edition. So, if you're serious about your craft as a food photographer, don't hold your breath for a "cheap" version anytime soon.

I wanted an easy book, without a lot of words and lots of photograhs and this was it. I learned a lot about lighting in general from this book.