Food Styling for Photographers: A Guide to Creating Your Own Appetizing Art (Paperback)

by Linda Bellingham (Author), Jean Ann Bybee (Author)
Key Phrases: hero slice, hero liquid, hero dish, Good Grips, Cardinal International, Zak Designs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Book Description
The number of entry level pro photographers is growing and this book fills the void of information on food styling.

Product Description
You eat with your eyes first, and no one turns a photograph of food into a culinary masterpiece like a food stylist. Food Styling for Photographers is the next best thing to having renowned food stylist Linda Bellingham by your side. Linda has worked with clients Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, McDonalds, Tyson Foods, FritoLay, and many, many more. Professional photographer Jean Ann Bybee has worked with Harry & David, Dominos, Sara Lee, Seven-Up Company, and more. Jean Ann provides a seasoned photographers point of view with helpful tips throughout.

If you are hungry for unique photo assignments and want to expand your portfolio, this guide provides the well-kept secrets of food styling techniques that can make your photos good enough to eat.

Each chapter covers step-by-step instructions with mouth-watering photographs illustrating techniques for the creation of hero products that photographers at any level can whip up.

Bon Appétit!

Tips include:
* Supply lists
* Step-by-step photo illustrations
* Discussions about the rationale for using real versus fake foods
* Settings and props
* Handling and care of the hero before it goes on set
* On-set techniques for preserving the hero
* Lighting discussions of the hero shots

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (April 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240810066
• ISBN-13: 978-0240810065
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,689 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are interested in food photography, May 19, 2008

By	Sabrina Huang "ca95125" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Finally, there is a Food Styling book for Photographers. I took 2 food styling classes in LA before - the purpose was to understand how food was prepared for the camera and also to see how food photographers setup their lights. I love food photography and read many popular food blogs with their work. So when I know this Food Styling for Photographers came out, I can't wait to order a copy and I was very happy after flipping through the book.

This book gives you many tricks of the trade and notes from photographers with lots of setup photos, both food setup and camera/lighting setup. The printing quality and the page layout are very good - the font size is easy to read, the color pictures are clear, clean and colorful. They gives you details on how to buy the food, how to prepare the food, how to assemble the food, how to plate the food, how to decorate the food, etc. They gives you before, during and final photos.

I also own Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna and Working with Plate by Christopher Styler and David Lazarus. In my opinion, if you are interested in food photography, buy Food Styling for Photographyers and Digital Food Photography and you are good to go. Highly recommend these two books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should Be Called Syling Food For Photography, July 15, 2008

By	Syl Arena (Paso Robles, California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

From the original review on [...]: This recently published book is a fine how-to primer on preparing food for the camera. Bellingham is an Oregon-based stylist. Bybee is a Dallas-based commercial photographer. The detailed content runs the gamut: cold beverages, salads, pasta and sauces, burgers and sandwiches, grilled and roasted meat, vegetables, ice cream, desserts, breakfast and garnishing. My only complaint is not about the information on styling - which is comprehensive and easy to follow. Rather, as a food photographer, I am naturally interested in the sets and photo techniques used to create the hero shots. While there are a number of set shots and brief descriptions of how the shots were created, their small size and limited number suggests that they were an afterthought. Again and again, I wished that Bybee's comments on her vision and process had been greatly expanded into the ample amounts of adjacent white space. Clearly, the book was written primarily for food stylists. A more appropriate title would have been Food Styling For Photography. Nevertheless, Food Styling For Photographers is an important read for both students of food photography and styling.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent place to start, May 14, 2008

By	Oscar De Leon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an excellent way to get started in food photography. It has chapters dedicated to meats, drinks, ice cream, garnishings, and more.

Each with a shopping list of what was used for the featured photo (or photos) for that particular chapter and tips for shopping for food photography in general which I found very interesting.

It does leave out something which would be nice to have, such as how to prepare beer for photograpy but, they mention this would require a full book dedicated to it which I think is fair, I wouldn't expect someone to write a book on every item of food out there.

Bottom line: A very buy. Well worth the price.