Upcoming Food Photography Publications

There was a stream of heavenly, warm light pouring into my kitchen on a particular summer’s eve. I hurriedly grabbed a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, a handful of mixed nuts and threw some plums in a bowl. I knew there was only minutes left before the gorgeous, amber sunlight was going to change. With my Rebel XT and the only lens I owned at the time (the kit lens), I shot off a couple of images on [P] (for Professional mode!).

However many things you may find or look for that’s could be wrong with this image, it’s one of my favorite. When Robert Mondavi passed away, I was asked by several people if they could use the image to accompany their online articles.

That was back in 2007. A time when I could hardly find anything about food photography. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t even anything on Amazon.com to whet my appetite for food photography subject specifics. I became hopeful when preordering a book that was coming out by Lou Manna “Digital Food Photography” and couldn’t get enough of its content when it was released (2008).

Also about that time, I was an avid member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and had been attending the yearly Photoshop World conferences. Joe Glyda, former Digital Imaging Advisor for Kraft Foods, presented a session entitled How to Light for Shooting Food. What an amazing session it always was and so unjustly short. I’ve written to NAPP and KelbyTraining many times requesting (maybe pleading) for them to consider making it a day-long workshop instead of a mere 60 minutes. One year, I stood in very long and lengthy line after one of his Food Photography sessions to ask Joe if he had a book or plans to have one published on the subject of food photography and styling. He shared with me that there was no interest from publishing companies on the subject! That was three, maybe four years ago. I just couldn’t believe that there wasn’t enough interest on the subject, especially when digital photography was changing and evolving so quickly and made things more economically accessible AND the fact that his sessions were full-house.

So here we are now in 2011. If you write a food/recipe site or blog, food photography and/or styling is probably a subject you can’t get enough of. In the last year alone, there have been literally dozens of workshops on food photography…taking you from how to turn your camera on, white balance and what a shallow depth of field is.      Last year I attended a food blogger’s conference where two of the sessions was about food photography.   I could-not-wait for these sessions to begin.  They were literally the highlight of the weekend for me…until the sessions began.      The instructor displayed images that were dark, grainy and unappetizing as examples of good food photography.   What really was disappointing, he spent so much time demonstrating to folks how to use their camera!   Whaaaat!    I had to leave half way through the session (never to return).

Bring some of the studying home…as there’s something to be said when a good publication comes out and working through it yourself.

What’s on the horizon this year in terms of new food photography publications?
Release Date		Title and Author
May 10, 2011		Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography for Bloggers, Foodies, and Restauranteurs by Helene Dujardin (Tartelette) Update:  I’ll write a post about “Plate to Pixel”  It’s a fantastic book and one that has raised the bar on what a great food photography book is all about!
August, 2011		MORE Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna Update: The publication date has yet again been pushed out further to August 2011
August 23, 2011		Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots by Nicole S. Young
October 19, 2011		More Food Styling for Photographers & Stylists: A guide to creating your own appetizing art by Linda Bellingham & Jean Ann Bybee What I really liked about the first book, in addition to the food styling, was the Photographer’s notes and images of the camera and lighting set-up (which is all to often not shared).

Have you heard of any other publications that haven’t been mentioned? Please, do tell!

A couple more things to share in upcoming posts

1. I have one more book to mention that’s coming out this year.
2. If you just can’t get enough food photography resources, I’m going to share with you a FANTASTIC online resource that is not to be missed,…this one will get into tips, tricks, using strobe lighting and food styling. You’ll want to study it over and over again!