“What are the best books about Food Photography?” We looked at 78 of the top Photography Books For Food, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

If you are shooting with an iPhone, a disposable, a DSLR, daguerreotype, or any other type of camera, there is bound to be some new skills you can learn for whatever type of food photography you might be doing with one of the 75+books below. The top 14 books, all appearing on 2 or more lists, are listed with images, descriptions, and links. The remaining 64 books, as well as the articles we used, are listed alphabetically at the bottom of the page.

Happy Scrolling!

Top 14 Food Photography Books

14 .) Beyond Snapshots: How to Take That Fancy DSLR Camera Off “Auto” and Photograph Your Life like a Pro

Lists It Appears On:

• Design Your Way
• Food Bloggers Of Canada

Let professional photographers Rachel Devine and Peta Mazey show you how to use that fancy DSLR to photograph the story of your life, from falling in love and having a baby, to the everyday moments that are no less precious.

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13 .) The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Lists It Appears On:

• Rachel Cooks
• Stetted

“Great cooking goes beyond following a recipe–it’s knowing how to season ingredients to coax the greatest possible flavor from them. Drawing on dozens of leading chefs’ combined experience in top restaurants across the country, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg present the definitive guide to creating “”deliciousness”” in any dish.

Thousands of ingredient entries, organized alphabetically and cross-referenced, provide a treasure trove of spectacular flavor combinations. Readers will learn to work more intuitively and effectively with ingredients; experiment with temperature and texture; excite the nose and palate with herbs, spices, and other seasonings; and balance the sensual, emotional, and spiritual elements of an extraordinary meal. Seasoned with tips, anecdotes, and signature dishes from America’s most imaginative chefs, The Flavor Bible is an essential reference for every kitchen.”

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12 .) Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson

Lists It Appears On:

• Cookie + Kate
• Design Your Way

“With more than 350,000 copies sold, Understanding Exposure has demystified the complex concepts of exposure for countless photographers. Now updated with current technologies, more than one hundred new images, and an all-new chapter, this new edition will inspire you more than ever to free yourself from “auto” and create the pictures you truly want.

In his trademark easy-to-understand style, author Bryan Peterson explains the relationship between aperture and shutter speed, including how to achieve successful exposures in seemingly difficult situations.”

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11 .) Digital Food Photography by Lou Manna

Lists It Appears On:

• Jenn Cuisine
• Top Teny
• BeArt Presets

Packed with enticing and creative full-color photographs, this book focuses on the art of food photography and how the digital photography revolution has changed and enhanced it. Broken down into the areas of photography, styling, science, and business, this visual guide compiles all of these aspects of food photography into a valuable reference. Readers will learn techniques that combine the art of lighting and styling for still-life photography with the business sense of commercial photography. It also provides tips for aspiring food photographers on how to get started and succeed. Whether readers are professional photographers who want to learn the advantages of digital photography in the field, or amateur photographers who want to experiment in their own small-scale studios, this unique book will prove useful to anyone interested in this realm of photography.

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10 .) Food Styling & Photography for Dummies by Alison Parks-Whitfield

Lists It Appears On:

• LA Weekly
• Jenn Cuisine
• BeArt Presets

“Discover how to style and photograph food like the pros
Whether you’re taking shots for a foodie blog, advertisements, packaging, menus, or cookbooks, Food Styling & Photography For Dummies shows you how to take the next step in your passion for food and photography. This attractive, informative, and fun guide to the fundamentals of food styling provides information on the tools and techniques used by some of the most successful industry professionals.

Food Styling & Photography For Dummies provides you with the fundamentals of food styling and gives you the inside scoop on the tools and techniques used by some of the most successful industry professionals.”

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9 .) Food Styling for Photographers: A Guide to Creating your own Appetizing Art by Linda Bellingham

Lists It Appears On:

• Jenn Cuisine
• Learn Food Photography
• BeArt Presets

“””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, McDonald’s, 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 photographer’s 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. “

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8 .) Tasty Food Photography e-book by Lindsay of Pinch of Yum

Lists It Appears On:

• Delish Knowledge
• Johlene Orton
• Rachel Cooks

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7 .) The Food Stylist’s Handbook by Denise Vivaldo

Lists It Appears On:

• Jenn Cuisine
• Food Bloggers Of Canada
• Learn Food Photography

“Acclaimed food stylist Denise Vivaldo shares the tips and secrets of the trade with cooks who want to become master stylists. It takes a steady hand to arrange the chocolate curls and drizzle the caramel sauce in elaborate designs on top of that sumptuous tiered cake. Whether for food blogs, television, books, magazines, movies, menus, or advertising, food stylists and photographers learn to slice, plate, tweak, and arrange so the dish becomes less a bit of food and more the work of an artisan.

With Denise and coauthor Cindie Flannigan’s help, you’ll find out how to get started, what equipment you’ll need, how to find clients, tips to staying successful in the business, and—most importantly—how to craft and style food (and products that appear to be food) so it all looks delicious from every angle.”

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6 .) Food Photography & Lighting: A Commercial Photographer’s Guide to Creating Irresistible Images by Teri Campbell

Lists It Appears On:

• BeArt Presets
• Learn Food Photography
• Have Camera Will Travel
• Jenn Cuisine

“Creating mouth-watering food images requires more than just a love of food and access to a kitchen. With the popularity of food blogs and photography how-tos, it’s tempting to think that anyone can photograph food, but it’s another thing entirely to shoot for a tight ad layout with the pressure of your client watching over your shoulder.

Commercial food photographer Teri Campbell has been called a “lighting master,” and in this beautifully illustrated book, he not only shares his detailed lighting set-ups and shooting techniques for a wide range of food and drink shots, but also offers candid advice on how to set up a studio, use the right equipment, market your work, find clients, bid on assignments, hire food and prop stylists, and communicate effectively with everyone on the set.

Campbell shares his expertise on dozens of commercial assignments–from shooting beignets on location in New Orleans, to creating perfect ice tea pours, to photographing beans on real flames in his studio. Learn how he creates dynamic compositions, uses studio strobes, and arranges light diffusers, reflectors, fill cards, and mirrors, to create the perfect capture. Campbell also discusses his post-processing techniques in Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Photoshop to create images that are irresistible.”

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5 .) Food Photography: Pro Secrets for Styling, Lighting & Shooting by Lara Ferroni

Lists It Appears On:

• Jenn Cuisine
• Learn Food Photography
• BeArt Presets
• The Bojon Gourmet

Top blogger and pro photographer Lara Ferroni serves up a one-stop guide to food-photography success! Packed with her tried-and-true secrets, this comprehensive guide details everything you need to know about sourcing and styling food, drinks, and props. Ferroni profiles several of the industry’s top professional food photographers, and includes detailed case studies of their most successful shots–complete with lighting diagrams and equipment setups. This diverse collection of stunning images images and easy-to-follow shooting instructions perfectly encompasses the field of modern food photography, covering everything from blog and editorial photography to corporate advertising and publicity shots.

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4 .) Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera by Delores Custer

Lists It Appears On:

• Jenn Cuisine
• Learn Food Photography
• BeArt Presets
• Delish Knowledge

Full of ingenious advice on styling in any media and packed with full-color photographs, Food Styling reveals every trick of the trade, from making a beverage appear to sweat to producing those perfect grill marks on meat without a grill. Filled with resources and organized in a simple problem-and-solution format, this is an ideal resource for both experienced foods styling pros and first-timers alike.

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3 .) Focus on Food Photography for Bloggers by Matt Armendariz

Lists It Appears On:

• Ebay
• BeArt Presets
• Have Camera Will Travel
• Learn Food Photography
• Jenn Cuisine
• Rachel Cooks
• Serious Eats

Sharing your kitchen concoctions on your personal food blog has never been as popular as it is right now, but if you’ve ever had trouble getting your tasty temptations to look like pretty plates on camera, you know how difficult it can be to take amazing pictures of food. Matt Armendariz, of Mattbites food blog fame, shares his experiences and best practices for creating wonderful food photos in Focus On Food Photography for Bloggers. Written specifically for you the blogger, Matt discusses the ins and outs of equipment, lighting, composition, propping, sparking your inspiration, and getting creative, all with what you have on hand at home! Learn how to avoid common pitfalls with foods that are notoriously camera shy, how to successfully snap your dinner at a restaurant as well as on your kitchen table, and how to style your food with what you have in your cupboards. He also includes advice on post-processing, posting, and protecting your prized images.

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2 .) Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots by Nicole S. Young

Lists It Appears On:

• The Sweeter Side Of Motherhood
• Jenn Cuisine
• Design Your Way
• Food Bloggers Of Canada
• Learn Food Photography
• Have Camera Will Travel
• The Bojon Gourmet
• BeArt Presets

“Are you a “foodie” looking to take eye-catching photos of your culinary concoctions? Do you have a food blog that you’d like to enhance with better visuals? Do you want to create photos that conjure up the flavors of your favorite foods but lack the photographic technique to make it happen? Then this book is for you!

In Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots, photographer Nicole Young dishes up the basics on getting the right camera equipment–lights, lenses, reflectors, etc.–and takes you through the key photographic principles of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. She then discusses lighting and composition and shows how to style food using props, fabrics, and tabletops. Finally, she explains how to improve your photos through sharpening, color enhancement, and other editing techniques. Beautifully illustrated with large, vibrant photos, this book offers the practical advice and expert shooting tips you need to get the food images you want every time you pick up your camera.”

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1 .) Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography and Styling by Hélène Dujardin

Lists It Appears On:

• BeArt Presets
• Chica Voz
• Cookie + Kate
• Delish Knowledge
• Ebay
• Food Bloggers Of Canada
• Have Camera Will Travel
• Jenn Cuisine
• Johlene Orton
• LA Weekly
• Learn Food Photography
• Rachel Cooks
• Serious Eats
• The Bojon Gourmet
• The Sweeter Side Of Motherhood

Food photography is on the rise, with the millions of food bloggers around the word as well as foodies who document their meals or small business owners who are interested in cutting costs by styling and photographing their own menu items, and this book should serve as your first course in food photography. Discover how the food stylist exercises unique techniques to make the food look attractive in the finished product. You’ll get a taste of the visual know-how that is required to translate the perceptions of taste, aroma, and appeal into a stunning, lavish finished photograph.

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The Additional Best Food Photography Books

19 Best Food Photography Book Sources/Lists