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Thursday 12 January 2017

Giveaway Food Photography Book by Corinna Gisseman


When I started blogging about 7 years ago I had no idea of food photography. The blog was just an online space to share recipes with my family and friends. It was only after a few months of blogging and after attending a bloggers event that my interest in food photography ignited and I made the decision to self teach photography by reading books and following on line videos. After all food is a very visual, when you see a plate of food it needs to look inviting, you should be able to taste, smell and want to devour it by just looking at it. To recreate this visual impact its important to plate the food in an appealing way, taking care of portion size, colours textures and styling and presenting it in the most mouth watering and appealing way. For example, looking at the collage below, do you get the urge to want to pick up a chocolate ball and take a bite, dig into the bowl of pasta or dip the churrous into sauce and devour it???  That is what food photography is all about, to visually entice and tickle your taste buds.



I used to shot with point and shoot camera and later on I invested in my first DSLR camera. I followed many tutorials and spent many hours researching and learning how to style, shoot, use my camera and take good pictures. A lot of books I found were too technical and I was continuously looking for a book that was easy to read, had simple instructions and covered a range of photography techniques from using the camera on manual settings, styling, setting up a shoot, editing and creating a perfect food photo. My search finally lead me to a brilliant book "Food Photography" by Corinna Gisseman. Corinna is a food photographer and you can see some of her amazing work at corinnagissemann.de . I can't brag enough about the book I absolutely love it.
You can read all about my review of it below.




Food Photography by Corinna Gissemann is a wonderful book. It is the perfect beginners guide to create beautiful food photography. The book has 11 chapters covering all aspects of photography.

Chapter one gives advise about the gear you would need such as  lenses, tripods, memory cards, hard drives, tripods, artificial light sources and white balancing. This chapter is really useful and the advise given is really helpful for someone starting out in food photography.

Chapter two covers the basics of the camera such ad setting the aperture, setting the exposure time, ISO sensitivity and how the three work together.

Chapter three covers different types of lighting and the different ways you can use it in food photography.

Chapter four is a really useful chapter, here you can learn all about the different angles of photography,framing, rules of thirds, composing colours with the use of a colour wheel. This chapter also has some great tips on capturing the mood  and creating depth of focus in the food photos.

Chapter five covers styling, this is the most useful chapter and the author shares so many really useful tips and tricks.

Chapter 6  this is by far the most useful chapter . In this chapter the author shows you step by step techniques on setting up a photo shoot and styling five different set ups from start to finish. It is really detailed and clearly presented.

Chapter 7 is all about  image processing in lightroom, a great tutorial in how to edit the photos.

Chapter 8 this covers useful tips and tricks and cheats to keep the food looking perfect in your shoots.

Chapter 9 is all about home made props for the photo shoots. A lovely chapter that covers some great ideas on using household  products to create great food props.

 Chapter 10 and 11 are about boosting your creativity and finally putting everything into practice that is covered in the book.

I have found this book really useful, it is written, keeping in mind a complete beginner tackling food photography but it still covers topics for an advance photographer.

Do you like taking photos of your food? Are you one of those people who won't allow anyone to disturb the food until you have clicked some picture?? Have you had any embarrassing situations whilst taking food photos??? Do share your anecdotes in the comments below about photographing food.I would love to read all about them.

Book Details: 
Food Photography by Corinna Gissemann
Publisher rockynook
ISBN 978-1-68198-101-7
I was sent a copy of the book to review as always all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

You can check out more details of the book and where to purchase it here. I am really excited that I have a copy of the book to giveaway to one simplyfood reader.

How To Enter:
  • Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
  • Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
  • Competition ends 3rd February 2017 12.00 am
  • This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 who live in the UK,
  • The winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter (which uses random.org) and announced on this page. 
  • Prize: Giveaway Food Photography Book by Corinna Gisseman

All entries will be verified, failure to follow instructions correctly will result in participants being disqualified. Please do not cheat.

How Rafflecopter works:

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  • Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
  •  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

105 comments:

  1. Sometimes I do or I send one to my husband to show him what I've baked and what he can enjoy when he gets home

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    1. That is really nice, he must look forward to coming home then. :)

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  2. This looks fantastic Nayna and just what I need. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm entering the comp and crossing fingers I win. Of course I take photos of my food before I eat it!!! They just need to be better photos ;)

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    1. Good luck it really is a super book, one of the best compared to the few I have got.

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  3. No, never thought of it. Though have been in a restaurant when a customer at another table took a picture of her meal, to send to someone.

    Rachel Craig

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  4. Only if it looks good! Usually to send to family to see what they are missing out on!

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  5. Frequently do this to capture a range of interesting colours and combinations.

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  6. If we are in the Queens Grill on the QM2 i do for a friends blog

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  7. if i am pleased with what i made and what to show the results

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  8. I'm always taking photos of my food, at home in a restaurant even if it's just a cup of coffee. This book looks great a really useful find. GG

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  9. sometimes i do especially if i travel to another part of the Uk and decide tyo show my friends and family

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  10. Only ifit somewhere special or posh

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  11. Very rarely! I'm more apt to take pictures when my daughter cooks as she's all about the presentation.

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  12. If it looks impressive.

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  13. No, but my husband is just getting into photography, and this would inspire him to snap foodie pics, I'm sure :)

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  14. Yes, my friend is a chef so I like to take them for his blog! Fingers crossed I can win this and make them better.

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  15. sometimes, if I am proud of my creation!!

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  16. I always take pictures of my food - much to my partner's embarrassment!

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  17. More often than I like to admit - I love taking photos of my baking!

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  18. Never its not natural

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  19. I do sometimes if it looks particularly good :)

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  20. Always, it helps to remember what meals we've had so I don't repeat too often :-)

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  21. I'm not really a photo taker at the mo, need to brush up on presentation skills first!!

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  22. If we make something really special or have a lovely looking meal out we do!

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  23. Yes sometimes I do if it looks very yummy:)

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  24. I do if the food look stunning or if it something I have never eaten before

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  25. Only if it's something I'm planning to blog about

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  26. I do take pictures of my food especially if it looks appetising

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  27. No. If the food looks good I just want to tuck in

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  28. Not usually but I have tried of late but the photos don't turn out very well!

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  29. what a useful sounding book! My family get annoyed with me whenever we are eating out and I instagram everyone's meals before they are allowed to eat them. I wish I was better and taking photos of food at home as usually by the time i cook something I get stuck into eating it too quickly and then remember that I wanted a photo of it. Would love to improve my food photos for the blog though as I am so aware it is a big weakness of mine - so even if the recipe is amazing, the photos never do it justice at the moment

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  30. I have started to experiment with photographing my food, but there is much room for improvement!

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  31. I really need to devote more time to photographing my food and could do with a simple easy to follow book. This sounds like a perfect one for me.

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  32. Yes I do take photos of my food before I start to eat!!

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  33. No. I've never even thought about doing it.

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  34. I Don't At Home But I Do If We Are Out Or On Holiday.

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  35. Yes, I often Instagram my food before I eat it!

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  36. If it is something I'm particularly proud of, I may take a photo, but I don't do it routinely

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  37. I do! And I really need to improve my photography this year

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  38. I tend to take photos of my food before I eat it only if I want to post it on my social media afterwards or if I want to use it on my blog.

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  39. I always photograph my food - even been known to take my DSLR to restaurants! ooops

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  40. No,I never have,I just want to eat it!

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  41. Sometimes depends on how my good turns out

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  42. I've often wanted to but don't really know how to go about it. My photos always turn out blurred, over-exposed trying to get more colour and light in them or steamed up ;)

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  43. Yes, I do tend to take photos of my food, but I would really like this book to show me how to take better photos.

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  44. Sometimes as food porn for instagram!

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  45. Only if I make something that looks good or we eat out at a posh restaurant.

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  46. Yep! I'm actually admin on a food photo sharing group!! I'm an addict! I have to admit, sometimes I make food, take pictures of it, and give it to the dog hahahahahaha

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  47. I only take photos if I've created something really special or I have a really nice meal out.

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  48. I take photos of my food if I've made something special, otherwise no. Fantastic giveaway, thanks for sharing!

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  49. I always take photos of my food! I only use my Samsung smart phone. Would love to learn a few things are good to make them even better.

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  50. I love taking photos of food. At a restaurant or at home but then I am a food blogger. I only use my Samsung smart phone. Would love this book for more tips!

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  51. I always take photos of my food! I only use my Samsung smart phone. Would love to learn a few things are good to make them even better.

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  52. I always take photos of my food! I only use my Samsung smart phone. Would love to learn a few things are good to make them even better.

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  53. I take pictures of my food if I'm proud of it or I'm trying to loose weight

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  54. Glad I discovered your blog through this giveaway! I always like to try new recipes and presentation is so important, love to take photos of them! Same thing at the restaurant really :)

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  55. Charlotte Easton22 January 2017 at 21:52

    Sometimes, if the food is unusual, or looks particularly appetising. I like photographing brightly coloured salads and vegetables.

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  56. Sometimes to send to friends

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  57. I do, of course. I'm a food blogger, so I take a lot of pictures of my food. :)

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  58. Yes I usually do as I post to a social media site to win prizes for food pics :)

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  59. i will if I've made a really good job of something.

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  60. No, I just eat! Maybe this book will show me how. :)

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  61. Sometimes when I am out and the presentation is on point, I do document bits and bobs. We love food in our house so....I have no shame in it.

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  62. Not every meal, but quite often - didn't really realise how often until I looked at my instagram account one day lol

    I'm rubbish at food photography though, I'd love a book like this!

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  63. Sometimes I do to send to someone to make them jealous :D

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  64. yes I do. My family don't like waiting for their food though

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  65. I take photo's of recipes my 11 year old has made and share them on our blog

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  66. sometimes if it looks really good

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  67. I do if I'm proud of it or go for a meal out

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  68. Not usually, but I'm not very good at taking photos!

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  69. No lol but my daughter does and post's her pictures

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  70. Yes, most of the time but I would definitely like to learn how to make them better!

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  71. Yes. When I bake something I like to keep a photo for myself as a record. If I have time I also like to take a more designed photo in case i can use it in a recipe contest. The book would be such a help for this.

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  72. Sometimes but they often don't look that good!

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  73. Yes quite often as do my kids for snap chat as long as it looks good x

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  74. Not really, Maybe if me and my daughter bake a cake i take one for a memory but i don't take pictures to share on social media

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  75. Occasionally if I've made something new I will snapchat it 😚

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  76. I have to admit i have started taking photos of my food before i eat it

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  77. sometimes i do but not always

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  78. Occasionally on the very rare occasion the hubby takes me out. I need to photograph it to record the rarity lol

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  79. Yes i do, im recovering from an eating disorder and have an instagram recovery account where i post my meals and snacks

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  80. I do take pics of some of my meals once presented on the plate mainly to keep for entering competitions to win cookery items but also i occasionally send to my hubby to show him what he has for his dinner when he gets home x x

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  81. I do take pictures of my food very regularly! It can be things I've made myself or food I'm eating in a restaurant. And I enjoy looking back at them. Some people think its a silly thing to do but it makes me happy!

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  82. Only if it looks really really impressive :D

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  83. No, I have never EVER felt the need to take a picture of food.

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  84. I take photos if it's a really special meal, to help remember the occasion

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  85. Excellent behind-the-scenes look at food photography done without needing a lot of fancy lighting stuff.

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