What is Reddit's opinion of Cork and Knife: Build Complex Flavors with Bourbon, Wine, Beer and More?

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Your first book looks great! If I may, what will your 2nd book be themed around?

I recently finished writing and photographing my 2nd cookbook so I might have a few pointers for you. Both books were done through a publisher so, while I didn't work with the printers directly, I was very hands on with the designers to lock down the final look of the books.

As far as the content goes, it was a 2-person project (my husband does most of the book writing, while I do the recipe development, food styling, photography etc). We develop each shoot together and they are a ton of work. Especially food styling which is a massive challenge. We found it very helpful to make a sketch of each shot, where the camera will go, what lighting effect we're trying to achieve, what lens would work best, etc. Also a detailed prop, and garnish list.

I would say the top priority is making sure you have good, consistent light. For print, you want to keep your ISO at 100, and make sure your focus is tack-sharp. Shooting tethered is absolutely necessary, as is marking out the dimensions of the book so you know what useable space you have for each image (both our books had to be 8x9 which took some getting used to).

For our first book, we shot with continuous light (an inexpensive Raya Octa Fluorescent 7-Socket Fixture) and a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L Lens. For the 2nd book, we upgraded to a Godox AD400 strobe and used both the 24-70mm and a 100mm macro lens. Both lighting set ups worked, but the strobe is much more powerful and made it easier to achieve what we were going for.

Definitely shoot RAW and do any editing on a calibrated monitor, so you can be sure your colors and luma you're setting are exactly what the printers are getting.

And good luck! Cookbooks are a ton of work but are also really gratifying.