Cookbooks are good references to see what food shots actually get published, but then again I've seen some pics that are really bad- lighting is off, there is no focal point, saturation/hues are not normal, etc.

You can also definitely use them as background especially for ingredients that may not have the same pizzazz as a stand-alone dessert. Featured below are red peppercorns photos that the client requested for. It was up to me to do some styling to make it a bit more appealing. Look at the difference between just a bunch of peppercorns in the plastic container (pic 1) and a more stylistic version of the peppercorns laid on the first page of a cookbook (pic 2). Behind it are dried hibiscus flowers.

These red peppercorns are used as toppings for dulce de leche frosting (of a red velvet cupcake) together with Fleur de sel or "flower of salt" in French which discerning chefs like to use- or in layman terms, rock salt.