Joe McNally's The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes is one of the most in-depth technical how-to books on photography I have ever read. Simply put, if you shoot with Nikon flashes you MUST buy this book. (Nearly all of it is applicable to other manufacturer's flashes as well.) This book is not a manual. You can not find this material in the manuals. I know. I've read them. As for other books aimed at small flashes, there are a tiny hand-full that are uniformly unenlightening (pun intended). The double-truck on pages 6 and 7 is a photo of Joe's flash equipment. I count 16 flashes, but I could have missed one or two! I can think of some extremely great photographers who are currently shooting predominately with the Nikon flash system, but I do not know of any photography who has shot as extensively with Nikon flashes and for as many years with them as Joe has (and who has the extraordinary images to prove it). Now, what if someone like Joe were to do a brain dump and spill EVERYTHING he knows about shooting with small flashes? Well, that is what is in the book. Besides the technical tips and equipment info, one of the things I like most about the Hot Shoe Diaries is that it has reassured me that different things I have been doing, or simply guessed at, are indeed the right choices to make. Since a lot of the information presented in the book simply has not been out there in the past, I have had to guess my way through some things. The popularity of Strobist has made this book possible, which Joe fully acknowledges, by creating the market for it, but even with all of the information on Strobist I still have been left feeling "un-assured". For me, this book has really reinforced my thought process when it comes to lighting setups and how to get from step one to the end goal of pre-visualized image. As Joe best sums it up himself:

This is not a book of certainties. It is not a manual. It is, as the title states, a diary. It is an ongoing account of adventures and misadventures, of accidents--happy and otherwise--and of successes and failures. It is an irreverent (go figure) brain dump of accumulated knowledge, much of it hard won in the school of hard knocks, bad bonces, lousy exposures, and misguided notions

While I have highlighted the book extensively (hence, the five-highlighter rating at the top of this review), the best nod I can give any book is whether I will spend the time to read it twice. With this book, I will. Then I expect to use it as a reference for awhile and eventually read it cover-to-cover a third time. Buy it now: Click the link for a review of Joe's last book, The Moment It Clicks.

The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally would certainly win the Photo Book of the Year award if such an award were given, largely based solely on the hype that this book received. The book created a big buzz when it was released earlier this year, but I have only recently found time to read through it.

If anyone is qualified to write a "Been There, Done That" book on photography it would have to be Joe McNally. He has worked for Sports Illustrated, Time, National Geographic, and Life. Most notably, "from 1994 until 1998, he was Life magazine's staff photographer, the first one in 23 years".

In many ways the adventure story telling of Joe's book reminds me of one of the greatest photography books I have ever read, Life Photographers: What They Saw by John Loengard, former Life editor who interviewed all 88 photographers on the staff of Life magazine from 1933 until it ceased weekly publication in 1972. What they saw, first-hand, during their lifetimes from behind the camera was unbelievable.

Joe belongs in the same category.

The format of the Moment It Clicks is extremely simple. Every time you turn the page there is a photo on one side, and the story behind the image on the other. This is not the type of book where you will find detailed lighting diagrams and "follow these steps to carbon-copy this picture". Many of the write-ups do include a "How to Get This Type of Shot" box with a short paragraph describing what type of lighting equipment he used, where it was placed, the lens he used, etc. However, that level of detail is not the focus of this book. Rumor has it that his next book, The Hot Shoe Diaries: Creative Applications of Small Flashes (Voices That Matter), will have more of technical details. That's not to say there is not plenty of great technical tutorial information in the book. It's there.

What really makes this book valuable though are the very intriguing stories, some quite hilarious, and the type of lessons gained through a lifetime of on assignment work. I'm not going to try to list them out here because you often have to read his whole story about a photo in order to really "get it". It's the stuff that is not so easily put into words and often not shared at all.

The thing that brings it all together though, besides the tremendous photography, is that Joe is a great speaker and story-teller and that talent comes through in the writing of the book. I could give this book to my mom and she would really enjoy it. She would gloss over all of the photo tech "mumbo jumbo", but the stories themselves would be interesting to almost anyone.

I've given the Moment It Clicks a ranking of five highlighters out of five in my system, because I will read this book cover-to-cover again. In fact, I could read it again in 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years and it would still be relevant.

Please support this site. If you decide to purchase it, click here to buy it on Amazon.com. Thank you!

You might also be interested in:

• Joe McNally's Blog
• Joe McNally's Website
• Joe's YouTube videos, including this one:

Joe McNally: The Moment It Clicks

Pass on it I purchased this as a bargain bin book and was simply hoping to get a few ideas from it. From that perspective, I did get a still-life idea or two that I'll work on in the future. That is all I got from it however.

I can't give the book high marks as a studio tutorial because frankly it is not very good. The text is introductory and gives a broad overview of studio lighting, posing, and composition but is nothing spectacular. The images in the book fall way short. Many of them were almost certainly shot in the 1970s or early 80s, yet the book is copyrighted in 2002. Many of the pictures are very, very HORRID. It is hard to take anything the authors say very seriously when the pictures are so bad. The book was written for film-based cameras, lenses, and accessories instead of digital; however, I expected as much and was hoping to pick up tips on lighting equipment irrespective of medium. Unfortunately, The Photographer's Guide to the Studio is not much of a guide to anything of any detail.

Buy it on Amazon (or not)

OK, I admit it. I like to go dumpster diving.
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I prefer to keep my olfactory factory aroma-free though.
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So, I use Amazon.com instead. Simply by searching through all of their photography books with the search results ordered by Low Price to High you can find all sorts of goodies. I often buy these used as all the books from third-party resellers that I've purchased on Amazon have been in very decent to excellent shape. There are pages and pages of books for only $.01 with $4 shipping in the U.S.
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I picked up <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560372060/terrysmithnet-20">Great Smoky Mountain Impressions</a> today for only $0.01, because I plan to go back to the Smokies soon. If I can learn possible shooting locations and subjects from this book, then great, but if it turns out to be only inspirational then that's fine too. I always study a LOT of location-specific work by other photographers before visiting a location. NOT to copy their work, but to build a mental database of possibilities and things to look for. Over and over again I pick up on locations and things to see that are not listed in any of the guidebooks and I usually read all of those too, thanks to the library!
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Jay Maisel is one of the greatest photographers of our time. I bought his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560980028/terrysmithnet-20">ON ASSIGNMENT (Photographers at Work)</a>, for only $1.15. Published in 1990, it may not explain how the next version of Photoshop will solve all of my digital workflow problems, but I'm willing to bet I'll learn a lot from it anyway.
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I also picked up a Klik: Showcase Photography annual (I don't think these are published anymore.) for only $0.06, and a very promising book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0697131890/terrysmithnet-20">Photographing In The Studio: Tools and Techniques for Creative Expression by Gary Kolb</a> for only $2.59. It has two 5-star reviews and one reviewer said it is the "best studio lighting textbook I have ever found". The book was published in 1993 but that review was written in 2005, so maybe it still has some secrets to share.
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I've created a whole wish list of books like this on Amazon to share with my family members as a birthday and Christmas gift list. You should do the same. There's plenty of great stuff out there to find!
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If you're just starting out in photography, don't overlook your local library either. When I was an amateur photographer I read through pretty much everything the library had, dozens and dozens of tutorial and picture books. It's an important starting place!

Creative Ideas People Shots That Sell is an inspirational overview of stock photography. The book's authors have been editors and agents in the industry and their perspective is clearly from that standpoint which can be a good thing for photographers. However, that also accounts for why the book glosses over many details and how-to information that photographers getting started in the stock business will want to know. There are no technical details on how the images in the book were produced, and none of the images have accompanying sales figures on how profitable they have been. Neither are any of them credited, not even in the back of the book, and that's an oversight that any photographer would cringe at. I suspect that nearly all of them were licensed from royalty-free libraries. I still recommend Photos That Sell by Lee Frost as the best book that I've found on this topic. People Shots That Sell is a beautiful book with wonderful photographs that can be very inspirational and idea generative for staging lifestyle people shoots to generate stock images. Most experienced stock shooters will not learn anything new from this book, but it can be a great resource for those wanting to start licensing their work as stock.

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Epic and Awe-inspiring David Douglas Duncan LIVED the twentieth century. The wars, the celebrations and celebrities, the places and times--HE WAS THERE, and he captured it on film. As page twenty-four introduces, "My 20th Century". Photo Nomad is a photographic autobiography of his life, a life of such far-reaching adventures, experiences, and travels that is almost impossible to fully comprehend. In a time when most photo books have the lifespan of the latest pop song, this book is an epic. Beautifully printed in Italy, it is a quality volume that will last many lifetimes and provide endless inspiration.

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Incredible Retrospective Any photographer lucky enough to have a retrospective of their life's work created with the quality put into this book and accompanying DVD would have to be happy. This is a wonderful volume of extraordinary photographs and excellent text. Being a Photographer traces the life and photographs of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer who spent years in Africa as a young man. It was from there that he first started photographing the Earth from above as he gave hot air balloon rides to tourists. Yawn spent more years photographing major sporting events, travel destinations, and other projects before returning to aerial photography to produce his famous book Earth from Above. The superbly printed photographs in this book cover a lifetime of great work and are supplemented with biographical text by Sophie Troubac. The accompanying DVD makes it a great combination and inspirational book for anyone interested in photography.

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Great Introduction This is a great introduction to selling photography by one of the very best in the business. Jim Zuckerman is very diverse in his stock photography subject matter and that diversity shows through in the wide range of knowledge he shares in this book. The best coverage is on selling photography at art shows and advice on submitting article and calendar proposals to publishers. If you're specifically interested in stock agencies, I highly recommend Lee Frost's Photos That Sell. Mr. Zuckerman's advice on stock libraries is a good introduction but Lee Frost devotes most of his book to the topic. The photography in the book is of course wonderful, but I would have liked to have seen the author share more information about which images were his best sellers, how many times each image has sold and where, and other details which Lee Frost shares in this book in many cases. However, this is very solid introduction to selling photography and I recommend it.

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The BEST book on Stock Photography I've read a lot of books on the stock photography industry and this book is by far the best. When I first got it a year ago I paid too much attention to the extraordinary photography and not enough to Lee's text. Recently, I went back and very carefully, slowly (one or two pages a day) studied Lee's advice. I've sold images myself to clients around the world and can tell you this book is what you need if you're interested in selling images. It's accurate, complete, and packed with tips that few others would be willing to share. I have and will continue to look back to this book for ideas in producing my own work. The author provides great advice across the range of stock subject matter as well as the various markets.

The are two things that really make this book shine though. The first is the numerous photographs accompanied by sales info: number of sales, where it sold, and the total sales to date in U.S. dollars. Not all the images in the book have this information (most have the standard equipment and exposure stats), but some do. Next, there are several two-page interviews with other stock photographers. They share their backgrounds, markets, and tips.

Buy this book. It's worth it!

Also check out: Stock photography articles by Lee Frost Lee Frost Photography

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Must-Read For Prospective Assistants This book is an absolute must-read for anyone looking at becoming a photographer's assistant. Matt has worked for many different photographers in the New York area. His advice is right-on and his long list of humiliating accidents covers the full gamut of what NOT to do. I didn't come to this book as a prospective assistant but rather as a professional photographer hoping to pick up a few tips and tricks from the author's experience with other photographers, a good spy novel in other words. Therefore, I was most looking forward to Chapter 9, Tips and Tricks. I found a few neat ideas, but nothing that Earth-shattering. Of course, mileage may vary and I readily admit the target audience is for assistants-to-be. If you are coming from that perspective, you unquestionably want to read this book and break out a box of highlighters. It would also be a great read and general overview for high school students thinking about entering the field. The only downside is that the book doesn't cover the digital era, so there is a lot of information about digital workflow and different photographer's preferences in that area which is missing.

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