The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light From Small Flashes

I got this book after seeing all the positive reviews here. Now I think the 5-star reviews must have all been written by either die-hard Joe McNally fans or marketing agents for the book.

The book reads like it was written by a not particularly articulate 7 year old. There is hardly a complete sentence to be found and it's packed with slang non-words like "aren'tcha". The slangy style is cute for a page or two, but it gets old fast. I was barely able to force myself through two chapters before I had to put this book down.

The content is mostly "look at me, I'm a grizzled veteran who has been through all these tough situations." There isn't much practical advice. This book will not teach you how to light a good photograph. For that, get "Light: Science and Magic."

What little discussion there is in this book of how to actually use hot-shoe flashes is not well explained at all. You'd have to know exactly what he's talking about before it would make sense. It is also 100% for Nikon users only. He describes exact models of flash and exact menus and modes to use, but not what that particular mode means or what it's doing.

A few of the 5-star reviews here make a point to say that this book does teach you practical techniques and isn't for Nikon users only. Those reviews couldn't be more wrong.

The photographs are gorgeous and could have made a nice coffee table book, but I've read a lot of how-to photography books and it's hard to imagine any being any worse than this one.

In the author's own words, he says that his wife thinks he jumps from one topic to another, etc. His writing style is so annoying, I cannot & will not read this book. I usually take a book out from my local library, and if I like it, then I head to Amazon and order it. This will not happen here. If Amazon allowed a ZERO-star rating, I would give it to this book!

Yesterday I just finished an intensive hands on, real, on set, training workshop with Joe and models on a windy rocky beach and it was worth every penny. I asked him if his brand new book, "Hot Shoe Dairies" he'd mentioned was a "how to" book and he said it was a few hundred pages of exactly what we worked on only more in depth and the result of years of mastering the small portable flash. So if the book is even half of what we learned it is worth twice the price. The Nikon creative lighting system is amazing and has NO EQUAL. I will order as soon as I finish this. Jock Goodman

Judging by the photos in this book, Joe McNally is an excellent, creative photographer; as a writer, he's a ... well ... excellent photographer. The style of the text here is so tiresome I finally skimmed through the book, checked the tech data for the pictures I found interesting, and dropped it off as a contribution to my local library. McNally writes the book like he was writing his blog, although even most blogs are better crafted. He needs an editor, or, better yet, a co-writer.

The style is just so regular-guy, down-home that it becomes grating after about a page. There are way too many "gottas" and "gonnas" and "gonna do this or that to this puppy", and so forth, interspersed with sentence fragments and overall poor writing style, that I felt gypped at paying even Amazon's discounted price. A vernacular style worked for Rudyard Kipling, just barely, but McNally is no Kipling, and his writing just doesn't make it. Other reviewers have compared McNally to Scott Kelby, but Kelby's a piker at guy slang compared to McNally -- and even Kelby goes to far, too often.

And yes, the book is highly Nikon-based, so much that I wonder if Nikon funded its creation? That doesn't bother me, since I, too, shoot Nikon, so the technical and equipment information, which McNally is good at, is directly applicable to my needs. That's why I gave the book two stars; if I were a Canon shooter, this would be a one-star review. However, most of the tech info is available from Nikon for free.

So, I recommend borrowing this book and gleaning what you can, and not paying much attention to the writing, especially if you're a fan of the well-crafted sentence. McNally should let his pictures tell the story.

This book is a diary (don't call it a manual) that entertainingly journals how Joe uses portable strobes to create a studio anywhere in the world.

Before I continue with the review, I have two notes. First, if you have any interest in this photographic discipline, I would like to point you to Strobist. This is a blog managed by one D Hobby. You may have noticed his review for this book. He has a more complete review of this book on his web site. Additionally, he has two free complete do-it-yourself courses on getting started. These start with what equipment to buy and continue through all 6 ways that you can manipulate light. Additionally, there is a Strobist Flickr group and many actual Strobist clubs throughout the world. If you are new to this but interested, you owe it to yourself to check out this site.

One other note, even though Joe uses Nikon, this book is useful for any brand and type of camera that has a hot shoe (I shoot Nikon DSLRs([[ASIN:B001BTCSI6 Nikon D700 12.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)]]) But I also use these techniques with my [[ASIN:B001G5ZTPY Canon Powershot G10 14.7MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom]]).

Back to the maestro, I read Joe's earlier book [[ASIN:0321544080 The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters (Voices That Matter)]]. I really enjoyed it, but it really did not get into the nuts and bolts of how Joe makes his amazing photos. I also, watched (and own) [[ASIN:B001KJ91V4 Nikon School presents A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting]], which prominently features Joe, and was left wanting more. Hot Shoe Diaries delivers that in spades. (Hot Shoe and Nikon School DVD complement each other and I highly recommend both).

Joe starts the mental feast with an appetizer he call nuts `n' bolts. In this section (36 pages) he talks about what equipment he uses and why (on his blogs 19 Dec post he lists a great kit that Bob Krist showed on the Nikon DVD. McNally also has an equipment page on his site. All of this stuff is great but expensive, you can go to Strobist to see how to make many light shaping tools for cheap). Then he moves onto some of his wisdom for manipulating light and finally he shows how to hold a camera to enable steady shooting (this grip mostly applies to right handed, left eye dominant people)

As the pleasing appetizer tantalizes you brain, Joe dives right in and serves up an astoundingly delicious main course he calls One Light. This course consists of 110 pages of such succulent morsels as Make the Sun Rise, One light in the Parking Lot, and, my personal favorite, The "Killer Flicker of Light".

The second main course deals with Two Lights (74 pages) while the deviant, sinful, but delightful dessert covers Lotsa Lights (45 pages).

This book is not a manual and Joe goes out of his way to make this point. This means that he doesn't tell you when to use a snoot, grid, umbrella, etc. He also doesn't show the different light patterns that each throws. While it is a bummer that stuff is not in there it also keeps the book from being dry and as Joe points out he is not really a manual kind of guy.

What this book is, is a diary of many great photos that Joe has shot. After he shows you the photo, he then goes through, in great detail, his thoughts of how he first approached the shoot. Then he steps you through the process by which he continued to improve the photo until he arrived at his artistic impression of the world he is trying to record. This is the true magic of this book. You get inside of the brain (be careful what you ask for) of an amazing professional who has over 30 years of been-there-and-done-that experience. This book is a treasure chest of photos and knowledge that you will never tire of digging through.

I read his first book and highlighted half of it, and re-read it. It was a great educational tool and full of great thoughts.
I was very disappointed in his second book for several reasons.
I can get past his writing style, it didn't bother me too terribly much, though I can see how many were annoyed with it.
As mentioned by a lot of people reviewing the book negatively, this book is written for Nikon. They may as well have put their logo on the cover. McNally is a Nikon shooter so that is what he knows. I get that. I also know that most educators do their best to at least find out what the equivalent is for another system so that they can appeal to a broader target and be more effective in their teaching. One of my best friends teaches photo workshops all over the country and is inducted into the Photojournalism hall of fame. He is a Nikon shooter and routinely asks me to come over with my camera so he can see what Canon's equivalent is so he can present BOTH sides to the people he is teaching. There was no such attempt in this book.

The second thing that disappointed me in this book was that he used CLS for just about every single shot. For me, that was kind of like finding out that Rembrandt did the "paint by numbers" thing. I had such a respect for the way his images came out, especially considering all the lighting equipment he used. I was sad to find out he just put lights where he wanted them, and then the camera did all the metering and adjusting for him. I can see where he is coming from, when you have a huge shoot with 10 lights... why not save yourself the work. But even on smaller jobs with only 2-3 lights it was CLS that did all the work. It's like he has lost touch with the art of thinking about his lighting and the setups. I suspect this is why a lot of us were left feeling like a lot of technical information was lacking. If I put my lights on 1/4 power at 24mm zoom, I can tell you I did that. If I just set my light down and told the camera to control the power and all the rest, I can't tell you any more about it than that.

Finally, a lot of people are saying "just read your manual" and "convert the Nikon speak to Canon". As a Canon shooter, who works with Nikon a lot, I can tell you that doesn't work. Canon doesn't have a CLS system, nor does any other camera brand that I'm aware of. So when McNally says he assigns lights 1,2 &3 to channel A and the rest to channel B, and all the other stuff that CLS lets you do, that means absolutely nothing to anyone who doesn't shoot Nikon, and therefor it is impossible to apply that "knowledge" to our brand of camera equipment. (Another reason I was disappointed he only used CLS)

Buy the book for the stories and the pictures. But don't expect to really learn anything technical from it.

One of the best books on lighting with off camera flash units (speedlights). Fist as a disclaimer - McNally focuses on NIkon equipment. As a Canon user, some of the things he mentions won't apply to Canon users or be available to Canon users. However, I did not feel like this detracted at all from the experience of reading the book. This book is NOT a manual - so if you buy this expecting to have step by step instructions, forget it. But, you don't want a manual - he gives you real life situations and the photos showing how and what he did, and explains why it works. All of the information in this book is extremely helpful and makes you want to go out and experiment with your equipment, play around, and no longer be afraid of the flash. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how, when and why to use off camera flash.

short version of the review:

This book is the real deal. Just buy it.

Long Version:

This book is awsome. As much as I liked The Moment It Clicks, I thought that it lacked some consistency due to the fact that most of the images were old and Joe had to reverse engineer how the photo was done and remember how he took them. It was more of a coffee table book and an inspirational book. This book on the other hand is much more consistent. First of all, it is dedicated to using small flashes only which is practical and affordable for most of us. Second, the book inherits and improves on the good formating that the first book had. Third, most of the photos use one or two flashes, so we can try to replicate the setups ourselves. Fourth, unlike the previous book, almost all of the subjects in this books are just regular people like us and not celeberties. So there is no excuse for us to say that Joe's photos has to look good cause he shoots this model and that actress. Fifth, if you like the stuff on Joe's blog then you will like the book since it has many of the entries and assignments on his blog. I've always wished that Joe would put that stuff in the book cause it is very helpful to have all that inspirational stuff handy. Plus its organized better than the blog. You can really tell from the way it was written that Joe didnt reverse engineer the shots in this book. He definitly had the vision of the book before he undertook these assignments and that's why he does a better job at explaining how the shots were taken. Sixth, if you follow the strobist blog then you probably have this book in your hands by now. David Hobby's finger prints are all over the book and Joe mentions that in the book. Last but not least, you can check sample pages of the book on Joe's Blog and there is also a sample PDF excerpt on the strobist blog. Enjoy the book and I hope to see a followup of this book soon with all the recent stuff from Joe's workshops.

Joe McNally wanted to be a writer but "ended up" a photographer. We are all blessed on both accounts. Joe's latest book, The Hot Shoe Diaries, is a master course in the use of small flashes. This is a book to be read cover-to-cover over and over. Joe's self-deprecating style is easy and fun to read. The book is packed with essential information that is easily worth 10 times its price. It is as close to a one-person seminar as you can get. Imagine spending a week with Tiger Woods learning golf and that's what you get in lighting information from this work. Canon shooters may be put off a little by all the Nikon references but Joe clearly states this book is about how he works and what he uses. Nevertheless, users of any camera system will find inspiration and guidance from this fine book. It is the ONE book every photographer must buy this year.

I ordered this book about two months ago not realizing that all the equipment references were to Nikon. I was a little concerned that being a Canon user, I would be left in the cold. No such luck. This book is worth every star I gave it. Yes, he (Joe) uses strictly Nikon and references his equipment often but it is all the same for canon, i-TTL vs. e-TTL, etc. There is few things, if any, that you can not do with Canon's system that can be done with Nikon's.
The detail he goes into in every picture is amazing. This is a must have for anybody who is learning or thinks they already know it all on small strobes. He keeps it funny and interesting throughout. He breaks down every detail in every shot and leaves you wanting to run out and take pictures of anything you can find. After all isn't that what a book on photography should do?