Where Art & Engineering Collide

The Hot Shoe Diaries Review

Posted on 08. Jun, 2009 by Terry Reinert in Reviews

A few days ago I finally got my hands on a copy of Joe McNally’s latest book, The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light From Small Flashes. I started reading it late in the afternoon and didn’t put it down until late that night when I finished it. I tried to put it down so I could go to bed early but couldn’t. There are a few reasons for this and I am going to lay them out for you in this review.

One of our most important jobs as photogs is to manage bad light well. — Joe McNally

One thing I realized a while back when I was having a conversation about Joe’s work is that I talk about Joe as if he and I are old friends. To be honest, I’ve only met him once and it was at Photoshop World Orlando in April 2008 and that was only for brief moment between classes. So why is it that I talk about him as if I know him well? Because Joe is not a robot. I could tell from reading his first book The Moment It Clicks that Joe is not a robot author… you know, the types who write their books as if each one is their doctoral dissertation that bores the living hell out of you. Joe doesn’t roll like that. So how does Joe roll? I really have no idea; remember I don’t actually know him. But he damn sure doesn’t hold back the sharing of his experience with lighting in The Hot Shoe Diaries.

‘Experiment’ is the watchword of digital photography. You are not burning film and money at the lab as in the film days. — Joe McNally

Ok, so lets talk about the book a bit… The book is divided up into four parts; Nuts ‘n’ Bolts, One Light, Two or More, and Lotsa Lights. In Part I, Joe talks about what gear he uses, why he uses it, as well as other nuggets of wisdom about color and other important topics. In the gear section he starts with information about cameras and progresses through flashes, lighting gear, gels, and all that good stuff. Finally he shows off what he calles Da Grip; his method of holding the camera that reduces shaking and opens the door to hand held slow shutter shots. It is pretty obvious what the other three parts are about based on their names… using a single speedlight, two or more speedlights, and enough speedlights to suck the paint off your house and give your family a permanent orange afro!

The moment is more important than the light. — Joe McNally

One thing to note about the hardware side of the book… Joe is a Nikon guy. He goes into a lot of depth on Nikon’s CLS (Creative Lighting System) and i-TTL. None of that is applicable to using the Canon Speedlights. Canon has some of the same types of things with their Speedlights but they are not nearly as in-depth as Nikon’s CLS. The good news is that if you know how to use the Canon Speedlights then you can still apply everything that Joe talks about… but you cannot follow him step-by-step of make use of the Appendix covering the ins and outs of the SB-900 settings for wireless operation. I am a Canon guy myself and have a few Canon Speedlight 580′s… as I said, even us Canon shooters can still get a lot out of the book… we just have to read the manual that comes with our Speedlights. Bleh.

Back to the review…

Similar to The Moment It Clicks, each part of the book is filled with Joe’s images and the story behind each one. The main difference that I found between the two books is that Joe goes into a lot more depth about the lighting and camera settings in The Hot Shoe Diaries. His first book has a small “How to get a shot like this” section under most of the images but his comments about how to do it were brief. In this book he switched it up and really dove into the details. Not only does he give you the numbers (exposure settings, flash settings, etc) but he tells you WHY he used those settings. I have always found that to be of critical importance because no shoot is going to be the same… so if you only know the HOW then your ability to get a shot like what he has shown will be hampered when dealing with the uncontrollable variables that come into play the second you pick up a camera.

I already have too many variables rattling around in my head to allow the flash to have a mind of its own. — Joe McNally

So that pretty much sums on the content of the book… Joe’s knowledge in Joe’s own words. But what about the quality of the book itself? The Moment It Clicks was a pretty high quality book if you ask me. When I saw the how-to on “Pimping Your McNally” I was torn between how freaking cool it was and how bad it was to shred up such a beautiful thing. Same goes for The Hot Shoe Diaries; it is some high quality stuff. I personally think the interior layout of the content is better than his first book and the quality of the materials and printing are still just as good. This isn’t a book that you stick on a dusty bookcase when you’re done with it… you leave it sitting on your coffee table for all your friends to see!

Get the camera angle. I always advocate this as the first crucial step. Where you put the camera is always more important than where you put the light. — Joe McNally

I think the most interesting thing about this book and the things that Joe writes about is that I can relate to what he is saying. I’ve been in situations exactly like he describes in his book… you know, those ones where things are quickly falling apart and it is all you can do to hold it together. Hearing what he did to salvage his shoot really helps me so that when I find myself in that situation again in the future I have a better chance of coming out ahead instead of falling flat on my butt a second time!

On location, never go audible with your interior desperation. – Joe McNally

Finally, I just want to reassure everyone that this book is safe to read without carefully checking each page before diving in. I’ve been through it twice and can confirm that Joe is in fact wearing clothes in every photo that he appears in. Page 191 of The Moment It Clicks is still a little troubling at times… Just kidding Joe… you know we all love you… we just love you more when you’re wearing clothes.

Check out Joe's training videos on Kelby Training!

Related posts:

1. Layers Book Review
2. Captured By the Light Book Review
3. Keep Your Eye In The Camera!
4. Purpose
5. HDR PhotoStudio Review Follow Up

Tags: Books, joe mcnally, Reviews, The Hot Shoe Diaries