The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally [Amazon] [Joe's Blog]

Joe McNally, a regular shooter for photographer mecca National Geographic and author of The Moment it Clicks (a book I’ve been wanting forever but am too poor to buy at the moment) has out done himself with this one. If you’re a budding small flash nerd like myself, you really need to own this book! Granted, if you’re a Canon guy or gal like myself…you’re going to wish it included Canon Cliff’s Notes. This book is 100% Nikon Speedlight-centric. HOWEVER, you can just let your eyes glaze over when he gets into Nikon-speak like I did and pull a LOT out of this book. And I mean a LOT, so don’t let the Nikon stuff scare you off.

Joe spends at least half the book going over one-flash set ups, making this a great book for those of us who do not half a vault of flashes we swim in like Scrooge McDuck does with his money like I imagine Joe does after a long day’s work. The majority of the rest of the book is 2 and 3 flash set ups and there’s even a few “holy shit” double-digit flash set ups for good measure!

The book is written in a casual, diary-like format meaning Joe takes images from his portfolio of impressive work and talks about the lighting challenges, goals and execution for each shot. There are lots of hand-drawn lighting diagrams (look for Joe, the stick-figure labeled “numnuts”) and clear explanations of WHY these set ups work, and even a few times…why they could have been better.

Fans of David Hobby and the small flash “strobist” movement are going to LOVE this book. I’d reccommend reading the Lighting 101 on Strobist.com before this as The Hot Shoe Diaries isn’t exactly a 101 type of book, but I’d say it’s a great 102 type. And if you’re a Nikon shooter, it’d make a great guide to wrapping your head around your speedlight.

With a little brain stretching you can find many of the features Joe discusses for the Nikon Speedlight on your Canon Speedlite.

So after finishing this, I’m left with some solid flash knowlege and a better understanding of how to shape it and bend it to my mighty will (couple this with David Hobby’s Strobist seminar DVDs and I’m feeling pretty good about light.)

One thing that confused me was Joe’s shooting style. He flies mainly on Av (Aperture Priority) mode and TTL flash. I’ve always wondered if there’s any difference between shooting on Av/TTL and adjusting exposure with exposure and flash compensation and just shooting manual (as I do) and adjusting exposure using the light meter. Why do YOU do one or the other? I tried a little of Joe’s method out of curiosity and it seemed like more work for the same result and TTL in generally resulted in a lot of “ugh” shots…am I missing something?

So overall for me this book is great, minus the whole obviously Nikon-sponsored thing. This has left me with one burning question…What are you slacking for, Canon? Where’s your shining star? Nikon has Joe, David Hobby and Scott Kelby. Canon has….? Get off your ass Canon! Put out a great book like this and snub the Nikon people for once!

(Just kidding Nikon people. Sort of.)