As with the author's first book, The Hot Shoe Diaries is a fun and entertaining read. But most of all it is classic Joe McNally. For those who follow his blog you will know what I mean, for those who don't you should check it out.
For the most part The Hot Shoe Diaries is written in an easy to understand, conversational style, but there are times when someone new to photography, or someone who may have experience with a camera, but not with photographers, might miss some things in translation.
McNally speaks in photographer jargon at times. For example in one place he says "Zoomed the flash to the maximum at 105mm, gelled it with two cuts of CTO to keep it warm in tone, and dialed the power output way down." If you don't know that CTO stands for Color Temperature Orange, and that the gel is used on your flash correct the lighting, you may be intimidated by the language.
What I say is that if you want to become a better photographer, become better with using flash in lighting situations, then when you don't understand something, find out. It is easy to do. Some may say that this book is not for newbie's. I disagree; I think that The Hot Shoe Diaries is for anyone who wants to learn to use small flashes to create big light. I very highly recommend this book.
Article comments