The Hot Shoe Diaries, By Joe McNally- Review
May 2009, Andrew Woodhouse

The Hot Shoe Diaries is Joe McNally's latest book and follows on from the success of his internationally acclaimed book, The Moment It Clicks. As the title suggests it is a book which focuses on small flashes, strobes or Speedlights if you will. Now some of you might wonder why on earth I am reviewing a book by a self professed "Nikon guy", well Joe McNally is pretty much the man when it comes to flash photography, and small flash photography in particular. As a result this book, whilst biased slightly towards Nikon (it is what Joe shoots with after all) is a must read for anyone who wants to learn how to use their flashes to better effect. I know there is a large amount of interest in wireless flash photography on AlphaMountWorld and as a result it seemed appropriate to review the book.

Joe has a reputation for using lots of speed lights in his pictures, (indeed the photo on pages 6 and 7 shows over 12 Speed lights) but he is gracious enough to realize that this is not the case for the vast majority of shooters. As a result the book is split into a few key areas: Equipment (what he uses and why), Using one flash, Using 2 or more flashes and lastly Using lots of flashes.

All the time Joe is helping to explain what he is talking about with some simply stunning photos to back it up. He doesn't stop there though, he actually tells the reader how he achieved these shots. Joe's style is nice and relaxed and he repeats several key points throughout the book, which is very useful for anyone learning about flash and the techniques he's using.

The book is around 300 pages long but never feels difficult to read, I'm sure that anyone who reads this book will finish it and be inspired to take better flash photos. The book makes the seemingly difficult task of lighting an image with small hot shoe flashes, seem easy and straightforward.

Because Joe uses the Nikon system there will be a few terms that you may not be familiar with, such as CLS and Auto FP high speed sync. These are Nikon marketing terms and CLS (which stands for Creative Lighting System), is a way to seamlessly control multiple wireless flashes. Giving control over the power of the flashes and also allows for advanced ratio control of multiple flashes. At the moment Nikon's flash system is second to none, offering a great versatility and ease of use. What's more over the past few years it has gained a reputation for being very difficult to fool. With the advent of the HVL F58 AM flash, Sony is beginning to get close to the level of control Nikon users have. Auto FP high speed sync is a Nikon term for high speed sync (HSS) and allows the photographer to sync above the cameras maximum normal sync speed.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed this book I have no reservations giving it a high mark, it will inspire photographers to be that little bit more creative with their pictures and to push the boundaries that little bit more, taking flash photography to a new level. It isn't an expensive book considering the wealth of information and knowledge within the book. If you were to take a course to learn what's in this book it would likely cost several thousand pounds! In the UK it is priced at just £24.99 (U.S. price is $26.99 on Amazon), which means if you are interested in wireless flash photography then I regard this as a must have (italics for must have) book- it's that good. Unlike other photography books which often end up dull and boring, this book is buzzing with energy. You can really tell that Joe is passionate about making great photos with small flashes.

I think this has the potential to be one of the best photography books of the past decade (even if you are not interested in flash photography the quality of pictures would make it a worthwhile read ).

As a result this book gets an AlphaMountWorld rating of 9.5 out of 10

-A.Woodhouse