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Iluminacion Para Una Fotografia Impresionante / The Hot Shoe Diaries. Big Light From Small Flashes (2009)

by Joe McNally(Favorite Author)

4.23 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

8441526850 (ISBN13: 9788441526853)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Grupo Anaya Comercial

review 1: A pretty good read. Based on the beginning I thought it would overall be a bit more instructional (and had hoped that it would be), but it turned into a bunch of really short chapters of anecdotes. Interesting stuff, but not quite what I'd hoped for. I appreciate the casual writing style, but it can be a bit much at times (I don't think there's a single "because" in the entire book -- just "'cause" throughout). It does help the author's clearly quirky personality shine through, though. Still, all of his anecdotes are incredible, and what you can glean from them is valuable.
review 2: The interesting thing about this book is that it has an enjoyable, casual style, inside a well thought-out and executed three hundred or so pages. The amount of information this b... moreook provides is immense but you don't mind acquiring it. This is because McNally makes the point early on that this is not a camera manual. His intention is to divulge his photography techniques through the eyes of a working professional. Obviously, the technical types who write manuals need to present their information in concise, linear ways, but this book on Flash Photography, specifically the use of the Nikon system of "speedlights", or portable electronic flashes, is a welcome refuge from trying to absorb the mumbo-jumbo provided by the manufacturer. I can attest to McNAlly's success in reaching his goal from my experience as the first-time purchaser of the current generation of Nikon's i-TTL flashes. I wouldn't know how to operate my new flash without the manual, but this book shows how all of those features are used to create photographs.Joe McNally has been successfully marrying the creative and technical aspects of photography for decades. He has been a staff photographer for "Life" magazine and continues to produce memorable photos for "National Geographic." He is known for his highly regarded "Faces of Ground Zero - Portraits of the Heroes of September 11th", a collection of 245 giant, nine by four foot-sized Polaroid portraits he made of the workers who toiled in the wake of the 2001 attack. This collection has toured various cities over the years and has earned, so far, over two million dollars for 9-11 relief. He's one of those people who seem to never stop moving. In addition to his paid and freelance work, he is Kelby instructor, and tours the country, giving hands-on training in major cities. Everything he does is of the highest quality.The high visual impact of his photographs are what drew my attention to "The Hot Shoe Diaries" on a Borders bookshelf. Everyone interested in photography would likewise drawn to work of this caliber. McNally tells all of the techniques in his book, which he calls an irreverent brain dump of accumulated knowledge presented as a diary. This is what separates this book from a manual. The methods of taking pictures are there, but they are presented in the context of why he took on the assignments, and what he learned from each experience. You won't find another book representing a master course in lighting techniques which does a better job of explaining what McNally calls "visual poetry. The feel of the light, not the numbers." There's no doubt that many of the techniques discussed in this book are transposable to other flash systems, such as Canon's. The nomenclature of certain processes and the names of specific equipment in this book are, however, derived from Nikon. McNally also spends much time explaining the pro's and con's of third-party accessories, and their applicability would be the same for any particular system. You can see how McNally works with flash in Nikon's Speedlights with the Nikon School's DVD tutorial: "A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting." I should note here that the video is not mentioned in "The Hot Shoe Diaries;" I mention it here because I greatly enjoyed it, and found its subject material to be completely compatible with the book. One of the differences is that the book is Joe McNally's creation, allowing him to say what he thinks about any equipment (given the freedom to speak, he has high praise for the reliability and versatility of Nikon equipment). McNally is accompanied on the photo sessions in the disc by Bob Krist, another distinguished "National Geographic" veteran. Although similar techniques are described, the photographs in the book generally do not replicate those in the video, with small exceptions. Both sources give detailed accounts of McNally's famous multi-flash setups which produced some of his most eye-catching photos, but they don't leave the more casual shooter by the wayside. The book contains over a hundred pages devoted to one-flash photographs. If you think you are handicapped by just having one good flash to accompany your digital SLR, you have no excuse for not taking excellent flash photographs after reading this book. less

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