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| Author: Joe Mcnally
Publisher: New Riders Press
Category: Book
List Price: $54.99
Buy New: $30.55
You Save: $24.44 (44%)
New (34) Used (6) from $30.55
Avg. Customer Rating:  129 reviews
Sales Rank: 820
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 8.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 0321544080
Dewey Decimal Number: 775
EAN: 9780321544087
ASIN: 0321544080
Publication Date: February 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Paperback. Perfect condition. Never used. Great book.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Don't bother August 29, 2008
I have never been as disappointed with a book as I am with this one. I still gave it 3 stars because the book was not absolute crap, it was still an OK book. It is from the great Joe McNally, with many of his photos and tips and tricks from him and people who influenced him. That is a crappy way to write a book, basically it would make a great web page, but a crappy book.
I have been a fan for a long time, Joe McNally has been an icon in the photo world, but the shots he used to illustrate his points in the this book were not his best, not his second best, they were not even good most of the time. He seems to think so, which makes me question his judgment, but I think most of them suck and the stories that go with them are trite and often times do not give you any helpful/useful info so that you can recreate a similar shot. What kind of advice is that? I liked some of the stories, but even then they were too short on substance and detail, often times more about him or the situation than the photo.
This book is basically a poorly thought out combination between a coffee table book full of pictures (none of which would I put in a coffee table book btw) and a Scott Kelby-esque guide. The problem is that it is not Kelby-esque at all, it just uses his "friends chit chatting and lending advice" style (and not very well either).
I am no pro, I am no critic, I am for all intents and purposes no one that Joe McNally has to impress or care about. I am a regular guy who paid too much for a book. I lost a lot of respect for McNally, much of which I would likely have lost if I would have simply seen many of these photos in the first place, some were that forgettable.
I feel ripped off, but only because of my high expectations. I was lead to believe from Scott Kelby that this was a great book, he is biased. I am going to have to start taking his advice with a grain of salt, knowing that I have to say that this is the only time he has done me wrong.
A note to Joe, please do us all a favor and make another book, this time do it right, use your "A" material, write a book that is EITHER a showcase for your work OR a guide to help us little guys become better at lighting/photography in general.
 Pro Photgrapher at work - a how to light almost any subject August 28, 2008
This is an interesting book, filled with beatiful photos and first hand explanations of how they were taken. It is well written and interesting reading for any photographer. However the photographer used a small truck load of lighting equipment for almost every shot, so it is not of much instructional use to a photographer who does not posses, or is willing to rent, an almost unlimited amount of flash lighting equipment for every photographic session.
 Very well done August 28, 2008
This book has a very simple layout, a picture on the right side and a description of the shot on the left. While it doesn't provide a high level of detail, it does demonstrate the wide range of challenges the author faced getting the pictures completed. Sometimes the challenges are technical, sometimes it is working with models and sometimes he is just lucky. It is not a step by step lighting book, but it is an excellent resource for seeing how an expert dealt with all types of problems to get an excellent image.
Essential reading for the aspiring Strobist August 26, 2008
Initially I dismissed this book but its grown on me. Like other reviewers I felt the title was misleading "Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters"
Now that I've say down and started reading it. Its now one of my favourite books.
Especially as I am into strobist blog and use Nikon speedlights. There is another Joe McNally book on the way "The Hot Shoe Diaries" and I will certainly be pre ordering it. If its anything like as informative as Dave Hobbies DVD Set.(Honestly once you've seen this DVD everything about off camera lighting just clicks together. Its mind blowing) I'll be very pleased.
Education, entertainment and impressive imagery. August 25, 2008
Education, entertainment and impressive imagery. Joe educates us with lots of advice and by giving us explanations of how he created some of the images in the book. He entertains us with war stories from his career and he certainly impresses us with his imagery. One could easily imagine this book as a PowerPoint presentation. For each two-page spread we get a bullet item that relates some advice, an image to demonstrate this advice and the story behind the image. For some images we also get a fuller explanation of some aspect of photography (i.e. lighting) that pertains to the creation of the image.
This book is not a substitute for a book focusing solely on lighting or one on composition, exposure, the use of color or the like. It is also not a business practice manual. It's light on all of these but inhabits the tough middle area where it has some value in all of these and other areas. I did come away with the realization that the work to create the images in this book was usually more laborious than Joe let on as he made it look easy. I attribute this to Joe's talent and experience and that for him it would indeed be much easier to do this than if we tried this ourselves in the real world. I'm okay with that as this book doesn't pretend to be a thick textbook book on some aspect of photography or a detailed autobiography. In all, it was an entertaining, educational and inspiring read.
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