This is a great book for everyone who uses flash in their photography. However,it is not really a beginners's book. Nevertheless, there is something here for every photographer no matter what his or her skill level. Joe McNally is the Zen master of flash photography. The book is gorgeously illustrated with Joe's amazing images. He explains in detail how the images were made. Sometimes the light came on and I thought, "Of course, that would work like that." Other times it was just slack-jawed amazement at Joe's technical expertise. Often I was reminded of the Larry Bird and Michael Jordan commercials - "Off the sign, over the bleachers, in the window...nothing but net."

Joe is unique. He brings his own light, and uses it effectively to make his images - and he tells you how you can do it. I thought I knew a bit about flash photography, but reading Joe's narrative and seeing his pictures, I felt like I was priveliged to be instructed by someone, perhaps with three (maybe more) PHDs in the subject, and maybe a couple of Purlitzers, and perhaps even a Nobel Peace Prize - while I am still reading third grade "Dick and Jane" readers - relative to flash photography, anyway.

Seriously, it is a great book by a master of flash photography who generously shares his images and knowledge. While there is necessarily some technical stuff, Joe's easy-read, down-to-earth style makes it all very readable and understandable. If you are at all serious about improving your flash photography, get this book.

Firstly, quite a few of the reviews I've read here, seem to be from people who are looking for a magic bullet in regards to their own photography. If you've been shooting for awhile, or forever, you know that there IS NO MAGIC BULLET. There's standard formula, and the rest is all trial and error. So to those people that have knocked this book, and commented that Joe McNally has strictly written this book to boost sales of Nikon gear...then you're all missing the mark, and probably shouldn't own a camera.

I've not been into the "strobist" scene very long, perhaps a little over a year. I like the freedom of shooting wirelessly in a studio, in a kitchen, or outdoors on location. Even if you do not own many of the light modifiers that Joe speaks about, and uses regularly for his work, this book is full of "real life" on location setups and remedies to many of the works he's produced and shared here in the book.

The brass tacks of equipment IS Nikon centric, but that's what Joe uses. Why would he write about Canon or Pentax systems if he uses Nikon? I personally use Canon cameras, and remotely fire Vivitar 285HV flashes, where power is manually dialed in on the flash itself, using cheap Japanese FM transmitters. I've personally found mountains of useful info from this book. Things I may have stumbled on myself after dozens and dozens of shoots going forward. Buying and reading this book has lowered that bar, and I've already used several tips with great results. You don't need to use Nikon's CLS system to gain any useful info here.

Joe writes in layman's terms, is quite funny, self derpicating, humble, and very REAL in his approach. If you're a reader of his blog, you already are aware of this. There's fistfuls of his humor in the book, and mountains of info, if you're actually READING and not just sifting through the awesome pictures. If you're looking for some mathematical magic formula ( not only here but in any photography book ) I assure you, it's not here. And if you approach photography in that manner, you'll forever be searching, and not getting any enjoyment or return from the craft. IF you're not one of those types, then there is surely something for every level of photographer here. I'm sure I will reach for this book time and time again moving forward. This is one of those items I'd be sure to grab if my house was ever on fire.

Mr. McNally takes money from Nikon. I may be wrong about this, and retract this if so. However, JM pushes Nikon speedlights, even using 30 of them to light a stealth fighter. Lets see, that's $15,000 worth of lights. Absurd. I believe authors who are paid to promote products should make that clear. Scott Kelby promotes products, but he does not take money from the manufacturers. If you have a Nikon, consider a more powerful, cheaper flash with radio control. Particularly if you light something like a building.

It's rare when a top shooter also produces a top instructional book, but this is one of the exceptions. McNally's photography is every bit as good as his advice, and this book does something unexpected. It elevates a maligned and misunderstood photographic tool to an art form.

Electronic flash is too often seen as the amateur photographer's crutch, used to provide washed out photos under available darkness, or deployed from the 1000th row of a rock concert to (laughably) attempt to capture Jack Johnson in action. More seasoned photographers disdain their camera's built-in flash entirely (even though they can credibly be used for fill in sunlight), and dismiss hot shoe flash units as too much trouble or too difficult to use. McNally explodes this misguided paradigm, showing exactly how small flash units can be used creatively to produce pictures that you couldn't get any other way. You don't need a studio and studio lighting to create great flash pictures. All you really need is Joe McNally's advice, and the gumption to put his techniques to work. If you can't get great flash pictures after reading this book, you shouldn't be shooting.

I definitely think that Mr. McNally has improved quite a bit with "Hot Shoe Diaries" when compared to his first effort "The Moment it Clicks". I think there's a lot more useful advice to be found in the latter volume, and it seems better structured as well. If you are fond of flash photography there are definitely a lot of hints, tips, and tricks to be found here. No doubt about that. The pictures complementing the text are, as was the case with "The Moment it Clicks", beautiful. The semi-coffeetablebookness of this book makes it stand out from the competition. We are able to see what can be done with flashes right there, and it's quite a lot that can be done, apparantly.

There are, however, still a few problems with the text. First and foremost I do not care for the very colloquial way in which "Hot Shoe Diaries" was written. There are far too many 'ya might wanna dis and dat' (not quoting, but using actual words from the text, though) and colloquialism that lead to incorrect grammatical constructions. Normally, writing in a more colloquial manner, makes the text more accessible, but in this case, in my opinion at least, it subtracts rather than adds. Closely related to this is his attempts at humour, which sometimes hit, but most times fail. Awfully. I realise, that I might be alone in this judgement, because humour is, after all, a matter of personal preference, but I really think he's overdone it. I'm sure he's a blast to share a pint in the pub with, but books are sadly not pints in pubs.

Because McNally uses Nikon gear, the discussion about how to utilize this and that piece of equipment seems, at least to me, to be rather limited. I use Nikon myself, but I would suspect that a Canon, Sony, etc. user would find the tips and tricks less useful at times.

These quibbles, however, does not subtract from the lessons that one might learn from this volume. The advice McNally gives is sound and straight forward, making this book worth buying. I just wish he would drop the overtly Kelby-like approach to writing books and get on with the subject at hand.