The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters (Voices That Matter)

This is the book you should have if you've ever wondered, or are learning to become a pro photo-journalist. So many behind the scenes tid-bits and advice that I think this should be required reading for any visual communications program. Will you learn the specifics of lighting? No. But this is not the book to get if you need to learn begining lighting. This is the book to get to understand what lighting is about.

I loved the book "The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 " by Scott Kelby. In his book he mentioned that "The Moment It Clicks" is the next book to purchase, so I followed thru and bought it. Scott must be sharing a commission check by promoting the book. I was expecting much more that I received. No secrets revealed, no F stops or shutter speeds mentioned but plenty of boring story telling. I didn't want a story book, I wanted a how-to book and this wasn't it. Nice photos but now what. How were they done? No instruction. Scott's recommendation was way off on this one. Shame on him.

The cover copy of The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally says that the book has "one foot on the coffee table," and this is fair enough. Joe is a top shooter of the National Geographic, Life Magazine, and editorial assignment ilk. I throughly enjoyed looking through the photos in this book, and reading the stories behind them. I thought Joe's general advice was invariably accurate ("If you want something to look interesting, don't light all of it.").

Those are the pros (yes, pun intended). The con for this book is that unless you have mega access to celebrities, lavish budgets for sets, and assistants to schlepp all kinds of lighting accessories around with you, this book won't help you much with pragmatic issues.

I also wish Joe would swim a little more with digital. You know, the answer isn't to always do it in the camera, or to always do it in Photoshop. It's to figure out which is best and easiest in a specific situation. Joe could save himself some grief at the shooting end if he better appreciated what Photoshop can do.

This is a superb book, and I recommend it for every photographer's shelf, despite the quibbles found in my review.

This lovely book floods you with the culture of photography. You feel the passion and learn the technique without realizing you are being taught. A great inspiration and a favorite in my library. Thanks Mr. McNally.

Short review here,since the others have given it a good summary. This is half 'how I did it' photography book, and half 'conversation with a great photographer with some hidden nuggets'. Great for photographers and those who are just interested in seeing some really excellent photos.