If Joe McNally were a cartoon character, I think he’d be the Tasmanian Devil (although I’m sure that some days ol’ Joe feels like he’s Wile E. Coyote). Why the Tasmanian Devil? He never slows down. Between shooting, blogging and teaching, Joe’s the photographic equivalent of a whirling dervish. Fortunately for the legions that follow in his dust trail, Joe has also been carving out time to write his next book The Hot Shoe Diaries - Creative Applications of Small Flashes.

Good news. You can pre-order it now on Amazon. For those who waited to order Joe’s first book, The Moment It Clicks, and could not get it until the second printing, you know that you’ll want to pre-order your copy of The Hot Shoe Diaries. So, do it now. We’ll wait for you to come back. If all goes as planned in the McNally household and at New Riders Press, you’ll have it in hand by Christmas.

And for the four of you who have been reading PixSylated for a while, the answer to your other question is “Yes”. I’ll pimp The Hot Shoe Diaries just like its big brother. Click here if you’d like to get a close look at Joe’s first book and read my original post on ‘Pimping Your McNally’.

For frequent McNally installments and more details on The Hot Shoe Diaries, keep an eye on Joe’s blog.

[And thanks to The Man himself for giving this cub reporter the go ahead to run with the story before he made the big announcement.]

PixSylated’s 3-Part Series On Learning Food Photography

• Part 1, Books that deal with food photography and styling.
• Part 2, Workshops, seminars & conferences / trade associations / a DVD.
• Part 3, Site of food shooters & stylists, web videos on food photography, blogs, online resources and sources of supplies

Shooting food is the culinary equivalent of fashion photography. It just happens at a slower pace and smaller scale. Both can be much more difficult than they appear to the uninitiated.

• There’s the issue of lighting. A strobe setup that works when shooting a glamor headshot won’t work when shooting a meal that’s 12″ square. Yet the lighting concepts are often the same.
• There’s the issue of perishability. Just as a waif of a model can’t look like a Cosmo cover 24/7, the food photographer is always wary of his subject melting, wilting, loosing it’s shine or effervescence.
• There’s the issue of styling. Food for photography often is not food for eating. Just as the fashion shooter often lets another professional deal with hair and makeup, a food stylist understands how to primp and massage food for the camera.

Part 1 - Books on Food Photography: If you’re looking for books on nature photography, you can find a herd of them. If you’re looking for books on food photography, you’ll find a scant handful. Here are virtually all the relevant food photography books currently on the market (as both in-print and out-of-print titles).

[Read more →]