Thought Piece #5

Reading pages 278-291 of The Hot Shoe Diaries, really opened my eyes to the potential of small flashes. Joe McNally’s setups in this section are impressive—they go well beyond simple off-camera speedlight tricks. From lighting the inside of a firetruck, to three-stacked speedlights for the beach shoot or surrounding an entire airplane with over 40 speedlights! These examples not only showed me what light can achieve but also shifted my mindset about planning, ambition and paying attention to detail in my own work.

One moment that stood out for me was when McNally lit the inside of a firetruck. At first, the shot look so cinematic and effortless but digging into the details reveals a different story. He lists every piece of equipment he used; multiple SB-800 speedlights, gels, clamps, and a whole setup for remote triggering. It’s pretty amazing how all of that seems to vanish in the final image. The scene comes off as if it’s lit by natural light or some ambient source, but it’s all carefully crafted. This really showed me all the behind the scenes work that goes into making a shot feel genuine. I tend to rush through shoots, especially when the lighting is tricky, but McNally’s patience and planning made me realize that I could be much more intentional in my own process.

The pilot shoot is where he went all out with 47 speedlights to light up a plane and the area around it. I nearly cracked up when I saw that number, I couldn’t even imagine shooting with more than three! But rather than thinking it was excessive, it showed dedication behind the shoot. McNally wasn’t just trying to make the plane visible; he was crafting a dramatic, stylized portrait that gave the subject an epic feel. He used light not just to highlight the pilot and men working, but also give the machine its due attention, treating the background as carefully as he did the subjects face. This concept really resonated with me because backgrounds and settings are characters in their own light, and they deserve to be lit, noticed and told a story about.

Even though my projects aren’t anywhere near the scale of McNally’s, I can still take note of these principles. It’s not about how many speedlights you have, it’s about the thought you put into each one. Reading about McNally’s work has made me realize how much I still need to learn when it comes to planning my shots. Recently, I’ve been focusing on improving my location portraits and these sections motivated me to think outside the box on using light to enhance the entire environment, not just the main subject. I’m also eager to experiment more with colored gels and background lighting—not necessarily for dramatic flair, but to create a completer and more intentional image.

What I admire most about McNally’s technique is that he doesn’t just use lighting to fix a scene; he uses it to construct one. This whole book has reminded me that photography is as much about engineering as it is about having a vision. Moving forward, I want to adopt that mindset in my own work, even if I’m just using a single flash and a reflector. The scale might be smaller, but the intent can still be just as powerful.