Background Reading

There is a range of subjects and scenarios discussed in the book, and I like the fact that Joe McNally talks about difficulties and mistakes that he has made. This is not something that professional photographers do as a general rule!
The book includes several simple lighting set-ups that can be replicated without resorting to expensive strobes and the accompanying accessories.
What this book has really helped me to do is pre-visualise how I want my final image to appear, and light it accordingly. I've also learned about 'reverse engineering' to learn techniques from the way that other photographers have used available light.
Thanks to this book, I am getting better at softening the light and shadows from my flashgun so it is not obvious that flash was used.

For anyone new to wedding photography (like me!), this book gives lots of ideas on posing. It takes a range of factors into consideration such as the lighting, the setting, the relative sizes of the bride and groom, group sizes etc.

It's not specifically aimed at inexperienced photographers, so there are literally hundreds of ideas for the seasoned pro as well. I expect to get several years service out of this book. The range and quality of photography is impressive, with many well known wedding photographers included.
The book is relatively small in size so that it can easily fit into a kit bag. I don't know of any other publishers who have thought of this and I think it's a brilliant idea!
I pre-ordered this book at Focus on Imaging 2010 and was not disappointed. There is another book in the series on wedding photojournalism which is due out in July - I'm looking forward to that too.