The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets From One of the World's Top Shooters

The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally

    Published by
New Riders
New Riders is an imprint of Peachpit, a division of Pearson Education

    Copyright ©2008 by Kelby Corporate Management, Inc.
     
    All photography © Joe McNally unless otherwise indicated.

    FIRST EDITION: January 2008

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

    Composed in Avenir, J.D., and Solex by Kelby Media Group

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    Warning and Disclaimer

    This book is designed to provide information about photography. Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied.
     
    The information is provided on an as-is basis. The author and Peachpit shall have neither the liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.

    ISBN 13: 978-0-321-54408-7
ISBN 10: 0-321-54408-0

    9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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    The Moment It Clicks

Book Team

EDITOR
Scott Kelby

PROJECT EDITOR
Cindy Snyder

CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Felix Nelson

TRAFFIC DIRECTOR
Kim Gabriel

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Dave Damstra

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Jessica Maldonado

PROOFREADER
Jennifer Concepcion

COVER PHOTOS BY
Joe McNally
Anne Cahill

CHAPTER INTRO PHOTOS AND GRAPHIC ELEMENTS COURTESY OF:
Brad Moore
Josh Bradley
Christopher Morris
Pointe magazine
Dave Gales
Andrea Rascaglia
iStockphoto.com

For Annie, whose faith, friendship, and love make everything possible.

    For Caitlin and Claire, whose love and patience for a photographer dad has been nothing short of astonishing.

Foreword by Scott Kelby

     

    The Moment It Clicks was born during a digital photography workshop up in Vermont. We were up there shooting fall color, and it was the opening night of the workshop (I was there as a guest instructor, along with my best buddy Dave Moser), and after the other instructors had given their presentations (including legendary wildlife photographer Moose Peterson, and landscape photography hot shot Laurie Excell), Joe McNally took the stage to finish off the night with his presentation.

    So, Dave and I are sitting in the back, and McNally kicks into high gear. Joe is one of the most captivating public speakers you’ll ever meet, and the whole class is ooohing and ahhhhing each time a new image comes up, and he’s got us laughing out loud one moment, and in tears the next. But Joe’s not just showing off his work, he’s a brilliant teacher and he’s tossing out these incredible little nuggets—the tricks of the trade, the real “meat and potatoes” stuff—and we’re all hanging on every word (and scribbling notes as fast as we can write).

    Every time Joe starts a sentence with, “An editor at Time once told me…” or “My editor at
National Geographic
once said…” we all grab our pens because we know another nugget is coming our way. At one point, Joe is talking about lighting people on location, and he gets to that point where he says, “An editor once told me…” (I won’t spoil it for you here), and then he shared something so simple—it was just one sentence, but my buddy Dave and I both looked at each other and got these huge grins, because at that moment it clicked. At that moment, a concept I’d read entire books on just suddenly, and almost magically, all made so much sense. It all came together at once. It was “the moment it clicked.”

    When the class was over, Dave and I were just blown away. It was all we could talk about. At one