I got this book for Kelly, but when I started flipping through it, looking at the pictures, and reading about them, I couldn’t put it down! Now, I certainly admit that I don’t know much about lighting, but I would have to say that McNally is a genius at it (and most of you know I don’t use that term often!). Of course, being married to a photographer, I know how they see things differently, and look for and notice things that I never do. But here light was presented to me in a whole new way.

Here is a quote from McNally on light, which is strikingly similar to a quote here about words I posted a few days ago…

I have always thought of light as language. I ascribe to light the same qualities and characteristics one could generally apply to the spoken or written word. Light has color and tone, range, emotion, inflection, and timbre. It can sharpen or soften a picture. It can change the meaning of a photo, or what that photo will mean to someone. Like language, when used effectively, it has the power to move people, viscerally and emotionally, and inform them…

It is not a technical manual on lighting by any means, but instead written in a way non-photographers and photographers alike can both understand and appreciate what he has done on some of these photos.

Definitely worth even if you are not a photographer but ever take pictures!