Speedliter’s Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites

I’m a Nikon guy. I use Nikon cameras and Nikon flashes.

So, when I go looking for information and inspiration to learn new off-camera lighting techniques, I turn to the guru of lighting, Joe McNally. I’ve mentioned his book, The Hot Shoe Diaries a couple of times here on the blog. It’s an awesome reference, but it’s limited in one major way. It’s Nikon only.

Fortunately, there’s a brand new book out for you Canon shooters. It’s called Speedliter’s Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites. It’s basically the Canon equivalent to The Hot Shoe Diaries and it looks to be the long awaited Canon flash bible that the other team has been waiting for.

Written by accomplished photographer and workshop instructor Syl Arena, this book is an awesome in-depth manual that shows you how to get the most out of your Canon Speedlites.

He explores it all, starting with how to navigate and use the functions, menus and buttons on the specific units, and then goes into overall lighting and flash basics, how to balance flash fill with ambient light, how and when to use E-TTL vs. manual, how to balance color and how to create dramatic effects whether you’re using one flash or multiple off-camera flashes.

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The book also covers studio lighting, location lighting, how to use gobos, scrims, snoots and diffusers, how to combine the light from multiple Speedlites, and how to control slaves from your master flash or camera. Basically all the stuff you’ll want to know in order to take your Canon flash photography to the next level, expand your creativity and begin your new lighting journey.

With over 400 pages and over 500 photo illustrations, its book is packed with a tremendous amount of detailed information. And even though it’s only been out for a week, it’s already received tremendous reviews from those who have read it.

In the past, you had to cobble this info from a wide variety of sources. No more. If you’re a Canon shooter, then is absolutely a must-have reference. If I were a Canon guy, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.