The vast, open, and historic New Mexico landscape is our classroom as we explore every aspect of photography you can imagine! A wild herd of Bison, Cowboys, and old-time reenactors, mountain valleys full of fall color, New Mexico sunrises and sunsets, daily classroom presentations, great fellowship, and a ton of fun. This is just part of your experience at this workshop at the world-famous Philmont Scout Ranch. We’d love to have you join us! The link is in the middle of the register page in the month of October with the dates of the event 09-15 October, 2022. This is our second annual event at The Ranch and is almost filled. I look forward to sharing with you and your camera this magical locale! Want a sample, the video below tells the whole story.

Keep It Simple Stupid! I’ve said that a lot to folks and quite often, to myself so when I discover that I’ve shot myself in the foot by not following this, well it’s normally not pretty! I needed to get some product shots done, I was behind and I like to do them when I first get gear while it still looks new. It’s a personal thing, but I like to make my product shots shine and look better than the last time I took them. Like in the past, I pulled out the Profoto B10s, and 3′ Octa. Then, as I was unzipping the Think Tank roller that holds my B10 kit, I thought I might need more light as I was going to photograph a bigger product and would like more DoF. So I went to the gear locker and pulled out the B1 kit Think Tank roller.

The B10 set up is normally a 3 light affair. I set up the main light first, dial it in and then add the fill light dialing it in and then the background light. It normally takes some time and when I change subjects, I often has to retune the light positions. It works but I’m never 100% satisfied with the results. And too often, I have to do tweaking in post to get something I will hang my hat on. Well, I set up the B1 with the 5′ Octa and took my first click and when the image popped on the LCD, well let’s just say Sharon ran into the studio thinking something really bad had happened. My exclamation was because I realized my being lazy and using the smaller lights all these years was making more work for me, not less. The B1 and 5′ Octa did all the lighting, bam! Talk about KISS. And there was nothing to do in post but file images.

The answer was right in front of me for over ten years in my quest to a clean, simple lighting system for my product shots and it never clicked. I know all to well the power of a giant light compared to a small subject. The wrap around effect is so easy to use, limit where need be while sucking up all the rest of that luscious light. The moral? There’s now a big message on my desk that I cannot miss. KISS! While looking for solutions in photography, KISS not only works, often saves time and money. I’m just glad it didn’t take another ten years to find this simple solution.