One of my favorite all time best seminars I personally experienced, first hand, like watching a master of masters in action, was way back when I organized a speaking gig with Al Gilbert.
Al did a live demo on how he shoots, poses, lights and controls a session.
He somehow he had contacted our city mayor to come out on a Sunday so he could demo his portrait strategies, on location, at our city hall.
It was amazing. All I can say. Amazing.
Al knew his stuff. His confidence, assuredness and the way he communicated to us and the subject at hand, was and is to this day one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.
One lighting strategy that Al used is called “subtractive lighting”, where he strategically placed light blockers to prevent certain ambient lighting from polluting the subject.
His exposure was such that the flash and the ambient all played a key role in the final image, which was stunning. But the light needed to be controlled. And control it he did.
This reminded me of Fuzzy Duenkel’s lighting strategies. Fuzzy is primarily a senior portrait artist and in my oh so humble yet accurate opinion the very best there is today.
Why? Well, first off, the results speak for themselves. And lighting control plays a huge part in all of this. Al, and Fuzzy are both masters of controlling light for a certain look and outcome.
You can see it in their work. I can spot it when it’s missing. I can see lack of lighting control a mile away.
Sadly, it’s pervasive in todays day and age of “everyone is a photographer.”
I never met Fuzzy, not in person anywho. But I did rope him in a few years ago to run a four part series online.
Even though I had the fortune of hosting and working with Al Gilbert 18 years ago, and he remains to this day my all time favorite event, I can honestly say my favorite ONLINE event, bar none, was the “Transcend the ordinary” with Fuzzy Duenkel.
Check it out:
Lighting is everything. Learn to see, control and master it.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
Leave a Reply