March Guest Speaker: Peter Gold
Our guest speaker for March was Peter Gold. He is an professional photographer who also works down at the Camera Store.
Peter started shooting weddings in the early 70's using nothing but natural light. His favourite shots usually involved window light. Peter remember building his first reflector from a large deli tray wrapped in aluminum foil. Improvising is key when you first start out. Peter then went on to show some of his other low cost lighting props such as a Home Depot flood light, and a small Lexan mirror.
Peter has been doing portraits for most of his career and has even photographed Ralph Klein a couple of times. One of his key tips on portrait photography is to have a point of interest for your subject to focus on. Peter uses a small yellow puppet that resembled Big Bird. This keeps the subjects eyes from wandering and usually puts a smile on their face. Peter recalls that Ralph Klein remembered "You’re the one with the bird!" at a later photo shoot.
Peter went on to give an quick lighting demonstration. Using the Home Depot flood light and one reflector he demonstrated how to get a nice 1:10 contrast ratio. His advice on reflectors was key to anyone who has never used them before.
"Because reflected light is absorbed differently, you want to move the reflector in until it looks like just a little too much light. That’s the sweet spot."
Peter’s website : http://www.goldphotography.
-- Ryan Pahl