Race for the gold: High Key Lighting Challenge
Written by: Profoto
The Race for the gold continues and the High Key Lighting Challenge delivered bright, clean, and thoughtfully crafted images from creatives around the world. High key lighting may appear simple, but achieving soft contrast, even illumination, and controlled highlights requires intention and precision.
The challenge marks the second step in the Race for the Gold — a six-month series where each entry brings you closer to the Golden Pro-11 and ProHead Plus. Photographers submitted high key images shaped with Profoto lights and light shaping tools for a chance to win $2,000 USD and a global feature on Share the Light.
Watch the reveal
See who claimed the second win in the Race for the gold, and hear directly from the judges about what made this high key image stand out.
Meet the Jury
Every challenge in the Race for the Gold is reviewed by a panel of photographers who know light inside and out. For the High Key Lighting Challenge, hundreds of images were evaluated by Roberto Valenzuela, Ahmad Barber and Donté Maurice of AB+DM, and Yu Tsai — acclaimed creatives celebrated for their mastery of light, storytelling, and style across portrait, wedding, and fashion imagery.
Together, they selected the image that claims the second win in the Race for the gold.
See high key at its best
Discover the bright, airy images that defined this month’s challenge here — then watch the reveal to find out who claimed the second win in the Race for the gold.
And the winner is…
The top five finalists selected by the jury are
Johnson Wee, Mi Wang, Zarita Zevallos, Chris Stark, and Arielle Lewis
Up next: Soft Light Challenge
The third challenge in the Race for the gold begins December 1 — your next chance to light, learn, and move closer to the gold.
Next month’s winner will receive $2,000 USD in Profoto gear, and our partner Sigma will award Meg Loeks’ favorite lens — the Sigma 50mm F1.4 DG DN.
Photo: Meg Loeks