Re-Light with Strobe, Before & After

We took the "Stranger Portrait" and then re-lit with strobes.

In the first assignment asked everyone to make a dynamic portrait of a stranger using beautiful available light. Now, they were to recreate that portrait with strobes as the light source. Use the same model and location, aiming to match the original shot. It’s a difficult task, but an invaluable lesson in the value of a goal when using strobe lights.

The original ‘available light’ photo is backlit by the sun from a large window source and there’s a practical lamp with a warm bulb hitting the subject camera right. For my re-creation, I placed a strobe with a translucent umbrella behind my subject to mimic the daylight, effectively sending light everywhere. I then took another strobe with two orange gels and placed it where the lamp was, firing it on the subject with no modifier. - Andrew Fleming

My subject, Hannah, believes in the stoner myth about white lighters and death (I don't really know it). I had Hannah wear my jacket and I put her in positions I would put myself in which seemed to help in how I directed her. I had my strobe on the patio facing the orange siding with a small octagonal soft box. For the last two photos, I angled the strobe enough to get some flair from the glass, creating a smokey look. - Erin Kennedy

The available light in the first shot is hard sunlight towards sunset through a bathroom window (and part of the effect is in the edit as well). - Matt Coughlin

My original model wasn't open to shooting again for the "Flash Assignment", so I reached out to Kat Bingham, a local dancer who I use for test shoots often. - Larry Felton

This is Kevin Stockdale, who has been the general manager of college radio station KUCI since 1989. The first is the one I decided was my favorite after going through them a second time. - Miguel Vasconcellos

This woman is super interesting; working as a doctor on a reservation and she has adopted kids, different siblings. When her husband learned that he had cancer and he decided to paint 50 pieces before he passed. So, I had this idea to photographer her nude surrounding by the paintings of her husband. - Marie Feutrier