I usually get together with some of my photographer friends to experiment with lighting techniques and try out new gear. Recently, my friend John stopped by the studio, and we decided to recreate a portrait of Dan Winters. In this video, I detail my process, including the lighting I used as well as my editing process.
After choosing Winters portrait David Fahey as our inspiration image, our first step was to duplicate the background texture in the original image. This is done pretty easily, and then we move on to the more challenging part of the process, which is duplicating the key and filling it with light. Since we weren’t sure how the original image was illuminated, we started experimenting with various modifiers with different diffusion patterns until we stabilized the bare flash in the reflector. Then we add sparkles and a flag to match the shadow on the right side of the camera. Once we were satisfied with the raw image, I imported it into Affinity Photo for editing and color grading until I felt that it was a good representation of the original image. I used multiple dodge/write layers, curve layers and some overlays created by Ivan Weiss to reproduce the texture and dramatic look of inspired images. Finally, I adjusted the color with HSL layers until it looked as close to Winter’s portrait as possible.
This is a fun and educational exercise that I highly recommend. Find an image that inspires you and recreate it! As always, we welcome feedback in the comments and I hope you enjoy the video.
