How Often Do You Try to Recreate Photos?

The wonderful thing about the internet is how incredibly easy it is to instantly access a veritable plethora of masterful photographs to inspire you. But do you ever attempt to recreate those photos yourself? This great video shows the challenges and benefits of trying to recreate other people's photos.

Coming to you from Logan Baker with Shutterstock Tutorials, this great video shows the process of recreating several photos he admired. You might wonder why you'd want to recreate someone else's images, especially since you're unlikely to be able to use them for anything except your own growth. But that growth is exactly the point. Perhaps the most obvious benefit is that it refines your technique by encouraging you to be extra precise with your lighting so you can exactly emulate the target photo. But to do that, you have to be able to read the image: the lighting, the posing, etc. This is an important skill, as it'll translate to a better ability to previsualize your own photos. Lastly, in the process of recreating difficult photos, you'll likely discover some new creative avenues to make the images your own. Check out the video above for Baker's process. 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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6 Comments

Never.

I do this all the time. It's a great way to not only make you deconstruct an image, but also make you put it back together (especially on no/limited budget). Here's an example of an image I shot https://fstoppers.com/photo/383668 after seeing the shoot here: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/photography/a14821310/kendall-jenn...

Sometimes, but I mostly have been trying to re-create paintings as a study in artificial lighting. It seems odd since paintings are an imperfect representation, but it's more of an effort to understand how they used light to create certain atmospheres and moods and to see if I can re-create it to some degree in photography.

I've similarly been working on a project based on Victorian era paintings of fairies. Besides lighting, paintings of old were of course not photographically based, so there is no depth of field. Everything is in "focus", and different techniques are used to depict depth.

As a consequence, all my background plates are image stacks with everything in focus. This has added to the overall complexity of this project, which has turned out much bigger overall than I anticipated LOL!

Not even once but maybe one day.

I don't try to recreate photos, but I do use images inspiration to put my own spin on something.