Inside the 2026 Core Studios Photography Challenge

Once a year the Core Studios team stops taking briefs and sets one for itself. This year's challenge: choose a reference portrait, then rebuild its lighting, mood and edit from scratch.

Teams worked in pairs, each claiming a curated set. They analysed the lighting, recreated it with whatever gear they had, and shot. Props were provided. The catch: the photographers had to be the subject.

The Kit

Three Aputure Amaran 300c. Two Amaran T4C LED tube lights. Speed lights, reflectors and gels. Nothing else.

Team Highlights

Ari & Jana - Fog & Light | Winners

The atmosphere did the work. Haze turned every beam into something you could see, and the pair shaped it into portraits with real depth and separation. The closest read of the reference and the most confident execution in the room.

Alex & Josh - Black & White, Hard Light & Shadows

No colour to hide behind. Alex and Josh went at contrast directly, hard sources, sharp falloff, shadow used as structure rather than absence. Stripped back and deliberate.

Renee & Gabe - Warm & Vintage

Warmth built properly. Gels and careful control of colour temperature shaped a soft, filmic look, and the edit carried it the rest of the way.

Production Team (Chelsie, Oriana & Charlotte) - Reflections

The production team stepped in front of the lights and used surfaces, glass and reflection to build frames within frames. The most experimental brief of the four, and the one that took the most problem-solving.

Why We Do It

Constraint is the point. Limited gear, a fixed reference, and your own team in front of the camera, that's where technique gets sharp and instinct gets tested.

See the full set on Instagram.

Collaboration. Experimentation. The bar is moving again.