A multi-flash photography system provides a dynamically-configurable lighting environment for a single exposure that is created and shaped through the sequentially firing of various light sources with different lighting characteristics controlled in accordance with both a programmed template specifying the flash type, position, firing order, and output intensity, as well as optical processing requirements such as filtering, polarizing, etc., and a shared photometric detector located sufficiently close to the subject being photographed to ensure that the light seen by the detector is substantially the same as the light received at the subject.