4-11, Night Portraits

There are four units in my New York Institute of Photography Intensive Portraiture course.  I'm at the tail-end of Unit 3 having already completed the unit's quizzes and final test.  Now, I'm working on the lengthy photo projects that accompany this unit.  One required photo submission is for a night portrait.  I'm thinking the neighbors were probably wondering what we were doing on our back porch last night if they saw the continuous flashes of my softbox.  How does a child who has had a day of play (here, there and everywhere) repay his parent for all the chauffeuring required to make it all happen?  You got it:  help mom with her homework!  And to my benefit, I think he was too tired to fight me on it.  LOL.....  I had it all set up for his return:  my camera with attached 24-70mm lens, a Nikon SB900 Speedlight with an Impact 24"x24" Quikbox (softbox) to the right of the camera, and a reflector to the right of my son opposite the softbox.  For those of you into the further technicalities, my ISO was at 800 with an aperture of f/5.0 and shutter speed of 1/100 sec.  Good to go, right?  Wrong!  Do you know what a camera needs to be able to autofocus?  You got it, light. What did I not have out there in the dark?  Light!  So, using my husband's flashlight app on his phone, he was able to give me enough light to autofocus my camera.  Once he turned the flashlight off, I then pressed the shutter release button to take the picture (I use the back-button focus on my camera, so the focus is not linked to the shutter release button).  Funny thing here, I guess my SB900 speed light  does have a modeling light.  Who knew?!  I will need to research this function on my speed light more and give it a try for the next time I happen to be taking pictures in the dark.  I always find it rewarding when I learn something new about my equipment!  Anyway, here is the resulting image from last night's mini-night session.  From the shirt on his back to the look in his eyes, I think this image may be the most authentic one I've ever taken of him.  I'm grateful for this assignment, for without it I wouldn't have this photo.