12 Ways to Make the Most of Lighting For Your Photos

There are many, many hacks that you can do with lighting to deliver a better image without spending hundreds of dollars to change the shape of the lighting. It has to do with thinking smarter about the light and knowing how RAW files work in post-production. Even if you’re not working with a flash, there are ways to make natural and ambient light help your subject look more attractive to most pairs of eyes.

Here are a number of ways without breaking the bank at all.

Use Shadows When Outside to Have Better Control Over Your Exposures

Use the Wide Angle Diffuser on Your Flash To Make the Light Look Softer

Bounce a Flash at a Window To Augment the Natural Lighting

Place a Flash by a Warm Light Source to Overpower it and Normalize the Colors

Backlight a Subject and Expose For Their Face to Give Them a Beautiful Glow

Use Reflected Lighting From a Building to Fill in Shadows

Aim a Flash at a Surface Above and Behind You to Illuminate the Front of a Person Vs Using a Light Modifier

Underexpose a Subject With Lots of Bright Light on Them to Get the Details Back

Meter the Ambient Light Then Add Flash Light Output to Make a Scene Look More Natural

For Landscapes, Expose for the Highlights. Shadows Can Always be Pushed

Pro Tip: Some of the best times to shoot landscapes are during the Golden Hour and the Blue Hour. Don't start packing up until you need to crank your ISOs up. — Pro Tip: Some of the best times to shoot landscapes are during the Golden Hour and the Blue Hour. Don’t start packing up until you need to crank your ISOs up.

Bounce Light off of Silver Surfaces For Extra Punchy Light

Light a Macro Photo With a Flash and a White Panel Right Above the Subject For Softer Light

Pro Tip: Rather than boosting your ISO levels, use a diffused flash to get the image that you want. And also remember that at the macro ranges very little will be in focus the closer you get to your subject.