Taking Amazing Photos with No Natural Light

If we could have the perfect lighting for all our client photos that would be a huge lifesaver. As much as we love Fall and Winter, they are gloomier than we would like. But it's okay, your Instagram feed does not have to suffer until spring! Here are some tips and tricks for making the most of the dark season and still managing to take great photos.

Natural Light is your BFF.

Natural light is scarce these months but trust us there are areas in your space with natural light. Go towards the light - We usually find ourselves shifting our entire work station to take advantage of the lighting. The windows will become your best friend.

No sunlight? No problem!

Not all of us have a window that lets in sunlight so sometimes natural light needs a little help. We bring our NEEWER Ring Light everywhere we go, and it's a GAME CHANGER. This lighting device helps to make sure you don’t get any long-tailed shadows, especially on a gloomy day.

Tip: The closer you place the light over your product when taking a flat lay photo the shorter the shadow tails will be. As well, to avoid a light reflection, be sure to have a non-reflective background or flat lay area.

If you have a DSLR, shoot in raw.

Shooting in RAW will allow you to salvage more of your photos, whereas shooting in .JPEG will compress your pictures and leave out a lot the data. Without getting too technical here, it means that you’re able to do a lot more to the photo in post-editing to save exposure and shadows.

Editing is your friend.

Gone are the days that you just slap on a filter! Editing is huge and can really amp up your insta-game. The style of editing you choose defines your brand… the look the feel, the whole shabang. If you want to add a finishing touch to make sure your photos stay true to your theme, filters and presets can help bring in unique colouring to your photos, but remember that editing is still super important. You do not need to be a pro at using Photoshop or Lightroom, but just learning basic settings in VSCO Cam, Snapseed, or any photo editing app on your phone can be game-changing.

Tip: Photos are turning out dark? No problem - bump up the exposure, temperature and shadows to soften it and make it look less cold and dark. Sometimes you will see tints of blue in your photo because of the cooler temperature. You can bump up the temperature towards the warm side to give the photo some life. Also try to play around with the colours, saturation, contrast, etc. to get it how you really want it.

Batch your photos.

Check the weather report and take advantage of the sunny days. Get yourself some natural light and set aside a couple of hours and shoot as many photos as you can. Batching your photos can help keep a consistent look on your Instagram feed and not to mention when shooting in the same light and conditions make your editing work a lot easier.

How do you combat dark photos?