6 Go-To Lighting Setups Portrait Photographers Swear By

Vanessa Joy is a wedding photographer and educator helping photographers grow profitable businesses.

Lighting isn’t just about making a photo bright enough - it’s about shaping mood, telling a story, and adding depth to your images. Whether you’re working with natural light, flash, or continuous lighting, knowing how to use light creatively can transform your photos. In this post, I’ll walk you through some of my favorite lighting setups and techniques that you can replicate on your next shoot.

Who this is for

This guide is for photographers who want to take their lighting skills beyond the basics. The common problem: flat or uninspired lighting that doesn’t match the story you’re trying to tell. The solution: practical setups and techniques you can recreate with flash, gels, and continuous light to add drama, mood, and creativity.

Creating Rain with Light

You don’t always have to wait for a storm to capture rainy-day vibes. For one shoot, I used a simple garden hose to mimic rain in the front yard. Shooting later in the day let the backlight catch the raindrops, making them sparkle beautifully.

To add depth, I introduced colored gels (blue, pink, and purple) on a flash, which paired perfectly with Juliana’s bright blue eyes. For crisp detail, I shot at f/5 instead of f/1.8 with the Canon R6 Mark II and a Profoto A10, ensuring every droplet was sharp and dramatic.

Turning Day into Night

Want to make a sunny scene look like it was shot at night? Try this:

• Lower your white balance to add a cool, blue tone.

• Underexpose the background so it appears darker.

• Use flash with CTO gels to warm your subject while keeping the environment moody.

This simple setup is a game-changer for outdoor shoots, giving you cinematic nighttime vibes without waiting for sunset.

Boss Babe Branding Session

For a branding shoot with a dynamic entrepreneur, I wanted to match her energy with bold, eye-catching images.

• Indoors: We showcased her salon to highlight her personality and brand.

• Outdoors: Shooting with her sleek Audi at sunset, I used a Profoto A2 with a magnetic click Octa softbox to balance natural light and add warmth inside the car.

The results? Vibrant branding images that reflected her power, confidence, and style.

Hollywood Vibes with Victoria

Nothing says classic glamour like old-school Hollywood lighting. Using the Profoto Fresnel modifier on the A2 and A10, I created a sharp, directional beam of light that sculpted Victoria beautifully.

We shot in black and white to enhance the vintage look, combining precise posing with controlled lighting for timeless portraits straight out of a Hollywood studio.

Continuous Light vs. Flash

Still debating between continuous light and flash? Here’s the breakdown:

• Continuous Light: Perfect for seeing your setup in real time. However, it has less power, making it tricky outdoors.

• Flash: More powerful and flexible, letting you shape exposure even in bright sunlight.

For a creative session, I used the Rotolight AOS2 kit, which has over 16 million color options. Combining flash and continuous light opens the door to endless creative effects and moods.

Final Thoughts

Lighting is one of the most powerful tools in photography. By experimenting with gels, modifiers, and creative setups, you can turn ordinary scenes into extraordinary works of art. Whether you’re faking rain, creating a nighttime illusion, or going full Hollywood, the key is to experiment, adapt, and have fun with your light.