How to Get Good Selfie Lighting at Night (No Ring Light)

7 min read · Glowmaxx

To get good selfie lighting at night, put one soft light in front of your face at about eye level and turn off the ceiling light. A lamp with a white shade, your laptop screen on a blank white page, or a second phone's flashlight bounced off white paper all work. Hold the phone still, let it use night mode, and fix the orange tint with a daylight-style bulb or a quick white balance tweak.

That's the whole trick: one light, in front, soft, and no overhead glare fighting it.

If your night selfies keep coming out grainy, orange or shadowy and you can't tell which part to fix first, Glowmaxx scores your light-and-fit lever every day and gives you three moves aimed at your weakest one. Start my glow-up

Why night selfies look grainy and orange

Two things go wrong after dark, and they're easy to mix up.

Grain. Your phone camera needs light to make a clean picture. When there isn't much, it boosts the signal, and that boost shows up as speckly noise, smeared skin and soft edges. That's the "selfie bad lighting" look everyone recognizes.

Orange. Most home bulbs are warm. Your eyes adjust to that color so the room looks normal to you, but the camera doesn't always adjust the same way. So your skin comes out orange, yellow or muddy. (We go deeper on this in why you look orange on camera.)

A third problem stacks on top: the only light at night is usually the ceiling fixture. Light from straight above drops shadows into your eye sockets and under your nose and chin. If you've ever wondered why you look tired in bathroom photos, overhead lighting is why.

The fix for all three is the same: give the camera more light, from the front, in a whiter color.

Use a lamp as your window

During the day, the best selfie light is a window in front of you. At night, you're going to build a fake one. This is the answer to "how do I replicate natural light inside an apartment at night time?"

Lamp lighting for selfies, step by step

1. Turn off the ceiling light. Yes, really. It fights your main light and adds those under-eye shadows.
2. Pick your biggest lamp with a light-colored shade. A bigger, fabric-covered light is softer than a bare bulb.
3. Put it in front of you, a little to one side, about an arm's length or two away.
4. Raise it to about eye level or slightly above. Stack books under a desk lamp if you need to.
5. Face the lamp, then turn your head slightly until both eyes catch a little shine.

If the lamp has a bare bulb, drape a thin white T-shirt or a sheet of baking paper near it (not touching the bulb, and never leave it unattended) to soften it. A white lampshade does the same job more safely.

Best bulb for selfies at night

If you can choose, a "daylight" or "cool white" bulb looks closer to window light than a "warm white" one. The box usually lists this. It's one of the cheapest selfie lighting ideas there is.

Laptop or TV screen as a soft light

Your laptop is a big, flat, soft light that most people never think to use.

• Open a blank white page (a new document or a white web page) and turn the brightness all the way up.
• Sit so the screen is in front of your face, around 1-2 feet away.
• Tilt the screen so it points at your face, not your chest.
• Take the selfie with your phone held just above the laptop.

A TV works the same way from farther back: put a white image full screen and stand facing it.

Watch out: if you wear glasses, a screen in front of you shows up as a bright rectangle in the lenses. Raise the screen and tilt your frames down a touch. Our guide to avoiding glasses glare in photos has the full fix.

Bounce light with white paper

This is the DIY selfie light photographers quietly use all the time. Hard light (like a phone flashlight) looks harsh when it hits your face directly. Bounce it off something white and it spreads out and softens.

The second-phone bounce

1. Borrow a second phone, or use a friend's.
2. Turn on its flashlight.
3. Point the flashlight at a sheet of white printer paper, a white poster board or a white wall, not at you.
4. Angle the paper so the reflected light lands on your face.
5. Take your selfie with your own phone.

Paper as a fill light

Already have a lamp on one side? Hold white paper (or rest a white folder in your lap) on the other side, just out of the frame. It bounces some lamp light back into the shadow side of your face. That's a free "fill light."

Night mode and holding still

Night mode helps, but only if you give it a chance.

• Let it finish. Night mode takes a short exposure over a second or more. Moving during it causes blur.
• Brace the phone. Rest your elbows on a table, lean the phone on books, or use a cheap tripod and the self-timer.
• Tap on your face before you shoot so the camera sets brightness for your skin, not the lamp.
• Clean the lens. A fingerprint smear adds haze that looks like bad lighting.

Night mode is best as a helper, not a replacement. It can't fix light coming from the wrong direction.

Mirror selfie lighting at night

For a mirror selfie, the light needs to hit you, not the mirror. Stand facing the mirror with your lamp behind the phone side, pointing at your body. Keep bright lights out of the mirror's reflection or they'll blow out the shot.

Gym selfie lighting

Gyms are mostly overhead lights. Step toward a wall of windows if there is one, or stand where a light is in front of you rather than directly above. Tilt your chin slightly down and toward the brightest light in the room.

Most people can't tell whether last night's selfie was worse because of the light, the angle or just a tired face. Glowmaxx scores one selfie a day on five levers, including light and fit, with a one-line note on each, so you see which one dropped instead of guessing. Start my glow-up

Color: fix the orange cast

Once your light is in the right place, fix the color.

With your light

• Swap to a daylight bulb in your selfie lamp.
• Use the laptop screen, which is usually cooler than home bulbs.
• Don't mix colors: a warm lamp plus a cool screen can make one side of your face orange and the other blue. Pick one.

In your camera

• Some phone cameras and free editing apps let you adjust white balance or warmth. Nudge it cooler until white things in the shot look white.
• If your camera app has a "Pro" mode, look for a WB setting and try the incandescent or tungsten option under warm bulbs.

Quick night selfie checklist

• Ceiling light off
• One soft light in front, around eye level
• White paper on the shadow side
• Phone braced, face tapped for focus
• Warmth nudged down if skin looks orange

Get your night selfie score in the next minute

You now know how to get good selfie lighting at night without buying anything. The next step is seeing whether it worked. Take one selfie with your new setup and Glowmaxx will score it on skin, hair, grooming, posture and angle, and light and fit, then give you three moves for today aimed at the lowest lever. It runs in your browser, so there's nothing to install.

Start my glow-up

FAQ

How do I get good lighting for selfies at night without a ring light?

Turn off the ceiling light and use one soft light in front of you: a lamp with a white shade, your laptop on a blank white page, or a phone flashlight bounced off white paper. Keep it at about eye level. That covers most of what a ring light would do.

Why are my night selfies so grainy?

There isn't enough light, so the camera boosts the image and adds noise. Add more light in front of your face, hold the phone still, and let night mode finish before you move.

What is the best light for selfies at night?

A large, soft light in front of you, in a neutral or cool white color. A lamp with a daylight bulb and a fabric shade is a great cheap option, and a laptop screen on a white page works well for close-ups.

How do I fix bad mirror selfie lighting at night?

Point your light at yourself, not at the mirror, and keep bright bulbs out of the reflection. Stand so the light comes from the front and slightly to the side of your body.

Why do my selfies look orange at night?

Most home bulbs are warm, and the camera doesn't always correct for it. Switch to a daylight bulb, use your laptop screen as the light, or cool down the warmth setting in your camera or editing app.