Mixing flash and candlelight sounds simple on paper… until you actually try it. When I attempted this for the first time years ago, I loved the idea but had no clue how to make the two light sources work together instead of fighting each other.

There’s something special about the autumn evenings. Imagine the cool air outside, the warmth inside, and that quiet moment when daylight slowly disappears. For years, I have wanted to capture that exact feeling in a photograph.

And then a few years ago, I actually tried it. I attempted a “moonlight + candlelight” setup and… it didn’t go as planned. I didn’t understand how to balance a flash with a candle, and the result was hours of adjusting, guessing, and hoping. Sometimes, the flash would blow everything out, and sometimes, the candle would disappear completely. The mood was there in my head, but not in the photo. I got it it finally, after two hours of hard work!

What inspired this photoshoot?

This year, with my new studio and autumn crawling in, I decided to revisit the idea. This time, I already understood what I learned all these years ago. I wanted to create a small still life featuring pumpkins and build the image around a clear contrast:

• cool, moon-like flash, and
• warm candle glow

Two opposite sources, but somehow working together.

Why mixing flash and candlelight is worth exploring

Photographers often think of flash as something harsh or “too artificial,” and candlelight as something unpredictable. When you put them together, it can look chaotic unless you understand how each one behaves.

Here’s what stood out to me while working on this image:

1. Flash and candlelight can work together — beautifully

Once you stop thinking of them as competing and start seeing them as two tools with different qualities, things get much easier. Flash gives you a light you can shape any way you like and candlelight gives you some warmth and atmosphere. And the balance is where you get this amazing mood.

One Simple Trick for Balancing Two Light Sources

Start by deciding which light is the main character and which one is the supporting role.

What Candlelight Actually Does in a Photo?

It creates tiny specular highlights, warms the shadows, not just the subject, and it adds interest

2. The nuances matter far more than the equipment

This setup did not include expensive gear. In reality, it’s the tiny adjustments that make the photo. For example:

• how far and how high the flash sits
• how the candlelight reflects on textured surfaces
• the shape of the shadows
• the depth created by highlights and falloff

The mood depends on these small choices much more than on any specific modifier.

What I paid attention to when mixing flash and candlelight

1. Shadow shape and direction

The flash was essentially my “moonlight,” so I observed how its shadows fell. Candlelight needed to complement that, not fight it.

2. The mix of warm vs. cool tones

This was the key to creating that “cozy autumn night” feeling.

If the flash got too strong → everything felt cold.

If the candles got too strong → everything turned orange.

3. How the two lights affected textures

Pumpkins, wood, fabr, etc. all react differently to warm and cool light. Balancing them gave depth and an interesting look instead of making the elements look flat.

4. Light falloff

Candlelight disappears quickly, but flash doesn’t. Finding that “meeting point” between the two is what finally made the image work beautifully.

Lighting setups are not recipes

This is something I remind my students all the time. Setups are useful for understanding principles, but copying one doesn’t guarantee a good image. What actually matters is knowing why a certain direction, intensity, and look of the light is used and then adapting it to your own style, your own subject, your own scene.

The moment the image came together

When I finally saw the mix of cool and warm on the back of my camera years ago, it immediately reminded me of those early autumn evenings: the contrast, the softness, the cozy mood. That was the first time I felt the image matched the feeling I wanted to capture.

And honestly, that’s my favorite part of photography: when technique and emotion meet in the same frame.

How to Know When the Mood Is Right?

• Ask yourself, “Does the light feel like the scene I imagined?”
• Look at the textures, do they feel right?
• Look at transitions from highlight → shadow, do they create the right mood?

Why I recorded “Behind The Frame: Autumn Lights”

People often ask how I approach mood in my photos, and this project felt like the perfect example to show it in real time.

I recorded the entire process of mixing flash and candlelight, which spans one full hour of shooting, adjusting, problem-solving, and explaining why each decision was made. You see my camera screen, the scene, the movement of lights, and how everything comes together.

It’s not a “copy this setup” video, but instead a deep dive into understanding and shaping light.

This is the first episode of my new Behind The Frame series — and if you’re curious about mixing flash with candlelight or you simply want to try something new this autumn, you can check it out here: