How to Re-Light an Image with Nano Banana Pro

Need to change the lighting in an image after you’ve shot it? Nano Banana Pro is surprisingly good at it. We’re talking about results that are on par with a high-end retoucher, but accessible on your devices 24/7.

The best part? If you’re already using Nano Banana, you don’t need another subscription. You just need to know how to talk to it.

But here’s the secret: getting the best results isn’t about some fancy “secret prompt.” It’s about understanding photography basics.

LightingDiagram.com is a great tool to visualize lighting if you need a refresher

Step 1: Reverse Engineer The Lighting Setup

Work backwards. Decide exactly what lighting setup would create the look you want, and then describe that setup.

Where is the light coming from? (Left, right, behind?)
What kind of light is it? (Key light, fill light, rim light?)
What is the quality? (Hard, soft, diffused?)
What is the color? (Warm sunset, cool blue, stylized purple?)

Step 2: Prompt Nano Banana Like A Photographer

Nano Banana Pro understands photographic terminology. So when you prompt it, describe the light just like you would to someone on a real set.

Here’s a few examples from my recent experiments to show you how specific you need to be – I used Higgsfield, but the same prompts will work in the Gemini app or anything else with Nano Banana Pro support.

Image via Aviator Nation

Example A: The Stylized Fill

In this shot, I wanted to introduce a strong, stylized color as a test of how the model would handle non-standard lighting. Note that I didn’t just ask for “purple light.” I specified the role of the light.

The Prompt:

“Add a fill light to the scene. Fill light is placed on the left side of the frame, purple #ee00ff, very strong”

The Result: You get that deep, moody violet wash hitting the side of the car and the models, but it respects the shadows.

Example B: The Rim Light (Golden Hour)

You shot it at noon, but you want it to feel like 7:00 PM (the holy grail for a lot of outdoor lifestyle photography).

The Prompt:

“Relight this image so it’s sunset, with the sun rays as rim light”

The Result: Notice how the model understands “rim light.” It catches the edges of the hair and the shoulders, separating them from the background. This isn’t a filter – it’s actually re-calculating how light hits the geometry of the subjects.

Example C: The Backlight

Sometimes you need drama. Bring out the purple back light!

The Prompt:

“Add a back light to the scene. Back light is placed behind the car, purple #ee00ff, medium strength”

The Result: This creates a silhouette effect and adds depth behind the Porsche, making the subjects pop forward.

Step 3: Iterate and Refine

You aren’t going to bat a thousand every time. And that’s okay.

Re-roll is your friend: If the light looks “fake” or the shadows fall in the wrong direction, just hit generate again.
Work in 4K: I strongly recommend working with the highest resolution images possible. When you upload a 4K image, you are giving the model more pixels as context. More context equals better understanding of the scene’s geometry, which leads to more realistic lighting fall-off.

Notes for Pros

Is this going to replace a $50,000 lighting package and a master photographer on a commercial set? Not yet. The results may not always be 100% technically physics-accurate.

But for social content, mood boards, concept art, or saving a shot where the natural light just went flat? It is absolutely incredible. And it’s certainly better – and cheaper – than re-shooting.