I will be taking prom pictures again this year for some high school students. Typically this happens in the evening so the lighting to me is difficult to work with.

I did a shoot with some kids last year and their pictures turned out pretty well. Wondering what I could do or get for my camera that helps with the quality of the pictures.

I am relatively new to taking pictures. I have a Canon Rebel T5. I will be working against the clock again this year to preserve that valuable lighting.

How can I extend my picture taking time. Do I need a speedlight? a diffuser? should I be using flash? when I did it turned out too bright. any advice would be greatly appreciated.  ![The lighting was hard to work with on this picture, turned out dark and had trouble editing][1][![This picture turned out decent in my opinion in terms of lighting][2]][2]


  [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/gpWdd.jpg
  [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/d4GJS.jpg