…light!
And I cannot over-emphasize that. It is all about the light.
Take this picture. It shows a wrinkled, tired, old-looking photographer:
Now take that same person and move his face into the light, so that the light comes from approximately 45 degrees up, right in front of him. Now we see a much better looking photographer:
The photographer (that would be me) took those yesterday, just a few seconds apart, with his iPhone. Here they are, side by side:
Keep this in mind when doing any sort of photography: yes, it is all about the light, and yes, it makes a huge difference to any photo. When using a flash, bounce behind you, so you get the left-hand photo rather than the right-hand one. I teach this in my flash courses, of course. But until you take a course, at least keep this in mind. Please!