#Everyone’s an influencer now with ring lights and street photoshoots

On the evening of Sept. 24, there was a full-blown photo shoot going on in the middle of Times Square — with models draping themselves over the asphalt, squatting for a group pic and striking poses on the crosswalk in coordinated outfits — while a photographer snapped away.

The Vogue-worthy setup was the handiwork of Nikki Huber and her group of five friends, who were visiting the city from LA and taking some next-level tourist shots for Instagram.

“We were dodging cars left and right,“ the 24-year-old told The Post. “It was totally worth it for the pic.”

No longer satisfied with a sloppy selfie at a cool locale, non-famous folks are going all out with professional-style lighting, tripods and a “production” crew for even the simplest shots. Portable ring lights, which project a halo-like glow on the user’s face, are hotter than ever. “Selfie ring lights” have more than 2,000 listings on Amazon — where a light that clips onto your phone costs as little as $9 — and Google searches for the term have doubled when compared to this time last year. Also popular are phone-mounting tripods, which have replaced the dorky selfie sticks of yore (that would be 2014), and give a professional air to pics and videos.

Huber, for one, said that she and her group carefully planned every element of their street shoot. “Me and my friend directed the whole scene and took turns taking pictures,” she said. “We came to the conclusion that clothes that were simple and stylish would make us stand out against the bright, neon background.”

They also lucked out with a quiet set; the pandemic has rendered once-packed scenic spots emptier than usual, with more space for wannabe models to play.

“We were able to take such amazing photos without all that hoopla in the background,” said Huber, a recent film-school graduate, of the Midtown scene. She also used a few tricks of the trade she says anyone can learn. “We made sure the buildings and lights in the background framed our foreground,” she said, noting she strategically positioned her friends to block pedestrians in the background.

Some take it a step further, hiring professional photographers to capture them in their element. Allison Daugila, a self-described “Zoom yoga instructor” with about 2,500 followers on Instagram, hired photographer Dru Sutton to take some yoga action shots in Dumbo with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. He brought along an assistant to help with lighting.

Others simply enlist significant others — romantic or otherwise — to set the mood.

For her vacation pics taken in Times Square last month, Sara Bretz, 18, of Naples, Fla., used a Canon Rebel T3i digital camera and tapped her best friend for the role of creative director. She made sure to carry a hairbrush to tame flyaways and took her nonchalant pose cues and ’90s-style outfit inspiration from Gen Z fashionistas such as Emma Chamberlain, who has 10.7 million followers on Instagram and regularly earns more than a million “likes” for her moody pics.

“I’m not an influencer but I’d love to be one,” Bretz, a high school senior, said.

Huber also used a point-and-shoot camera, in her case an $80 Polaroid, so her shots would have an “authentic” grainy look that she could then photograph with her smartphone and post online. (For a disposable camera effect, she also recommends apps such as Huji.)

Such shots harken back to a simpler era when pictures functioned as keepsakes rather than products for public consumption.

“Taking pictures is still partially for the memories, like it was back then,” said Huber. Only now, “your Instagram or Twitter handle shows people who you are.”