I've been studying the lighting in photo mode and trying to figure out how to get the most realistic looks out of it. The biggest take away I keep getting from the game is that the system favors harsh and bright lighting over diffused lighting, and definitely over mid to dimmer lights, and may prefer whiteish sunlight over colorful lighting. The more directional the better, and the more that sources of lights are allowed to be luminous in quality against skin, the better. With all my photos I use Lightroom Classic to develop the pictures I take in the game. 

I've provided six different images to show what I'm seeing in my study, the first four edited individually for their specific lighting situation, and the last two are 1 and 4 but with the exact same edits as made with pictures 2 and 3 for comparison of what they look like with equal editing.

  
pictures 1 and 5 above were taken with diffused natural light provided by the game, no extra lighting at all. They are not bad at all, but what really gets me is that the details in the skin and scars don't stand out realistically. They look painted on more than they look deep.

Picture 2 was taken with natural lighting at a different time of day to provide some harsh sunlight. This is where I think you can see some significant results in direct and harsh lighting that you just don't get with diffused lighting in the game. The scars and skin especially pop.

Picture 3 uses an extra light in photomode to further provide harsh exposure to the face. I feel like with heavier exposure the skin is allowed to be more naturally luminous, and the scars and texture of the skin really stand out.  
  
Pictures 4 and 6 change that light to red instead of being the sunlight flavor 3 has. I feel that the result is a loss of texture and realism compared to 3, but much closer to 2.

I can't say that this is true for every single thing in the game yet, though I think that cars actually highly benefit from any decent lighting, but especially from any added lighting in photomode. What do you all think?

Studying lighting in Cyberpunk 2077 and realistic results