Click on the above image to see the difference a reflector can make. The images are straight out of the camera, same settings — they are only resized and slightly sharpened. The first is the lichen in plain lighting; the second, with a reflector bouncing light onto it.
It may sound complicated to bounce light when taking images, but it really isn’t. There are 5 in one reflectors that one can buy that are really easy to stick in a camera bag to have on hand. These usually have a diffuse filter to allow you to soften a light source and a variety of options to reflect light more brightly or more subtly or even warm it up.
But you can also use something as simple as a sheet of white paper. Try it out sometime: allow light to hit the paper or reflector, then move it around, directing light at your subject. You can quickly turn blah lighting into something that makes your subject look so much prettier.
If you want to diffuse light, you can play with placing various fabrics or can even plain ol’ wax paper between the light source and your subject. Crinkling the wax paper can diffuse it even more.