My first thought for how I'd want to use the glow effect was moon and stars.
Moon is a beautiful, universal element that belongs to all humans. If I show Moon phases incrementing, it is understood by most that time is passing.
I remember a quote about how everyone who has ever lived shares the same moon 🌙 How people have looked at it for thousands of years. How only relatively recently living humans were able to touch it. That's the stuff of dreams.
And if you divide the year into moons as an unit of time, you get a long enough period that feels right as a measurement. One month is a long time but it passes by fast.
Moon, as a photograph instead of glowing.
Moon within the doorframe
I might want to have this effect, where the moon is touching their hair. I could specify coordinates for the headdress location for each photo.
This approach would also allow to find the center location for this kind of halo, too:
