Backlighting wonder

Written by Adrienne Gray

Twice this busy week I had moments of photo wow - roughly at the same time of day, but with two different sets of circumstances.  Both involved backlighting.  For those of you not familiar with the term, it's when the majority of the light on a subject comes from behind. There's also an article explanation HERE. In natural light photography, you see a lot of this early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the sun is low in the sky, available as a backdrop. (Hey thanks Mr. Sun!).

In this first photo, we were returning from a birthday party.  I was tempted to share the photos where my child tried to blow out the birthday girl's candles, but I thought better of it :)  Instead, I'd rather share this moment of wonder I caught as she was racing back up our driveway amped on 2 cupcakes (icing-only, of course).

 

ISO 320 f/5 SS 1/100  50mm lens

This is one of my favorite "goto" pockets of light in the late afternoon.  The backlighting qualities here are incredible with the sun shining through the bank of bushes onto her frame, especially since there's a dark wall behind to really show off the effect.

You can still see the details of her clothing and hair because there's still enough light reflecting off of the driveway and in the ambient light of the afternoon back onto her body.  But if there was no ambient light or light reflecting back onto her, I would have had more of a silhouette.... like our second magical picture this week:

ISO 640  f/2.8  1/200  17mm focal length

Thanks to one burnt grilled cheese, our early evening kitchen was filled with "rays" of light.  See how she's again, backlit, but this time because of the darkness of my kitchen, no light reflecting back onto her - which created a silhouette.  And yet - the green foliage just outside the door open to vent the smoke is just dark enough to show a halo around her frame.

You can get this effect WITHOUT BURNING DINNER by experimenting in front of brightly lit windows.  Experiment with what happens when you raise and lower your shutter speed. Watch as the backlighting changes dramatically with your choices!

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