Picture Practice - Back Lighting

Day 11 - Back Lighting

The last type of lighting we will focus on is back lighting. In back lighting, the light source is located directly behind the subject and in front of the photographer, meaning it could also be shining right on your camera lens.

Today, you will want to experiment with moving your camera slightly to produce the best images with light behind your subject and not to overwhelm your subject with the intense light.
Below, the glow of the sun produces a nice glow to Toddler D's profile, but is a bit overpowering. (In addition, one of the balloons appears to be growing out of his head, which isn't great).

With a slight move of the camera, the glow is still in the same spot, but isn't directly in the shot. And I suggested he look at the other balloons, which resulted in a really sweet shot.

Back lighting is most commonly used around sunrise or sunset, since the low angle of the sun makes it easier to place behind your subject. Back lighting can add drama with a golden glow of light and with portraits, back lighting is often used to provide that glowing light behind loose hair.

During one of our recent Mardi Gras parades, I used back lighting from one of the floats to light up Toddler D and his daddy,

Finally, one of my favorite photos of Baby Brunken and his daddy used a lamp positioned directly behind them as a light source. Rob's body blocked the lamp itself, but the light produced such a sweet glow around the baby.