Backlight photos are of great artistic expression, and welcomed by many professional and amateur photographers. To take a good backlight shoot, it is of great importance to control over light. Concerned with sunlight, it is changing all the time especially the conversion of light intensity and angle. Every tiny difference changes the mood of a picture. Let’s find easy ways to get your desirable backlight photos.
Today, we focus on achieving backlit photos with the natural sunlight. To get a full grasp, we divide it in to two sections.
Section 1: Sunrise and sunset hours.
(Taken by KettyRao)
The best light is the golden "liquid light" of the early morning and late afternoon. The weak light intensity is conducive to backlit photo shooting, particularly those small staffs. A huge benefit to having portraits backlit with the sun is that lovely rim lighting--where the edges of your model(s) are outlined by a thin thread of light. You need to pay attention to the fast variation of sunlight at this period. Splendid senses gone soon, thus the preparation before shooting is far more important.
Section 2: Midday hours.
(Taken by Tyler and Katie)
If it is a good day, you will find strong light intensity. It is easy to take backlit photos with vignette blur, strongly decreasing the photo expression. Try to avoid taking the backlit photos with the direct sunlight at this time. If you do have to shoot with a high sun, a day with broken cumulus clouds can be ideal. Those clouds can act as a giant soft box and give you wonderful light without harsh shadows. Take full advantage of the reflected light from other objects.
