Backlighting is a photography technique that produces stunning results. Using creative backlighting, you can give your subject a subtle or dramatic glow that seems to radiate outward from the edges. In reality, backlighting techniques are difficult to master but 100% worth the effort.
Using natural or artificial background light in photography can be used to create a warm glow in portraits, animal shots, and even some landscapes. Backlighting can also be used to make dramatic silhouettes. Here’s an overview of backlight photography and how you can use it to create stunning images.
Before we dig into how to get the perfect backlit image, let’s define the term. What exactly is backlighting in photography? Essentially, it’s a technique that is used, usually in portrait photography, where the main light source is placed directly behind the subject facing the camera. The subject diffuses the light so that it radiates outward from behind, creating a dramatic glow.
Photographers use backlighting to add depth or drama to an image, to create silhouettes, or to help emphasize a sense of place within a photograph. Backlighting effects can be dramatic, but when used improperly, backlighting can cause overexposure and deep shadows.
The use of backlighting isn’t effective in every situation, so the first thing you will have to decide is whether backlighting will work for the scene you’re trying to capture. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to experiment with your iPhone. In general, the stronger the light source, the better the backlight effect will be. Here are a few more tips for capturing a beautiful backlit photo.
The golden hour happens twice a day, an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. During the golden hour, the sun is diffused by the earth’s atmosphere, producing warm, soft light that is perfect for backlit photos. Because the sun is lower in the sky, it creates long, deep shadows with light that is more flattering for skin tones.
When the sun is higher in the sky, the light becomes cooler and more intense, making it more difficult to pull off backlighting within your image. While the one-hour timeframe isn’t rigid, shooting just after sunrise or just before sunset will give you the best results.
Using the flash on your iPhone can sometimes produce light that is too harsh, especially when shooting at night. If you are shooting during the golden hour, you can experiment with using your flash to reduce the dark shadows on your subject. In general, this works better when the light from the sun is bright enough to keep the flash from overpowering your image. Using your flash correctly requires some experimentation, and sometimes you will have to do some post-processing so that the artificial light isn’t too strong. (We’ll discuss how to edit a backlit photo below.)
When you capture your subject by shooting directly into bright light, you will often obscure all the details so that your subject is completely dark. Place your subject within the scene and then expose for the sky by holding your finger down on the sky on your iPhone screen. Congratulations, you’ve created a silhouette! Using backlighting to create silhouettes is often easier than creating other types of backlit photos because you don’t have to worry about preserving details.
You can use silhouette backlighting for a variety of subjects. All you need is bright sunlight. As with many of the techniques mentioned here, you may need to darken the shadows within your silhouette in a post-processing app on your iPhone.
Backlit portraits are probably the most common form of backlight photography. The golden hues that can be achieved using backlighting for portraits are flattering to the subject, adding a dramatic touch with a soft, almost dream-like quality. Here are some tips for creating beautiful portraits with backlighting.
One of the challenges of backlight photography in a natural setting is that you never know exactly what the light will do. Clouds can easily diffuse natural light, making it softer. But without bright light, you may not be able to illuminate your subject properly. You can brighten areas on your subject’s face and fill in shadows by using a reflector. Simply hold it up facing the sun and adjust the angle until natural light is reflected toward your subject’s face and it is properly lit.
It can be tempting to shoot your portrait at eye level as the sun heads toward the horizon, but a distinct horizon line often detracts from the subject of your portrait. Try to create a composition where the horizon line is small or not visible at all. You can do this by getting down low and shooting upward toward your subject or shooting in a location where the landscape or buildings obscure the horizon.
If the sun is too harsh to capture a decent backlit photo, or if you’re just starting to experiment with backlit photography, try shooting in a location where the sun provides plenty of light but isn’t actually visible. You can shoot in sunlight that is filtered behind trees or buildings, which will help you avoid dark shadows and unpredictable sun flares. Once you have a handle on how the lighting will behave in certain situations, you will have an easier time positioning it within your compositions.
When shooting backlit photos using your iPhone, take advantage of Portrait mode, which is available on iPhone 7 Plus and later models. With Portrait mode, your iPhone camera creates a shallow depth of field, which lets you capture portraits with a sharp focus on the subject and a blurred background.
On iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, and later models, you can apply studio-quality lighting effects to your Portrait mode photos. Studio lighting brightens up your subject’s face, which is very useful when backlighting.
Have you been experimenting with backlight photography? No matter how many backlight techniques you utilize in the field, many of your photos will still require a bit of editing to look their best. Use your favorite editing app for post-processing. We love Adobe Lightroom, which is a free photo editing app with powerful tools that mimics a desktop editor, but the best photo editing app is the one you are most comfortable with.
Every backlit photo will require a slightly different touch with the photo editor, but in general, here are a few things to try to improve the quality of your photos with your favorite editing app. Here are the corrections we like to make in post-processing, in order of application.
It’s not uncommon to end up with overexposed photos when experimenting with backlight photography. Can you save them? Usually, yes. Here are some basic instructions for fixing overexposed backlit photos.
Backlight photography is fun to experiment with and difficult to master, making it a challenging and rewarding photography project. All it costs to learn the ropes is a small time investment and a bit of storage on your iPhone, so why not give backlit photography a try?