Back Lighting Is Beautiful

by Tom Collins

For decades, photographic literature recommended that pictures be taken with the sunlight coming over the photographers shoulder. This advice was targeted to amateur photographers. Occasionally, the amateur would experience a happy accident by capturing a "cool silhouette" or a photo with "neat flair".

More sophisticated photographers began to use fill flash and "syncro-sun" techniques when working with back lighting. Today, point and shoot cameras have advanced computer chips and pop-up flashes which automatically take nice photographs under back lit conditions. The problem with this approach is that the lighting appears artificial. The image appears as though it were lit by two suns.

Professional photographers go to great lengths to create lighting which is not only flattering but believable. In nature, perfect lighting is diffused and filtered with natural reflectors just where you need them. Unfortunately, lighting is rarely perfect without modification. I choose to modify light the same way that nature does. I choose to modify light by redirecting it.

The Illustration

The glamour portrait of model, Gail Walker, was taken with redirected back light. Two 42 x 78 inch Calumet reflector panels with white cloth were placed in front of the model to direct "clean light" into the model's face. The panels lowered the scene contrast by nearly two stops resulting in a high key environmental portrait. A large aperture was selected to limit depth of field.

Tips For Shooting Back Lit Subjects:

• Always use a good lens hood to avoid lens flair.
• Take an incident meter reading at the model's face with the diffusion dome pointed toward the camera.
• Use long lenses for compression and large apertures to limit depth of field.
  

Equipment:

• two 42 x 78 inch Calumet reflector panels with white reflective cloth
• Mamiya RZ67
• 180mm lens
• Marty Rickard Pro 150 lens shade
• Minolta Flash Meter IV
• Davis & Sanford Airlift Tripod