How to Photograph With Backlight

What do you need?

• Camera (manual mode)
• Tripod
• Flash and/or reflector
• Model (optional)

Camera

To capture backlight, you naturally need a camera, but which cameras are suitable for this? Most cameras are suitable for creating images with backlight, as long as you have the ability to manually set shutter speed, ISO value and aperture. Most cameras have a manual (M) mode for this.

For backlight photography you can work with different lenses, depending on the effect you want to create. It is recommended to use a wide-angle lens, because it captures more of your surroundings in the photo. When working with backlight, you are dealing with challenging lighting conditions. So pay attention to the maximum aperture of your lens. You will often work with an aperture around f/4, but in some conditions a smaller aperture can offer advantages.

Tip – Does your camera have ISO noise reduction and long exposure noise reduction? For the best result, it's best to switch these off. For post-processing, it is helpful if you can shoot your images in RAW format, so as much data as possible is stored.

Tripod

We recommend working with a tripod when using backlight. You will quickly find yourself experimenting with different shutter speeds since light (especially outdoors) changes rapidly. Even a small movement of the camera can cause your photo to be less sharp at longer shutter speeds. To prevent this, place your camera on a tripod and turn off the image stabilisation on your lens and camera.

Tip – Don’t have a tripod? Try placing your camera on a wall or another solid surface. Use a beanbag to support your camera. You can, of course, always buy a tripod.

Flash and/or reflector

When working with backlight, a speedlight can be a great addition to give your subject extra illumination. Use it as fill flash to fill in shadows with light from the front. You can also use a reflector to bounce the available backlight or flash light onto your subject. Reflectors are lightweight and easy to carry. Working alone? Then you can attach your reflector to a stand so it doesn’t need to be held.

Tip – Using a reflector? Try experimenting with different colours for different effects. A gold reflector, for example, gives a warmer glow than a silver one.

Exposure

With backlight, it often happens that the bright background misleads your camera’s light meter. The camera measures the light as if the subject were just as bright as the background, which causes the shutter speed to shorten and the sensor to receive less light. The result is a silhouette against a correctly exposed background. Do you want both the foreground and background clearly visible with the right exposure? Then you will need to work with exposure compensation.

Setting exposure compensation works differently on every camera. You manually adjust the ISO value, shutter speed and/or aperture. To do this, it’s best to consult your camera’s manual. You will usually find these settings in the aperture and shutter speed options or in the so-called P mode. Often you don’t need to shoot in the M (manual) mode for this.

Light meter

When taking photos with backlight, it is important to pay attention to your light meter. Your camera indicates on a scale from -2 to +2 how much light is present in your image with the current settings. The value 0 indicates correct exposure. The minus indicates underexposure (darker image) and the plus indicates overexposure (lighter image). Often the camera is able to recognise the right settings, but in the case of backlight, these are often inaccurate. If you are wearing a white shirt in the photo, for example, the light meter may indicate correct exposure while it still appears too dark. In that case, adjust the light meter by one or two extra stops so that you achieve a white shirt as the result. Keep the following in mind: the lighter you make the image, the longer the shutter speed and the greater the risk of motion blur. In a post-processing programme, you can often adjust the exposure settings of your photo a little more.

Metering

You can set your camera to measure the light falling on the sensor in different ways. Each setting delivers a different exposure result. The most commonly used option for backlight is spot metering. Here, your camera only measures the middle part of the image. With spot metering, you can therefore take a very accurate reading. Spot metering is the closest to measuring light with an external light meter. Matrix metering, also called multi-zone metering, also measures the light intensity outside the centre of your image. This setting, in which the camera chooses an average exposure, is used frequently when the focus is on the image as a whole. Think, for example, of photographing a landscape. Finally, you can use centre-weighted metering. This is a combination of spot and matrix metering. The camera measures the middle of the image and a small area around it.

Focusing

Manual focusing is often the best way to capture the image you have in mind. Use your camera’s live view function, because looking through the viewfinder can sometimes distort your perception of the image. Working in A or M mode is therefore recommended when working with backlight.

HDR

With HDR (High Dynamic Range), you choose to take photos with different exposure times and merge them into one image during post-processing. By combining them, you create a higher dynamic range. Always work with a tripod, since you’ll be using different shutter speeds. It is also important that the composition, focus and aperture of the photos remain the same because you will combine them later.

Lens flare

When working with backlight, you will also encounter lens flare. Lens flare appears in your photo as a light streak, spot or colour due to light rays hitting your lens directly. This mainly causes zoom lenses’ internal lens elements to reflect the incoming light toward the sensor. Many lenses have special coatings to reduce lens flare. Although lens flare can add atmosphere, it often happens that you are not satisfied with the glowing shapes in your photo. In that case, try taking a photo from the shade or use a lens hood to keep stray light out of the frame. You can also use your hand above the lens to remove the flare. Using a filter? Check whether removing it makes a difference. Light falling directly into the lens can sometimes be reflected by a filter and result in lens flare. You can also, of course, stop down your aperture.

Tip – Do you actually like lens flare as an effect and want to add it to your photos yourself? Then there are various accessory packs available that add lens flare effects to your photos and give them a summery look or strengthen the leading lines in your image.