Backlighting Tutorial

Well, a short one anyway because my third daughter just called her brother a “runt” and things are about to get real around here.

Here we go!

When I backlight and the sun is not in an ideally low (no, lower… no, lower than that) position, I look for a filter. That’s when things get fun! Let me show you…

(exposed for sky so you can see the sun’s position better)

 

 

Which angle do you choose? Well, that’s the creative part. The part when YOU decide how sun-drenched you want your image to be…what kind of flare do you want? And the best part is that you can get vastly different results just by moving an inch or two in any direction. So play and see what you get!

I used the wheat here to block the sun and using my 50mm 1.2 I decided on the crop and then moved myself up, down, sidewise, did the hokey-pokey in order to get the flare I had envisioned.

I use my barn for this effect a bunch. With the angle of the roofline, I can get lots of different effects and “buy” a little more time in the mornings and evenings instead of having to wait for golden hour. This comes in handy for toddlers who have early bedtimes and for those who like to wake up after 5am.

Even at 8am though, you can see the sun is too high – so you really have to try to convince your clients to grab that ideal time for amazing light!

 

See how gorgeous the light can be when you wait for just the right time and find just the right angles?

Sun-soaked, golden images wrapped in light make my heart sing!

 

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