By Darren Wiedman
Here’s a little advice from the internet on shooting backlit images, just in time (hopefully) for our April competition.
Shoot RAW
We should all be doing this anyway. A RAW file contains all the glorious info your camera captured in the shot. JPEGs compress the image and trash some of the data. But it’s that data that you might need to save an image in post, especially by bringing up the shadows to compensate for the strong backlight.
Spot your subject
Set your camera to spot metering and point it at your subject. This will ensure that your subject is exposed correctly, although it will tend to blowout the background. Or you can expose for the background if you want a silhouette.
Don’t lose focus
Just as your own eyes don’t see well when looking into a bright light, cameras struggle a bit too. To help your camera, have your model block the sun as you use auto focus. Then switch to manual. Repeat as necessary.
Light up your foreground
If you expose for the bright background, your foreground will probably be underexposed. Add some light with a reflector or flash to help compensate. You can even shoot with a white building behind you, or wear white and be your own reflector.
Keep your camera shaded
Sometimes lens flares can be a great effect. But if you want to avoid them, find a location for your camera that keeps it out of the light source. Shoot by the side of a building or near some tree branches, or use a lens hood or even your hand as a shade.
Or add some flare
If you like those little geometric spots of light in random places on your photos, be sure the light hits your lens. A wide aperature will produce the best results. Be careful not to look through your camera directly into the sun.
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