What is sidelight shooting?

Side-light photography is a means of taking pictures with light, which refers to a photography mode suitable for side-light to illuminate the subject and produce a projection with obvious directivity on the other side. It can better express the texture and three-dimensional sense of the subject, with strong sense of depth and good visual effect.

Comparatively speaking, the tone level of sidelight photography is richer than that of front light. Some parts of the main body are illuminated by direct sunlight, while other parts are illuminated by scattered light and reflected light from the sky or surrounding landscape. This way of shooting makes photometric lighting very expressive whether shooting scenery, people or still life.

If you shoot in a dark environment, such as in the Woods or indoors with natural light in the windows, the contrast between light and shade of sidelight photography is great. If the photographer wants to see photos with rich tone levels, he can use a reflector or use the reflection of light-colored objects in the surrounding environment to fill the light for the subject. There are usually two classification methods for shooting sunlight, one can be divided into front light, front light and back light, and the other can be divided into flat light and oblique light according to the change of sun height.