Seven Skills of Dealing with Backlit Portraits

Lead: Backlight shooting has always been the pursuit of some photographers. The contour light produced by backlight shooting can outline the object, so as to separate from the background and further shape it. Forming bright lines on the edge of the object shape can render the atmosphere to be expressed and enrich and activate the picture. Let's take a look at the seven skills of backlighting!

If we can properly use the means of backlight photography, it will undoubtedly be of great value to enhance the artistic effect of photography creation. The essence of photography is light, and light is the lifeblood and soul of photography. Mr. Liu Bannong once said: Although the scenery is good, the picture is still dead without proper light. ?

Backlight in photography should be the most expressive light. It can make the picture produce an artistic effect completely different from the actual light we see with the naked eye at the scene.

Artistic expression mainly includes the following four aspects:

First, it can enhance the texture of the subject.

Especially for shooting transparent or translucent objects, such as flowers, plant branches and leaves, backlight is the best light. Because, on the one hand, backlight illumination can improve the brightness and saturation of transparent objects, and dull transparent or translucent objects under forward illumination present beautiful luster and good transparency; On the other hand, the brightness difference between transparent and opaque objects in the same picture is obviously widened, and the light and shade are opposite, which greatly enhances the artistic effect of the picture.

Second, it can enhance the rendering of the atmosphere.

Especially in the morning and evening of landscape photography, using low-angle and large-backlight light and shadow modeling means, the reflected light will outline rosy clouds as dye, clouds as transpiration, mountains, villages and trees as ink. If mist, canoes and birds are added, it will resonate deeply in vision and soul, making the work deeper in connotation, higher in artistic conception and stronger in charm.

Third, it can enhance the depth of the picture.

Especially when shooting in the morning or evening with backlight, the color composition has changed from far to near due to the different media conditions in the air: the foreground is dark and the background is bright; The foreground color saturation is high and the background color saturation is low, which causes the whole picture to go from far to near, from shallow to deep, and from shallow to deep, forming a subtle sense of spatial depth.

Fourth, it can enhance the visual impact.

When shooting in reverse light, due to the increase of the proportion of dark parts, quite a lot of details are blocked by shadows, and subjects with simple lines or small light receiving area suddenly appear in the picture. This large light ratio and Gao Fancha give people a strong visual impact, thus producing a strong artistic modeling effect.

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In the backlight scene, the character's hair will be more obvious and beautiful, the edge line of the body will also be presented, and the whole character will become more three-dimensional. This is also an important reason why many people in the field of photography like backlighting.

First, understand the angle of light.

The angle of light is also important. For example, the midday sun can be used as a backlight. However, due to the high angle of the light source, the effect produced at this time is closer to the top light, and the intensity of the backlight is relatively small.

When the sun approaches the horizon in the morning or evening, the objects on the ground are basically completely illuminated by the backlight, so the effect is more prominent and intense. In the same way, winter is more suitable for taking backlight photos than summer, because the position of the sun arc is very low in winter, and the effect of backlight is better.

Second, understand the lighting conditions.

Looking at the scene from the perspective of backlight may make people feel difficult to control, and there are indeed several problems that need special attention. But once you master the backlight shooting, you have a powerful means to make your photos unique and make other photos taken in the light instantly eclipsed.

Not all situations and all subjects are suitable for backlighting, so we need to be cautious about any experimental creation. Learning to accurately understand the lighting conditions and choosing the right person for backlight is the key to the success of backlight. Theoretically, any form of light can be used as backlight, but the stronger the light, the better the backlight effect.

Third, exposure and photometry methods.

Even if the subject and light form are not mentioned, there is only one thing that can determine the success or failure of backlit photos: exposure. As long as you master the correct exposure, you can almost completely control the backlight. The important thing is that you need to eliminate the influence of background, so that the subject can be exposed correctly. For most subjects, it is not wrong to choose a metering mode according to the overall situation of the picture, such as evaluation metering or matrix metering.

However, if you still choose this metering mode when shooting against the light, it is almost doomed to failure, because the light from the background will seriously mislead the metering system, making the subject seriously overexposed and even become a silhouette. To avoid this problem, you need to switch to spot metering or area metering mode, so that you can only measure the area of the subject more accurately. In this metering mode, the background light will not affect the camera's judgment, and the subject can get the correct exposure.

Select spot metering mode to directly meter the object. This metering method can ensure that your subject is exposed correctly. If your SLR camera does not provide spot metering mode, you can also use the following methods: shorten the distance or lengthen the focal length, let the subject occupy the whole field of vision, shoot in manual mode, and then re-compose.

Fourth, white balance.

The English name of White Balance is white balance. The color of the object will change due to the color of the projected light, and the photos taken under different light conditions will have different color temperatures.

When shooting in the sunset, sometimes because of the misjudgment of the automatic white balance of the digital camera, the photos taken lack a red light, which makes the atmosphere completely absent.

If you want the camera to shoot a color similar to that seen by human eyes, just set the white balance to "sunny" white balance or specify the color temperature of 6500K to shoot, and you can shoot yellow at sunset.

Fifth, the theme of characters that backlight can create.

Portrait subjects suitable for shooting from the perspective of backlight are very rich: fresh people, wedding photos, documentary humanities, creative portraits and so on. If you want to show a person's hair, outline and special aesthetic effect, backlighting is a powerful means of expression.

Six, make full use of composition and side light

Considering the light and background carefully, the low-angle sun is usually the most suitable backlight. But try to shoot portraits in a clean dark background, or in the Woods, so as to highlight the model more vividly and emphasize the dramatic lighting effect.

Whether in the studio or outdoors, backlit portraits can always present a unique style. When the figure and backlight are in the right position, the latter will form a beautiful silhouette light around the figure's head, making the hair look soft and shiny and making the figure jump out of the dark background.

Seven, the correct control of light.

1, thinking about light

When shooting a light background, you can emphasize the part of the subject irradiated by the backlight, so that the light receiving area is relatively balanced and the picture is more vivid. At the same time, it can also reduce the bright area behind the main body and eliminate the interference of these areas.

2. Test exposure

Surround exposure was carried out to investigate the influence of different exposure parameters on the picture effect. Exposing the highlight area around the subject can produce dramatic effect, and only the outline of the subject can be seen. When the RAW file is post-processed, you can adjust it by adjusting? Exposure? Settings can also achieve this effect.

Step 3 reduce the contrast

When the sunlight is weak, or the position in the sky is low, it will reduce the contrast of the picture, thus reducing the dead black shadows and dead white highlights.

4. Engine hood

When shooting in reverse light, a hood must be installed on the lens to avoid glare. Glare is often one of the biggest problems when shooting with a direct light source, so you may wish to keep the lens with a hood at any time and block it with your hand or cardboard if necessary. Besides, you can try to make the sunshine just right? Hide? Behind the main body, see what kind of interesting effect you can get.

5. Use the reflector skillfully &; flashlight

If the light of the sunset is already red, the characters will look too red and unnatural if they are reflected with a golden face. At this time, it is necessary to judge the overall environment. As shown below, the overall environment is neutral and the ground light is warmer. At this time, the author can effectively reflect the light, weaken the red light and get a pink skin color.