Six methods to improve the skills of backlight photography

In the previous photography course, there has always been a principle that the sun should be behind us to shoot in the light, so that the subject can receive light from the front. This is an old and famous shooting suggestion. For the film era, the photos taken according to this suggestion are often very successful. But in today's digital photography era, the rules are often unbreakable. Why don't we think about it? If we shoot in the sun, can we also take an eye-catching backlight photo? Now backlight portrait has become one of the photography methods that movie friends like to try. In this issue, I will explain how to use backlight to take portraits with rich details and subtle colors. I'll take you to get to know it.

Improve backlight photography skills 1. It is also important to know the angle of light. For example, the sunlight at noon can be used as the backlight, but because the angle of the light source is very high, 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.

Improving backlight photography skills II. Knowing the lighting conditions Viewing a scene from the perspective of backlight can be difficult to control. And there are indeed a few problems that need special attention, but once you master backlight photography, you will have a powerful means to make your photos unique and instantly eclipse other photos taken along the light. 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.

Skills 3 of improving backlight photography. Backlight can create a rich portrait theme: 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. Therefore, people with blond hair and graceful figure are very suitable for backlighting, because it can emphasize the details of the subject outline. Backlit people will also form long shadows in the direction towards the camera, thus providing extra points of interest for the picture.

Improve backlight photography skills. Exposure and photometry methods, even if the subject and light form are not mentioned, can determine the success or failure of backlit photos only one thing. 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.

Improve the skills of backlight photography. 5. Make full use of composition and side light, and carefully consider light and background. Usually, the low-angle sun is 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.

Improve the skills of backlight photography. 6. Control the lighting correctly

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.