LIGHT DIRECTION

A backlit scene is one where the light source is behind your subject, illuminating the side facing away from you. The alternative is frontlit, where the light source is behind you and illuminating the side of your subject you see. Side lighting is somewhere in between the two.

The best time to capture this kind of lighting is at the beginning and end of the day, while the sun’s angle is low. The closer the sun is to your subject, the more dramatic the contrast. All of the example images below were taken within a couple hours of the sun going down below the horizon.

This lighting direction will often create a rim light around your subject, as long as it has a soft edge and is directly lit by the sun. The soft edge allows some of the light to filter through to the side facing you, while the opaque solid portion remains dark.

The rim light itself will be one of the brightest highlights, right next to the darkest shadows on your subject. This is what creates the dramatic contrast you’re looking for in a backlit image. Depending on the angle of the sun and harshness of the light, you may or may not be able to get detail from both the highlights and shadows.

Placement

The placement of the sun behind your subject depends mainly on the composition you want to create. You’ll see the strongest rim light by placing the sun directly in line with your subject, but this can also introduce more lens flare.

By placing the sun to the side of your subject, but still behind, you’ll be able to get the strong backlight without a distracting lens flare.

There are also situations where you’ll want to include lens flare in your frame, if it fits into your photographic style. Some people like it, some don’t. Like any compositional element, you have to intentionally place it in your frame to emphasize your subject, not detract from it.

Using lens flare like in the photo below helps to brighten up areas that have gone into complete shadow. This elk was standing in the perfect location to receive both lens flare and rim light.

Exposure

There will be some creative decisions for you to make when exposing for a backlit situation. Do you want details in the highlights or the shadows? Do you want a high-key image or low-key?

Exposing brighter will give detail to the shadows in subject that are facing you, but the strong backlight will overexpose your background – often to complete white.

Exposing dark will give detail to the highlights (rim light), but the darkest shadows of the image will turn to black. Most cameras won’t be able to capture the entire range of lights and darks in a harshly lit scene like this.

CAMERA SETTINGS

If your scene has direct sun, and you want to expose for the highlights, you’ll want to start with an exposure that’s close to a sunny exposure. At an aperture of f/4 you’ll use a shutter speed of 1/1600th of a second and an ISO of 100 or 200. As the sun gets closer to the horizon and becomes more filtered, you may need to expose brighter to compensate.

If you want to expose for the shadows, you’ll need to expose 2-4 stops brighter than this. At f/4, you’d use 1/400th second and ISO 200 or 400. The sun and the background may become overexposed and clip some highlights, but that’s okay. You have to make the decisions on what looks good to you!

After taking a few shots and varying your composition, check the image and histogram and evaluate if this is the exposure you’re looking for. These are just suggested starting points for exposure. You can adjust brighter or darker to taste, and make small exposure adjustments in post-processing with Adobe Lightroom.

EXAMPLES

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