Backlit Portraits - You can Do EEEEET!

Most people take photos with the light source (sun usually) illuminating the subject because it's the obvious choice.  During the "golden hour" the sun produces a nice even glow and warms skin tones producing nice results.  I love to shoot back-lit shots - shots where there's a lot of light behind the subject.  Usually that light source is the sun but the light could come from anywhere - a street light, ambient light, another flash.  Using back-lighting accomplishes a few things: it adds another element/dimension to the photo while producing a nice hair light (in portraits) as well.

I used two external flashes to illuminate these cholla cacti.

Typically I use at least two flashes off camera, but this also can be done with an on camera flash, or an on camera flash and a reflector bouncing the sunlight back onto the subject.  I always use a gel modifier to match the color of the light source.  In the case of the sun, I use a warming modifier.  If you're using an on camera flash, you can tape (or hold) a sheet of clear orange plastic (they sell these on eBay or at a local camera/art supply store) over your flash.  If you're using an external flash, you can purchase a colored diffuser.  They're inexpensive and work really well.

Here's how I do it:

1. First of all I always shoot in RAW, and you should too.  You'll have much more control of the editing process than if you were only shooting JPEG's.

2. I shoot in Auto White Balance when I'm shooting golden hour portraits.  I've found that using the camera's sunlight white balance setting doesn't always get the correct color - the color of the sun at noon is totally different than the color of the sun at sunset.  Camera's should have a "sunset" white balance.

3. Meter for the background and adjust the flash for the subject.  This can be adjusted a few different ways but flash exposure compensation would be a good place to start.

4. Adjust the white balance in post production:

Here's the original image, auto white balance.  Decent but the color is off.

Here the white balance was set to Tungsten, couter balancing the orange glow of the sun.  Good but too much counter balance - I like little more warmth to the skin tones.

Here's the next version. I've used a tungsten white balance setting but warmed it up a bit to match the color of the sun.  I also whitened the teeth and eyes - you may want to do this so that the warm color doesn't make the teeth and eyes look yellow.  I also cropped this.

Here's a landscape version:

I used the same process here.  Without a flash this cholla cactus would have been a silhouette.  Using a colored modifier produces similar light as the sun was producing at this time of the day.

Using back lighting is easy and produces some nice results.  Whether you're using an on camera flash, a reflector, or multiple external flashes, experiment with this technique!