Backlighting- Subject in Shadow and Sunlight Behind: I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't...

sye Loc: The Old Dominion Near DC

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

I will be interested in what the experienced photographers suggest. According to Bryan Peterson in his book, Understanding Exposure you would go up to the flower you plan on shooting and fill your frame with the flower. If you are shooting in manual, take your exposure setting of the flower filling the frame then step back and refocus on the flower then fire away. I am new to DSLR photography but I'm having a great time shooting in manual.

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

To accomplish that successfully, you would have to either "blow out" the background or us HDR and take a series of frames at different exposures to combine in post.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

Pictures that have nice backlighting have a few things going on, one of course is the pretty light (normally first thing in the morning or just before sunset), the subject is actually in a spot that has open shade and the light is spilling into the shade giving a nice glow.

You should also have your camera set to spot meter and meter of the flower.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

It can be done but you have to add light to the front...

You can do this easily via a white piece of cardboard (amazingly effective) or a reflective car sunshade, or a reflector made for photography, or a fill flash.

You can even use someone with a white shirt standing close....lol...

It's amazing how much light a simple piece of white cardboard will throw on a subject.

If you want to do it the gorilla warfare way, just have someone hold the reflector and you watch the amount of light change....then take a shot and review...then have them move forward or backwards to increase or decrease the light.

Quick example:

Shot #1
Gracie Back lit by kitchen light. You can see her face is in shadow...no detail, and underexposed.

Shot #2 Reflector brought in and you can see how her face is much brighter...even though she wouldn't stay still.

Shot #3 Set up shot..showing reflector and Gracie.

This wasn't very dramatic due to the low light levels but using sunlight will be much more dramatic.

f4frank

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

Sye;

Check your camera's manual.
Spot metering or Partial metering would probably be best, depenting of course on the percentage of metering, camera depentant. For example, some cameras have a spot meter around 6 to 8 percent of the viewfinder area. My camera in spot only has 2.4% and partial has 8.5%. Good luck and would like to see the finished product.

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

rpavich wrote:

It can be done but you have to add light to the fr... (show quote)

Good advice and great examples. :thumbup:

Bill gomberg

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

Bill gomberg

There are many ways to solve this . One would be , if you're in the same light as your subject , meter your hand OR an 18 % grey card with your camera on manual,then set your resullts . As an example , I'd first determine an approriately brief , motion blur stopping shutterspeed , then the f/stop recommendation of the meter . If your camera is one with D.O.F. preview feature and you'r satisfied with what you see in the finder , fire away . If the d.o.f. is too shallow , try several exposures after each time increasing the i.s.o. Much easier done than explaining but im portant to master .
Good luck .

Bret Loc: Dayton Ohio

Backlighting from the sun...with on-camera flash from the front.

DavidT Loc: Maryland

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

The lotus blossom shot below used backlighting with the sun directly behind the subject. I exposed on the back of the blossom and bracketed the shot quite a bit.

Backlit Lotus Blossom

Bill gomberg

sye wrote:

I was trying to use backlighting from the sun to shoot some blossoms blooming in a shady area at a park. The problem is I didn't want too much silhouetting and more texture to come through.

Can that be done?

Easy , inexpensive solution and valuable learning tool ; aused incident light,meter l such as: Gossen , Selonic , Weston etc.

GeoffGregory Loc: London

[quote=Bill gomberg]Easy , inexpensive solution and valuable learning tool ; aused incident light,meter l such as: Gossen , Selonic , Weston etc.[/quote

Hello Sye, is this what you want? I have the camera (D60) on auto and get in as close as possible with this result I have done it this way several times and think the results are OK.

Geoff

windshoppe Loc: Arizona

This would seem to be a good place to use fill flash. Since you want the back-lit effect, you are concerned with both the subject and the ambient light. If you meter for the ambient light in aperture priority with flash turned off and set the exposure value, then experiment with adjusting flash power level until you get the amount of light desired on the subject you should get an excellent result. If possible you may wish to shoot with flash off camera so lighting effect isn't so flat. It's helpful to remember that aperture controls ambient light and shutter controls flash.

Bill gomberg

[quote=GeoffGregory][quote=Bill gomberg]Easy , inexpensive solution and valuable learning tool ; aused incident light,meter l such as: Gossen , Selonic , Weston etc.[/quote

Hello Sye, is this what you want? I have the camera (D60) on auto and get in as close as possible with this result I have done it this way several times and think the results are OK.

Geoff[/quote]

The problem forme with these examples , aperture is so wide that nothing's in focus . An in camera spot metering feature would help but my choice would be a used incident. Light meter I just checked with KEH and have quite few for sale .