Ashanali Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I've had to launch this month early as I have a busy night ahead. I know you won't mind. First of all - for those with SLR cameras Backlighting!!! Simple outdoor backlighting When faced with a tough lighting situation such as the harsh midday sun or you simply like the ‘rim lighting’ or ‘halo’ effect that you can see in some images – you need to explore backlighting which is effectively, shooting into the light. There are many different methods of backlighting and the effect can be achieved in controlled lighting situations in studios, using strobes, using tungsten light, reflectors, fill flash, plain old sunlight or any number of combinations. The technique that we will be looking at here is the simplest of all and a good place to start and experiment. Step one: Have your subject positioned with the light behind them. Step two: With your SLR set to AV mode, select the desired aperture. Step three: walk right up to your subject and focus on their skin tone so that their skin fills your lens completely. Take note of the meter readings. Step four: Switch your camera into M (manual) mode and put in the aperture and shutter speed that you just took a reading of. Step five: Move back from the subject, focus and shoot. This will mean that even if you have a strongly lit background, the skin tones will be correctly exposed. Your subject, after all, is the most important part of your image! Don’t worry about the background blowing out, this is meant to happen and don’t be worried if you have some sun flare in the image, this can be a part of the effect. The goal is to have your subject correctly exposed. This is the most basic of backlighting exercises. From here you could choose to experiment with fill flash or reflectors to add more light onto the subject or you can bring back areas of the background when editing in photoshop. Over the last month or so I have created a Flickr group to be able to show the people in this challenge successful backlighting of people. Please go through the group to see the many different ways that backlighting has been handled. Also please note on the outdoor images, the position of the sun. It isn't always directly behind the subject and different positions can have vastly different effects on the outcome. http://www.flickr.com/groups/1144501@N20/ Please feel free to submit images of people to the group for approval Challenge for those with compact cameras and also those with SLRs Silhouettes Backlighting is a bit difficult for some people with compact cameras so keeping in line with the theme of, "shooting into the light", challenge B is, "silhouettes" I have posted an online article below which talks about using SLR's but generally most compacts will automatically attempt to "correct" and create a silhouette anyway. Just try a little experimentation. http://www.picturecorrect.com/photographyt...ette_photos.htm Silhouette Photography By Trisha Leung Many of you photographers have probably stared at a silhouette photo and wondered to yourself how exactly they were taken. Silhouettes could contain a couple’s moment on the beach, a person staring out at a landscape, or an amazing cityscape with the sun going down in the background. Silhouette photographers must have great timing and perfect exposure settings. What is a Silhouette? In photography, a silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. More specifically, it is where your subject is seen as a black shape without detail against a brighter background. This is an artistic outcome that many photographers like to perfect. This effect can be achieved with any kind of bright light source, but of course the most commonly used is the sun around sunrise or sunset. The backlighting from the sun shadows everything towards you and produces this effect. Silhouette Techniques When you are getting ready to take your silhouette pictures, there are a couple things to keep in mind. These tips work for both digital and film photography. Make sure you never point the lens directly at the sun. If there is too much light, the light will fall on your object. If there is not enough light, your background will become gray. The main key to silhouette lighting is having your background lighter than your object, but this can be done in more ways then one. Many photographers focus on a certain time of day, where their subject is, what kind of weather there is, and where the sun positioned in the frame. My Silhouette Tips and Methods I choose to take my silhouette photos when the sun is right above the horizon, usually at sunset. I prefer this time because the sun causes the sky to be at it’s brightest for a greater contrast between your object and the sky. Try aiming at your object with the sun directly behind it for a glow around your silhouette. Also, if the sky is too bright and your object is small, it is possible to underexpose your silhouetted image. I always use a narrow aperture (high f/stop) so the camera captures the whole scene in focus. It is also convenient to use this method so you can use your camera’s automatic exposure settings focused on the lighted background. If you use a point-and-shoot camera focused on the subject meant to be dark, the camera will probably try to compensate for the lack of light on the subject and overexpose the background. So when you have your camera set on automatic exposure, be sure to focus on the light in the background. Remember that there isn't an exact science to taking a great silhouette. It takes practice, experimentation, and maybe even a little luck to capture a truly spectacular silhouette photo. Here is a link to an existing Flickr group for silhouettes so you can see some examples. ;) http://www.flickr.com/groups/silhouette/ Enjoy the month everyone! I look forward to seeing the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Oooooh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 rightyho then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 we sighthound people are quick aren't we Annie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Shadow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Mmm I wont be able to start soon...my baby girl is sick the others don't really like to be the subject of my online challenges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pandii Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Looks very very hard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 we sighthound people are quick aren't we Annie. we have to be to keep up with our hounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bow Wow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Yay, I will be in this months challenge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Shadow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Would this qualify as a silhouette shot or is the background too dark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anniek Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Would this qualify as a silhouette shot or is the background too dark? oi - it's not August yet very nice pic - I would think it would count! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Shadow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Would this qualify as a silhouette shot or is the background too dark? oi - it's not August yet very nice pic - I would think it would count! I took the pic 2-3 months ago lol, I haven't started yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerraNik Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Bugger, I don't think I can do this challenge as a 'month of...' for my project365... It will be too hard time wise (I tend to take photos very late at night!) but I'll definitely be participating!! Edited July 31, 2009 by TerraNik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashanali Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 RnA - yes - that qualifies. Terranik - think outside the square. You don't have to use sunlight, it's just the obvious choice. Think about setting up a strong lamp somewhere just to test out the technique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerraNik Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 That's true... I'll see how I go!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huga Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Awwww Ash, you're so cute. I love how you remeber about us point and shooters Apparently our long lost new camera is supposed be here tomorrow or Sunday. Can't wait to have a play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*Shell*~ Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Lol - I just finished putting up the last of my july challenge photos! This one is going to be interesting... i'm going to have to start shooting in my lunch break at work or everything will be artificially backlit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Obviously I didn't take this for the challenge but does this qualify as backlit? It was an unplanned shot, the birds were flying overhead and I just pointed the camera straight up and clicked. It's the first photo I've managed to alter as well, there was a weird UFO thingy in it and I took it out in DPP. I couldn't fix those spots though, I tried but you could see where I'd doctored it so I thought it best to leave them. Edited July 31, 2009 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White_Shadow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 RnA - yes - that qualifies.Terranik - think outside the square. You don't have to use sunlight, it's just the obvious choice. Think about setting up a strong lamp somewhere just to test out the technique. Great Nice & sunny here - will have to think of something now Is it possible to use other thing then people? Like fruit trees in flower (those with the flowers out but no leaf on them yet?) I sound stupid asking but oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piri Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I dont know if these count for back light??The sun was behind her so im guessing it does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black magic Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I guess you can use other subjects rather than just people. This is two of a light house I took. I think it comes under the category (please correct me if I'm wrong im a bit when it comes to my new camera ) 1st one was wrong not the exact same shot, but i did a meter reading of the lighthouse in the second one. Here is my attempt at a silhouette Feel free to give me any tips and pointers on how to improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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