Note: This is the first of four articles exploring four different kinds of natural light you can use in your photography.

Ever been told not to shoot into the light? Forget it.

Backlighting is one of those effects that looks difficult and expensive but isn’t all that tough to achieve. With a little knowledge even a budget-bound beginner is able to make use of this cool effect.

Here’s the quick version: A backlit image is an image in which a light source is behind the main subject. This offers the potential for several interesting effects. If the back light is weak and other light sources are strong, the back light simply acts as a hair light or a rim light to separate the subject from its background. If the back light is the primary light in an image, it can be so strong that the subject becomes just a silhouette.

See exactly how it all works after the jump.

Photo by Pensiero on Flickr.

The Hair Light

Photo by Danny Tamayo, Jr. on Flickr.

Also known as a kicker, the hair light is a great use of a back light to create separation in an image.

Here’s the situation: You are taking a portrait of a woman with brown hair against a darker background. One problem you face is that it is difficult to create a whole lot of contrast in an image like this - the tone of the women’s hair and the background behind her are somewhat similar, so the two blend together to the eye. What exactly can be done?

Backlighting helps to solve the problem. By placing a light source behind and perpendicular to the woman’s head, you’re able to create separation using light. The woman will block most of the light that the back light produces, but some of it will spill over from behind her body, giving her a bit of glow. This provides the contrast a scene like this desperately needs, and you can fine tune just how strong the glow is by changing the intensity of the light. It’s a cool effect that many photographers don’t take the time to use.

Backlighting for Silhouetters

Photo by Sahrizvi on Flickr.

Backlighting for silhouettes is the type of backlighting that is probably more familiar to most people. In an image like this, the back light is, by far, the primary light source of an image, overpowering everything else. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a strong light source by itself - there just has to be a strong difference between the back light and the ambient light in a scene.

Typically when you take a photo, the camera meters on the subject to get an a proper exposure reading. With this type of image, you want to meter to the brighter background. The result is that the subject itself will be underexposed, and, as long as your exposure settings are correct, completely black. The sun is a typical choice for a back light in silhouette photography, but I’ve seen cool images with all sorts of different sources - even a fish tank.

Be aware that this effect has become somewhat cliched. Use it on occasion - just don’t get addicted to it.

Backlighting for Translucence

Photo by Clearly Ambiguouson Flickr.

One final type of backlighting is backlighting for translucence. This is when a back light is used to illuminate a semi-transparent object like a leaf or a flower. In an image like this, backlighting can produce a natural-looking exposure that serves to better illuminate the texture and feel of an object. There’s nothing gimmicky about it - in fact, backlighting is often the best way to approach an image like this.

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