This is my submission for XDrive Photo Lesson 15 – Backlit Photography. All photos were taken with Nikon D750.
I noticed that I often had a good laugh when I worked on XDrive assignments. Laughing at myself, that is. We had many (too many) miserable gray days lately, so I thought maybe I should start looking for some back-lighted photos in my hard drive. Soon I heard myself keep asking: “is this backlit?” I finally showed my husband one photo and asked for his opinion (You know I usually don’t do that 😉 He said, “NO.”
“But, the sun was in front of me, not behind my back,” I said.
He went on explaining to me what backlit is. As we all know, learning from our own spouse is not easy.
So, do I get a backlit photo if I place my subject in front of 1-pm sun? Well, I know it is not a perfect backlit, but does it count?
Anyway, the light source for the first two photos was a flashlight behind and low to the subject.
The third photo was taken by the window (the sun came out! Yeah!)
The fourth photo was shot with flash on (fill light).
Thanks for visiting my blog.
HHC Blog 
Beautiful photos, Helen!
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Thank you, Pike. I appreciate your comment 😉
Have a wonderful day.
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Pike (see above) is right!
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Thank you, Hien. You guys made my day! 😉 So happy.
Have a wonderful day.
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I can only agree!
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Thank you, Leya. I don’t think we had communicated before, but I already know you are a very nice lady. Every time I see a “like” from you, not only on my blog, but also on others’ blog, I can’t help but smiling. Thanks.
Have a great day.
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Well, “a very nice lady” that makes you smile – that feels quite alright! I will return it to you – and I think I got a real eye opener for your blog through Raj!
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Thank you, Leya.
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I agree with everyone, Helen. I especially like the 1st and 3rd photos.
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Thank you, Lois. Third is probably my favorite; first is my second favorite. I like reflections. 😉
Have a wonderful afternoon and evening.
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wow! gorgeous photos!
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Thank you, Elizabeth. I appreciate your comment.
Have a wonderful evening.
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Very cool, Helen. I like all four, perfect backlit! Well, I got 3 out of five right. 😀
I often wish my husband could help or give me some feedback. 🙂
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Thanks, Amy. I just read your update. I am pretty sure you got all of them right. (I thought you got them right in your previous post, too. ) I guess that’s why we are not the teacher 😉
My husband knows a lot about photographing, and he likes to teach me. The only problem is he likes to teach whenever he wants to and however he likes to. When I ask a question, most of the time, he would said, “I don’t know.” And then followed by, “You can google it yourself.” So I google a lot (which is good). Ha.
Have a great evening.
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I told my husband about my backlit shots and the feedback from Raj (to let him know how good the teacher Raj is…) All he said was why shoot backlit? I think my life depends on Google. 🙂
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LOL. You and me… 😉 Yeah for Google!
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I was waiting for your post Helen, there it is. Thanks
You always show me that you are not a casual photographer, you need to prepare everything before you strike.. just like a surgeon! Yes, the results always speak up. There is always a reward for planned execution in photography!
Pic1: Nice creative work there. The lights and the shadows creating a perfect mystery there. But I would put the glass on the left of the frame probably at 1/3rd fo the width. Why? See the leaning bunch (of flower?) to the right? It needs a breathing space. The space you left currently on the left is unused.
Pic 2: Even though this pic is lit from the same position as first one, it doesn’t show much of the backlit condition. Leaving that is a nice picture! You could have tried portrait mode also.
Pic 3: nice backlit leaf there, nice reflections captured too. Backlight complements the colours of nature always. But centre part of the image looks a bit busy to me. Could have positioned the camera a bit of lower angle that way there could have been a perfect reflection? Thick windows line there is a distraction too.
Pic 4: Great portrait and natural pretty smiling model(daughter?) Fill flash is a must in this situation. But there is an opportunity for great silhouette without the flash too. Glad to see your model holing my camera! 😀 Sometimes back you asked me about “focus peaking” check that out if you still have access to that camera
This critique is part of XDrive’s Photography Learning sessions. Thanks for being here.
Finally, great contribution Helen. I am learning a lot from you and other participants.
Raj
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I was waiting for your comment… 😉 NaBloPoMo takes some time away from me. I, actually, liked to play more. One of my ideas was to select a not-backlit photo and use PP to convert it to backlit. I just wanted to see if you can figure that one out. Ha ha. But it would take too much time for me and time is what I can’t afford at this moment.
Pic 1: At first, I wasn’t sure I agreed. The way it is now, the glass is in the middle, so it is the major subject, and the dried flower is the secondary. (Sometime, I like off-balance photos 😉 I did your way anyway and compared the two for a long while… I mean a long long while, I think I do like your way better. 😉
Pic 2: The candle is too big. I am not sure it would look good in portrait mode either. I like the color. The bottom part does have rim-light, so that made it backlit, doesn’t it? (Even the candle has a little bit of rim light, I think.)
Pic 3: I did take some photos in lower angle. If I am not doing NaBloPoMo, I would take time to exam each one of them.,, I will definitely compare them and see if lower one is better.
Thick windows line — I hate it, too. I was thinking to either get rid of it or copy the narrow line there, but again, to save time I only noted it in my mind.
Pic 4: She is my niece-in-law. I thought you might have the same camera as my nephew does. Now I know. 😉 This is one of several photos I took that evening. Some does have good silhouette in it 😉 I think getting silhouette is probably easier. It took me a while to figure out I should try flash.
Thank you for your feedback. A part of my comment will be in my next post. No, I am not doing part two this time 😉
Have a wonderful day.
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These are all lovely Helen. I love love love the first one. Very creative!
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Thanks 😉 I was a little worried that I had used wine glasses too many times. Ha ha… I can’t help it.
Have a wonderful evening.
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So beautiful Helen!!!
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Thank you, Paulo.
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Wonderful photos Helen .. clever you! I love the leaf .. and your niece-in-law has a beautiful smile!
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Thanks, Julie. It was after I came to U.S., I saw maple trees the first time. I love them so much that every fall I would collect some leaves, dry them and keep them in a box 😉
Have a wonderful day.
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