LEARN HOW TO USE A HOME STUDIO KIT FOR STUNNING RESULTS
1 Light source
The key piece of kit for backlighting is a movable light source, ideally with a light stand. We’ve used an Elinchrom home studio head here: a mains-powered light like this is perfect for a home studio setup. The lights can be triggered either with a wireless trigger or optically after detecting another flash.
2 Dark backdrop
A dark, uncluttered backdrop will help to focus attention on your subject, and will contrast with the edge highlight created by the backlighting. We’ve used a roll of vinyl that is white on one side and dark grey on the other, but a plain wall or a blanket strung up will work just as well.
3 Camera settings
Here’s a good stock setting for a studio flash setup like this. Set your camera to Manual exposure mode with ISO100. Set the shutter speed to 1/200 sec and the aperture to f/8. Take a test shot, then either increase or decrease the power of the light source, or open or close your aperture until it looks right.
4 Rear light
The positioning of the rear light is crucial. We want to lift the edge of the body, and we usually want to leave the front of the subject in shade. There’s no right or wrong. Start by placing the light source just behind the subject to one side, angled towards the camera, then experiment by moving it forwards or back.
5 Posing
Posing your subject is vital. You don’t want them to be looking at the camera, because their face will be in deep shade unless you have a fill light to lift the shadows. Better to have them looking off to the side, or with eyes down. This creates more of a thoughtful pose that’s perfect for our pregnant subject here.
6 Bracket exposures
Here, a fill light is positioned to the left side of the subject to lift the shadows in the face. It’s set at a lower power than the light used to backlight the subject on the right. You can see that it lifts the hair and the subject’s left shoulder. If you prefer to keep things dark and moody, though, stick to a single light.
Top tips for backlighting
In general for portraiture, it’s better to use a large light source, like a softbox, rather than a small light source, like a bare flash. Look at the difference here between the bare flash used in this image and the softbox lighting in tip 3. The large
