back light exposure

[gregoalon]

thanks

Edited November 10, 2004 by grego

[Adam Frisch FSF]

There are no rules, really. Backlight is normally overexposed, but how much, if at all, is pretty much up to you to decide. If it's a medium or a close up of a person, I normally set the backlight by eye to the key. This doesn't mean the key has to be at key, so to speak, but it's good to get one fixed reference from which you gage (sp?) the other lights. Backlight also depends a lot on angle - a light right behind a face needs to be very strong to push through the hair and it will never really create a rim but rather a fringe. If in doubt, err on the overexposure side when you're doing straight backlight - you can always bring it down later.

[Greg Gross]

One of the important things a back light can do is to establish an en-

vironment in the image. Otherwords what I'm trying to say is at least

a foreground and background is established. Sometimes in doing a por-

we want the subject to appear closer to the foreground. One way to do

this is to photograph subject using a black background. Its one way to

make the face appear to come forward visually. My technique: 1. Place

650watt quartz key light high behind the model. Direct it downward onto

his or her shoulders. I want to be sure that this gives a crisp outline to

the head and shoulders against the background. 2. Turn on the diffused

front spot to left of camera. I raise this light to just above my head(its be-

hind the camera) and angled down onto a metallic pedestal mounted re-

flector. I can check the amount of light it is reflecting by passing my hand

through the reflected light. I can actually see the effect it has on the model's

face. Now I have a rest bar that the model can lean forward on(rest on).

This causes the subject to lean forward into the bounced light. 3. I take an

exposure reading of the face(with medium to dark complexion I open up 1

stop for good facial rendition). I talk to subject while I'm shooting looking

for a dynamic expression. My camera room is set up to allow for many ver-

sions of technique. If you looked at the portrait you would see that the back-

ground is lit. There is really no background light. Greg

[gregoalon]

Thanks Alot I appreciate your help

 

AdamFrisch- I look inside your web and i thinks u have vere good pice over ther

 

thanks alon :rolleyes: