Backlighting

This is where the lighting for the scene shines directly towards the camera and through or around the subject. It can make the exposure difficult to work out because the camera’s light meter needs to work out whether to set the exposure for the bright background or your subject, but it produces striking lighting effects. With portrait subjects it gives attractive ‘rim-lighting’ effects around the hair and it can give transparent or translucent subjects like stained glass windows a rich, luminous colour.