Click It Up a Notch

clickitupanotch.com · Feb 6, 2015

How to use Backlighting for Food Photography

Backlighting is one of those beautiful lighting techniques that is so easy to achieve, you’ll wonder why you didn’t try it before. All you really need are some good windows with some nice light, a reflector & the right angle!

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Place your subject with the window light behind it. The light should be spilling in enough that if you placed a reflective surface under the window you’d see a reflection.

Place yourself on the opposite side of the subject & get at a level where you can see the light on the back of your subject. Getting right about the same level as your subject will be a great place to start shooting.

Use a reflector to bounce the light back onto the front of the subject so the front isn’t shadowed. The reflector I’m using actually came from my table lamp.

You can see this image is perfectly fine, but it doesn’t have the glow of the backlighting because of the angle I was at.
In this image I was low enough the back could really let that light shine in.

Have you ever attempted backlighting in food photography? Was it easier than you originally thought?

Author information


Trisha Hughes
Trisha is the founder & author of {EYB} Eat Your Beets, & a mother to 4 kiddos. She’s never said no to a fabulous pair of shoes. FacebookGoogle
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