Back Lighting for Food Photography

Focus : Plum and Salted Honey Galette with Sour Cream Cornmeal Crust , www.jonathanthompsonphotography.com

How to achieve back lighting for your food photography

Plum and Salted Honey Galette with Sour Cream Cornmeal Crust , www.jonathanthompsonphotography.com

 

Hi gang, lets talk about back lighting today. One of the most used lighting techniques for food photography is back lighting. You may not have known it’s name, which frankly isn’t very snappy, but you will have seen it all over the show. So lets dive in and take a look at how it’s achieved.

 

Pear Tart Tatin, JTP-Back Lighting-2025

Back lighting is, as it sounds, lit from the back or behind your subject.  In order to shoot back light the camera has to be positioned in front of the the subject and the light source. The shadows fall to the front of the subject. They have to lie opposite the light direction, something to do with science I’m told. Shadows will always appear on the unlit side of any object. Take a look at other food photos. Notice where the shadows lie and the main light source will be coming in from the exact opposite direction. Shadow are our friends, they give depth and dimension, which is a good thing.

Usually your focus is on the subject in the foreground , you expose for that part of the frame. The light in the background will be very bright and maybe blown out. (Blowing out is the term we use when parts of the image are so over exposed the pixels on the sensor show completely white) This all depends on the exposure and style you are going for. So in order to bring the shadows and highlights closer together in range, you’ll have to do a little dance of light.

Broccoli Soup,www.jonathanthompsonphotography.com

Make sure the focus point of the image has the exposure you are going for. If the backlight is really bright you’ll probably find the shadows are too dark nearest the camera. The stronger the back light, the darker the shadows will be. Then you can bring in a white reflective surface to bounce some of the back light back in towards the subject. Any white surface will do. This will lift the shadows a little, making them less dark. You’d place the white reflector as close to the front edge of the subject, facing towards the subject but just out of frame. If you’re using window light, as you move the reflector in close you’ll visibly see the shadows lightening up. If the back light is too much you can bring in extra diffusion to the light source, therefore cutting down how much light there is and making the light softer, via the diffusion, at the same time.

In the image below you’ll see my defuser in front of the window, lowering the amount of light hitting the subject and simultaneously softening the light through diffusion.

Back Lighting BTS, wwwjonathanthompsonphotography.com

Back Lighting, Chicken Pot Pie, www.jonathanthompsonphotography.com

If you find the shadows are still too dark with the white reflector you can do a few things. Please remember, shadows are what defines depth and shape, they are your friend, so don’t eliminate the shadows all together.

  • Bring in a silver reflector, a fancy photography one or silver aluminium cooking foil. With it’s extra reflective properties the shadows will be lifted significantly compared to the white. Small mirrors are also very popular to use to bounce light back in towards the subject and in some cases, very accurate. With mirrors you target the mirror, very much as you would if it was a flash light.
  • Move the whole scene closer to the light source, the window in this case. This increases the light overall, therefore increasing any light being reflected back into the shadows. This may not be something that works on every shot, but it’s worth a try before giving up.
  • Decide to go with the in camera look you have, with the reflectors in place. Then bring up more of the shadows in post production.

If the shadows are now too light, simply move the reflector further away from the subject. The amount of reflected light, filling the shadows, will decrease.

So that’s it for a quick look at back lighting. If you have any questions please leave it in the comments and I’ll answer them as soon as I can. I’ll leave you with this little lighting diagram which I hope will help you set up your very own shot.

 

Food Photography Back Lighting from window

 

Thanks for visiting.

See you back here very soon.

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