(If you want to watch the video go to The Slanted Lens on YouTube!)
Backlight versus shade. We’re going to take a look at which one of those makes the best portrait. I’ve got Abigail here with me today. So let’s look at backlight versus shade here on The Slanted Lens.
So I’m going to start off by putting our model in the shade. It’s just an easy way to work, especially here. We’ve got trees everywhere. So we can slide her into the shade. And now as I look around I can choose a lot of different background options. I can look towards the sun. I can look away from the sun. It just all depends on what looks good to me and what’s going to be a nice background.
So here’s my setup for shade. I’ve got her right on the edge of the shade. You can see that she’s right, just right on the edge. I’m in the shade but the reflector is just outside. I’m basically shooting in the shade but I’m using the dark shadows, which is back lit, to give me the dark background behind her. But I could shoot 360 anywhere here. 
So normally we can put our reflector up with just a stand. But the wind’s a little, it’s a little windy here today. So it’s blowing our reflector around, so Julene’s holding it. So let’s take a look at the image with the reflector versus the one without the reflector. That’s the difference. So I definitely need that reflector right on that edge of the shadows to be able to bounce a little light back into her face. But now she’s in complete shade. Let’s shoot some images, shoot, shoot, shoot.
So here are my camera settings. I’m going to shoot this on A/V mode. 
The reason I choose A/V mode is because I want to choose my aperture, f/2.8. I’m going to let the background fall way out of focus. 
At that point I don’t care what the shutter does. I’m going to do 100 ISO. 
I’ll just watch that shutter and just make sure that as a shutter it doesn’t get too low. But it won’t out here. It’s pretty bright even though we’re in the shade. So f/2.8, A/V mode at 100 ISO and then I’m going to shoot away. 
I’m shooting on a 70-180mm. This is a Tamron lens for Sony, f/2.8 lens. And I’m choosing that lens because I’m going to be at the very end of that 180mm. I want the background to fall way out of focus. It’s just a style of shooting that I think looks really beautiful and gives us a simple out of focus bokeh type background. So here’s some more of the images shot with that reflector in the shade. It’s beautiful.
Couple of quick tips here. One, you got to have something to push the bottom of that reflector out. I’ve seen people use a PVC pipe with a tea on the end of it that they clamp onto the bottom of the stand. Because in order to get an effect, really an effective solution for a reflector, this has got to kick out on the bottom. I do want it up high so it’s above her. I don’t want it coming in under her. But because it’s bouncing off the sun it’s going to be lighting more her lower body. I want to light her face. 
So I’ve got a bunch of A-clamps here which turned out to be kind of a ridiculous solution but I forgot my PVC T. So that’s going to have to be A-clamps today.
Secondly, bring a little stool. I mean Abigail is not taller than me so I can get up to a point where I can shoot in to be able to give her a nice look at her face. I want to be slightly above her eyes. If I’m shooting someone my same height when I put my camera here I’m way low. I’ve got to get up on a small stool. I use a little collapsible stool. It’s very easy to use to get myself up a little higher to be able to get just above the eyes or eye level.
So there’s my setup in the shade. Now I’m going to shoot, shoot, shoot.
So when it comes to protecting your photo and your video gear, investing in a solid case is just not a good idea, I think it’s pretty essential. That’s why I trust all my stuff to SKB. I put all my hard stuff in hard cases when I fly with it. I use a backpack whenever I’m out on the road and moving around. They’re just, they’re like tanks. They are built and made to be taken anywhere. 
They’re waterproof. They’re dustproof. They’re crush proof. I’ve run over them with a car. I’ve dropped them in the pool. I’ve done all those kinds of things. So whether you’re hiking with a backpack or you’re flying with all your stuff in hard cases, the weather’s unpredictable, you just never know what you’re going to encounter. And they’re safe in an SKB case. 
The interior is completely customizable. You can change your camera bodies around, your lenses, everything fits in there nice and snug so it’s not going to bounce around. Whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist you pay a lot of money for your gear. So it’s important to protect it. All it takes is one drop and then you’ve spent thousands of dollars on replacing gear. 
So with an SKB case you’re not just carrying the gear around in it, you’re protecting your investment. So that piece of mind never looked so tough.
So now let’s move Abigail out into the sun and let’s look at backlight. The nice thing about shooting with a backlight is that I can shoot anywhere. Really, I can’t shoot anywhere because I don’t want the sun on her face like this. The background’s bright, the light on her face is bright. It’s just too much. If I come around she’s just more in direct sun. 
It’s going to be really hard to make that look good unless I put up some kind of a translucent. So as I come around more and more all this area really is not going to look good for me because I want the light off her face and I want to look into the shadows. There we go.Once we cross that shadow line now I have complete control. But if I come around just a little bit I’m looking at the background going it’s okay. But now when I get in here, now I’ve got some beautiful dark background that’s going to look great with the bokeh on it. That’s where I’ve got to be. So even though it’s a backlight I can’t just put her anywhere. I’ve got to shoot with a backlight into the dark shadows in the background. But that’s the advantage of a backlight. You can do that and it looks really beautiful. So we’re going to start right here.
So not only do I love a backlight just because I don’t have to find shade, I can put her just about anywhere. And two I can put this reflector anywhere. I can get it in tight to make it really bright. I can back it out. I’ve got complete access to the sun. When I get out here I’m not trying to find the edge of the shade. Try to work it in, that becomes a little difficult sometimes. But out here I can put it anywhere. Also I get a beautiful rim light on her hair. So now I’ve got the advantage of two lights basically. I’ve got the key light and I’ve got a rim light. And I’m looking into that dark background. So I have just a beautiful two light setup when I come out and use a backlight as my key light.
One of the downsides of a backlight is that you got to be really careful about the exposure on the hair. That backlight, lighter hair is going to look very bright. It becomes very difficult to use an aperture priority because in aperture priority it’s trying to expose for the face. That means that highlight on the hair is going to get way overexposed. 
So I’ll go back to manual. I’ll set my manual mode and start to just bring that at f/2.8. Bring the shutter to where I get a nice exposure on the hair. Even then, sometimes I’ll get like too bright. On her jumper is very bright with that backlight. So I have her throw her hair over that jumper. That kind of brings that exposure down and makes that look a little better. 
So you have to work with backlight a little bit to be able to make sure it’s going to be successful. I’ve seen people take a flag and just throw that up or a translucent just to take a little light off the shoulders. But I think you can make backlight look really beautiful and just basically a two light setup. So we’re going to shoot away here. Let’s shoot, shoot, shoot backlight.
So you’ll notice that I don’t have this reflector very close to her. I’ve backed it way off compared to when we were working in the shade. And the reason for that is that I’ve got hard direct sun on that. If I get it too close to her it just blows her face out. It just looks too lit. But if you back it off it’ll just clean up the shadows and bring a little warmth to the face. It just looks really pretty. 
So that reflector is going to be out a little further when I’m doing a backlight because it has such a strong sun hitting it. It depends on where the sun hits it and if you got some shade in the way or whatever. But generally speaking I’ll pull that reflector out a little bit and let it be a little softer on the face. So here’s some of the images. Let’s take a look at backlight with the reflector versus without the reflector.
So let’s wrap this up. Backlight versus shade, for me it’s backlight all the way. I just love the fact that you get that second light on the hair. I love the fact that it gives you more options of where to set up. You are going to need to look into a dark background so you don’t have the entire world to look at. But it just gives you beautiful light. If I’m out on location and I have to shoot I look for locations where I can shoot into a backlight. It’s just a my favorite way to work. Especially when the light gets low towards the end of the day. 
That backlight, the rim on the hair becomes warm. It looks beautiful. It’s just a beautiful way to shoot. So I love shooting with a backlight with a little reflector, bouncing in or a strobe light. Either one of those makes a beautiful portrait. So I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you learned a little bit about shooting outside. So you keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’!
