Trying Out That Backlit Black and White Look
Alright, so I had this idea kicking around in my head for a while. Seen some really striking black and white pictures where the light is all behind the person, you know? Gives that cool outline effect. Decided I had to give it a shot myself.
First thing was figuring out who to photograph. My usual go-to wasn’t free, so I ended up convincing my neighbour’s kid, Tom, to stand in for me. Promised him some pizza afterwards, that usually works. Didn’t need much gear, really. Just my old trusty camera, a lens that’s decent for portraits (nothing fancy, just the one I use most), and my one good off-camera flash. The one that still works, anyway.
Getting Things Ready
We decided to do it in my garage because it’s easy to make it dark in there. Dark background is key for this kinda thing, otherwise the light spills everywhere and you lose the effect. So, steps were pretty simple:
- Cleared out some junk in the garage. Amazing what you find back there.
- Set up a dark blanket as a backdrop. Just pinned it to some shelves.
- Put the flash on a stand way behind where Tom would be standing. Pointed it roughly back towards the camera position.
Took a bit of fiddling to get the light positioned right. Too high, too low, you lose the outline. Moved it around a bunch, took some test shots of a chair. Looked okay eventually.
The Actual Shooting Part
Got Tom to stand between me and the light. Told him just to stand there, look kinda serious. Easier said than done with a teenager thinking about pizza. The main challenge was getting the exposure right. You want the background light bright enough to create that rim light or silhouette, but you don’t want to completely obliterate everything. My camera’s meter was going crazy, obviously.
I basically ignored the meter and did it by eye on the camera screen. Started dark and gradually increased the flash power or adjusted my camera settings. Lots of trial and error. Focusing was a bit tricky too, since the front of Tom was pretty dark. Had to manually focus for quite a few shots. We tried a few different poses, mostly just turning the head slightly, looking left, looking right. Nothing too complicated. The flash kept firing, Tom kept thinking about pepperoni. We got maybe 50 shots in about half an hour.
Making it Black and White
Dragged the photos onto my computer later that night. I shoot in color usually, then convert. Gives me more control, I feel. Used my basic photo software, nothing fancy. Hit the black and white button. Then it was mostly playing with contrast. You really gotta push the contrast for this style, make the bright edges pop against the dark parts. Messed with the highlights and shadows sliders quite a bit until it looked dramatic enough. Some shots were total duds, out of focus or the light was just weird. But a few… a few looked pretty decent.
How It Turned Out
Yeah, pretty happy overall. It’s a simple technique but looks really effective when you get it right. That strong edge light is cool. Definitely gonna try it again, maybe with someone who can hold still longer than a hungry teenager. It’s a good reminder that you don’t always need complicated setups. One light, a dark space, and a bit of patience. Worth trying if you haven’t.
