Creating Rim Light | #20

Rim light, back light, hair light… whatever you want to call it, can add that extra sparkle to your photography. I don’t use it all the time, but sometimes it really makes my subject pop.
Creating a rim light can be achieved by using natural light, like the sun, or an off camera flash. Below I’ve posted an example of a rim light that I created using a 580EX II flash(strobe). I mounted the strobe to a light stand and placed it directly behind the subjects head. It’s easiest if you have your strobe on manual mode so you can control the brightness. You don’t want it to be too bright, so adjust it to a medium brightness that will draw attention to your subject and not to the flash behind them.
If you don’t have access to off camera flash then you can use the sun. The bottom picture was taken in the evening, I used on camera flash to light up her face and the sun served as the rim light.
Good luck and practice with this a bit. It might take you a few tries to get it just right.
(left) No rim light | (right) Rim light added with strobe
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(below) Natural rim light provided by the sun
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