Who doesn’t love a glowing background? There’s something so gorgeous about an abundance of light taking over a photo- casting the perfect light on your subject. To do this, place your subject in front of a light source (in this case, we used the sun) and don’t be afraid to experiment. There’s no right or wrong it’s all about placing your subject in the right place and once you have your settings in place- have your subject experiment with different poses, which allows the sun to peek through various body movements. The outcome really is beautiful and has a tendency to have a vintage and classic look.
When we took these photos, Kelli placed Emma directly in front of the sun and then let her pose so that the light leaked through it different ways.
The best time of day to experiment with glowing light is during the magic hour or anytime when the sun is lower in the sky. This makes it easier to pose your model in front of it!
Sun flare is a natural occurance that can be unpredictible. You can find this light when posing your model in front of the sun. You’ll be able to see it through your camera’s viewfinder as you move around and find the perfect position! Try these simple techniques next time you are out shooting photos and we think you’ll be pleased with the results! Have a great weekend! Kelli, Elsie + Emma
87 Comments
So cute. Where are those glasses from!?
http://aneclecticheap.blogspot.com/
Love the photos and love the sunglasses 🙂
Love these photos! Makes me want to go out and play with my camera
Cori… YAY! That’s what we were hoping for!!! Happy weekend!
Lovely!
Very lovely I love back lit photos.
Love these! Emma’s such a beauty no matter what the lighting though. 🙂
Don’t forget to use a filter to protect your CCD 🙂 It’s a very important detail that you don’t want to overlook.
Thanks, Katie!
I LOVE using backlighting. It gives photographs such a dreamy feeling!
I love these posts! Puts logic behind all of the things that have happened on a beautiful accident so I can make them happen again!
I love sun flares! Thanks for the great tips!
-Miranda
http://paperthoughtsfabricdreams.blogspot.com
Gorgeous photos! Thank you for the detailed information.
Lovely pics, thanks for the tips.
A jewelry blog.
http://www.houseofavandan.blogspot.com
she looks gorgeous! http://www.WearAboutsBlog.com
CHICTOPIA
love this series you started. Super helpful! I love this style of photos, with a flare from the sun…so dreamy.
These are so pretty. I love photos where the sun is getting low in the sky. It hits in such pretty ways :).
So happy you have this photography series going! Such helpful tips!
Much love, Vivi
http://www.vivikstyle.blogspot.com
I love the way the sun plays with colors– another fantastic tutorial, & I can’t wait for the next installment!
http://aclosetintellectual.blogspot.com/
These are such great pictures 🙂 I have got to try this this weekend! Great post!!
Great advice! I’m so excited about this photography series you’ve put together!
I loooove working with the sun – its my favorite prop! I shoot with toy cameras and love how unpredictable the pictures always turn out. Thanks for sharing your tips!
xx Ashleigh
http://www.ashflynn.blogspot.com
Giving my new pentax a wild work out with all these red hot tips. Thanks Girls!
happiness…
dannelle@nestenterprises
http://nestenterprises.typepad.com
So happy about this photographing tips, I’m learning so much!
Great advice, thank you!
I want to try this!
http://babybakerlove.blogspot.com/
such a wonderful little tip. you’re awesome.
Great post and great pictures ladies! I love using the golden hour in pictures, even doing my best to use it to our advantage for my sister’s wedding, as well as mine this summer. I found these two neat apps for my Droid that let you track light, sun and moon to a freaky-accurate degree.
TPE, or The Photographer’s Ephemeris shows you exactly how the sun and the moon move across the land, and the angles of rays. For that matter, I use it to figure out plant placement by date in the garden.
Even more addictive is Sundroid, which can tell you the sunset, moonset, sunrise, moonrise, dawn, dusk, and golden hours, moon phase and planetary alignments for the day your grandparents got married. Both are geek heaven.
Absolutely love the blog, and Elsie, you are so Zooey Deschanel I can hardly stand it. Love.
Love this new series as I am a new blogger & these tips definitly help thanks Elsie 🙂 p.s i don’t think definitly is spelled like that it looks weird ha. Idk? Lol. http://fancycuteness.blogspot.com
Love this! thanks for the tips:)
Love,
Stephanie May*
http://www.maydae.com
Super cute! My boyfriends sister and I are signed up for a photography course some weekend soon, but I doubt they’ll teach us cute, awesome little tricks like this! Thanks for sharing 🙂
http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/
super great pics!
georgia
http://swonderfulgd.blogspot.com/
Gorgeous photos and wonderful tips as well! Thanks!
I love doing this!
I always loved this sort of photography, but never really thought about how to achieve it. It is so simple! Thanks for the mini tutorial! x
I have found a lot of the times when shooting like this, my subject is too dark, so what you can also use is a reflector to reflect some of that sunlight so your model is illuminated as well! And reflectors are easy to make: just cardboard, glue or tape, and some aluminum foil. 🙂
I love the sun flare!
haha great photos. i like the contrast and your glamourous sunnies
Sun flares are so beautiful! It was one of the photo requests we listed for our wedding pics – they turned out amazing!
Thanks for the tute – Emma looks so beautiful!
Luvluv
Sway
Love the effect this gives!
Emma x
So lovely – I LOVE lens flare. Helps that Emma’s the perfect model!
Had a little experiment with it myself on the blog recently: http://laramcspara.blogspot.com/2012/01/home.html
Always looking for an opportunity to reposition friends and family in outdoor shots 😉
gorgeous images, backlit portraits are the best 🙂
so beautiful light!
with love,
your opinion is VERY important for me!http://chocarome.blogspot.com/
Dear Elsie,
These photos are BEAUUUTIFUL. Someone said to protect your lens from the sun by filtering your ccd? What is that? Also.. what is the “magic hour”
Thank you, love!
your friend Polly 😀
I love all the photography tips!
http://www.weatheredrosevintage.com/
those are awesome pics!! thank u for the tips =)
These are great! When I’ve played with backlighting the subject often ends up too dark or with harsh shadows. Is it the time of day that is key or does you use certain settings?
Ah! I wish I could take such pretty pictures!
I’m just learning photography techniques and this is going helpful. Thanks! =)
Julie
http://julies-thisandthat.blogspot.com/
I would definitely recommend using a reflector for these shots. Generally the behind your subject will make them appear dark or you have to adjust your settings and then the sky is all white, which is not good when there are great clouds that should be in the image too!
Don’t worry about buying something expensive, just buy a piece of white foam core and hold it infront of your subject until you can see the light on their face and it will instantly brighten the image.
I love using backlighting and sun flares in my images!
http://www.kaitlinelisephotography.com
Great look! i love your top! XOXO
such a gorgeous tutorial, clear and inspiring!
xx
-S
http://www.gingerandlace.blogspot.com
lalala LOVE this top!! Inspires me to be in the sun this weekend and snapping away! xoxo
Amazing sunnies!
http://4eyednerd.blogspot.com
Great pictures, posing in front of the sun can be so trick and so amazing looking, it’s really the most natural light, and therefore the most beautiful I feel.
LOVE glowing backgrounds!!! 🙂
Thanks for the tips!
Hope you are having a great weekend! With a lot of sun! 🙂
I do this all the time… by accident!
Wow! I thought pictures taken with the sun in the background would turn out dark. But these pictures are beautiful. 🙂
these photos are gorgeous, both the model and the lighting. 🙂
Love this! Thank you for the photo tips! 🙂 so helpful ladies! Xx
these pictures are incredible!
great tips, thank you so much for sharing this
Beautiful photos. I try to peek back at your photo tips all the time and think of them when I’m photographing!
I used this advise today! thanks so much!
Beautiful Pictures! I want to try this!!
HauteStandards
I love this style of photography. The sun adds such a wonderful light element to the photos. Great post.
http://shannonhearts.blogspot.com
Great tutorial! I actually just took a bunch of photos with sun flare; I think it’s my absolute favorite look in photos 🙂
http://thejoyfulfox.blogspot.com
Thank you for the tips. Such pretty photos too. xx
annieshomemadeheaven.blogspot.com
i love this, this time of the day always makes the best pictures!!
Amazing photos! Been using that “trick” for years myself too 😉
if only the sun would shien here in London…
L.
http://snakeskinjacket.wordpress.com/
This post inspired me to take some of my own pictures with sunlight!
I thought the results turned out great, thanks for the post!
Love it !!!
Love the look on the whole blogg !!
this is mine – please look and give feedback ! I totally new at this 😛
http://sandrabensoussanistryingsomethingnew.blogspot.com/
I can’t wait for the next sunny day to try this. =]
Wow! Thanks for the tips 😀
emma is absolutely georgous in these shots!!! youre right, just a slight change of position and the pictures jump to the next level!
love!!!!!
Thats a great tip… Thanks!
whoa.
This is so gorgeous! I am going to have to make at least one!
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awesome!
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Just wanted to give you a shout from the valley of the sun, great information. Much appreciated.
Love how the dark jeans go with the light shirt against the sun light, definitely something fun to play with!
http://www.doyoubelievenmagic.blogspot.com
This is next on my agenda! Love it!
http://therandompursuitofcreativity.blog.com/
your teeth look retarded in the last two pictures.
They are very nice photos
http://styleinasuitcase.blogspot.com.es/
I feel like I can actually use these posts since my “real camera” came in. Lol.
Thank you!