That’s the topic of this week’s assignments for my class. I learned a lot this week about light, especially backlight. And mostly in post-processing. I’d always instinctually backlit my subjects whenever shooting in full sun so it was nice to have that reinforced in the class. But the post-processing I learned really helped me with a lot of my weak spots in editing photos.

I thought I’d share my before and after for some of my assignments.

I went all out and used all 3 of my available models this week for experimenting photographing in full sun. As you can tell, I backlit my subjects in these pictures (please excuse the lack of creative composition) and tried different angles to see what the sun did to my shots. I  intentionally wanted a hazy/gray image to work on my post-processing that I learned.

I also  learned the importance of a reflector when backlighting my subjects. It definitely balances the light out and made my post-processing so much easier and minimal! I could really tell in this shot below of Rex. It also created natural catch lights in his eyes. So happy Santa brought me such a nice reflector for Christmas!

One of the assignments I worked on was shooting during the Golden Hour. The time of the day when the sun is close to the horizon and casts this gorgeous warm light on everything it touches.

I used my golden boy for this shoot. I had another Skylander character I had been saving for him and used the promise of that to get a cooperative model! It worked! We have had an amazing few days of warm sunshine here in SF and I capitalized on it by taking him to the beach to get these shots. I even downloaded an app that told me exactly when the Golden Hour started and ended in SF!

I’m not going to lie, I struggled a lot with post-processing these images. This is the point where I wish I could interact with the instructor and other students to get feedback on what I’m doing. So if you see something wonky in my colors, skin tones and edits please please offer any advice or recommendations you have! I  wanted to use a reflector for this shoot but since it was just me and Rex and the 20mph SF wind at the beach, I couldn’t prop it against my legs and body like I had originally intended to. I really needed an assistant here. I think I would not have struggled as much processing these had I used a reflector.

The things I am happy with was that I managed to created that halo effect around my subject and give his hair that warm glow. I struggled a little with the flare too though. *sigh*

It was really great to work on these assignments. I’ve learned a lot in week 2 about backlight and full sun and how to edit both styles of photos. And also, I got to spend some quality time with my boy at the freezing beach! Ha!

The kid is up 2 Skylander characters and a couple of fun excursions. He’s likely loving my photography workshop more than me!