Super Secret Project - Backlighting Tutorial 

Jared, thanks for making all of these vids man. Just getting into serious photography and lets just say that I have a lot to learn. You're vids are making it a lot more of a fun process vs a daunting one.

I liked how strait forward this video was. Helpful thoughts and tips for a tricky photo scenario. Great knowing and seeing what was going on instead of just hearing about it.

Finally, I have been struggling with this for ages and I have not found a solution on ANY youtube video. I appreciate you Jared. Thank you!

Dude you made it so easy to understand.

How about you counter my videos with some of your own and share your opinion so someone can leave nice comments like you just left me. Try being a little more condescending next time when leaving a comment, it really comes across well. This is my opinion, I don't like to shoot directly in to the sun, thats my personal preference. It is up to everyone to choose what works best for them. Please link me to your videos when they are made. Good luck.

Love your commentary and humor! Thanks!

Thanks... Every bit of info helps ..I have been a full time manual user since you started up Appreciate your videos!!!!!!!

@shess0501 you can do that as an option as well just explain your settings so everyone can learn from it.

Hint, instead of going into manual - save time by using exposure compensation :) Im forever using spot metering, and can get a pretty good judgement if the cameras going to over/underexpose at the shutter speed its telling me, so I just quickly throw in some compensation, works every time ;)

Finally a video that made sense!!! Thank you Mr. Fro!!!

Jared - fantastic videos - thank you so much for all your helpful tips! Its wonderful you take the time to actually explain everything to great detail as well as explaining in a way to make complete scene. Keep up the awesome work! Thanks again!

The power of the raw is with you, love it

first to rate? hmmm. jokes. Jared I really appreciate the amount of effort you put in to your videos and edits plus I've learn a lot from them . You convinced me to shoot RAW at all times. Keep up the good job man.

Beautifully explained. Thank you very much for helping us out.

@sinoperture yes i will at some point do that as well.

You can always buy a portable flash and two radio slaves and fill to get properly exposed subjects and background. That's what I have to do to photograph football and cheerleaders at highschools. I never face them towards the sun because they will squint. Backlighting is my only option in these cases. Hope this helps somebody out there. By the way, if you are doing that and the ambient light changes, you can control the exposure with shutter speed and not have to re adjust your flash power.

@ClankyRochet they would never let me cut it because I would end up cutting shapes and words into it lol.

Encountered this scenario today, I don't know if it's because I was trying not to take too long to get the shot and have the subject holding a pose but I drew a blank on how to address it on the spot and decided to try and adjust it in the edit. This is a massive help.

Man, Jared you're wicked awesome. I wish I could personally thank you and shake your hand or something. I'm understanding so much more about photography!

Jared your the biggest help to photographers out there. Love your podcast too!

that was a great tip to use the aperture priority settings a base to start with b/4 going into manual. Thank you!

I love your video tutorials! Thanks!!!!

Great videos Jared! Keep the good work! Greetings from Argentina!

Thanks that info was very helpful I appreciate everything you do. You have help this amateur a lot.

This is great Jared, really helpful man 🙌

Love your tutorials! Very good instructional video. Thank you very much for the same 👍😎

awesome tutorial!!! love all your videos!

great job explaining. I will go practice now!

very great and informative video jared - thanks!

Nice one Jared, picked camera up after watching 2 mins was having great results.

Crystal clear explanation ......... Thank-you very much Sir

love your videos - greatings from germany.

These are great tips for shooting a static or still objects but usually you have to take these kinds of shots very quickly. There is no time to mess about with different exposure modes and calculations. Especially when shooting on film you kinda have to do the compensation math really quickly and just hope for the best.

+Ali Ismail. Yes, with High Speed Sync ( a mode that allows your camera to go above is native flash sync shutter speed. On most cameras that's anywhere between 1/160 and 1/250 sec....even 1/320 on some cameras. Take an exposure of your background without flash first. Expose correctly. Then put your flash and/or camera in High Speed Sync mode, and use fill flash to taste. The problem with that, though, is that sometimes the sun is so bright that you max out your camera's fastest shutter speed but still the background is too bright. At that point it's a little bit of a hassle. You can either stop down your aperture (use a smaller aperture), sacrificing depth of field, or use an ND filter, which eats up more light so your flash has to work that much harder to fill in shadows on your subject properly. This technique seems solid. I'll try this soon.

amaaazing video!! thanks!! this is what i've been looking for!!

you made it easy for me to understand to the point where i want to try it out....

Thanks , very clear explanation

@azngamefreak46 i did that a few days ago, u will see full res shots and all.

Love your shirt!

This is absolute gold

Thanks for the nxt assignment! Love them! :))

How do you manage to have that hairstyle ?

Good one. Would like to see you doing this at the beach just an hour before sunset. That is shooting an object/person at the beach with strong back light (both sun and beach behind the object)

FANTASTIC !!!! Thank you :))))

Great photography

Thats what I do all the time. Makes for amazing photos! Keep you F stop high to make the background darker.

@cndoorack9 no, just shooting.

Another excellent tutorial. For some reason Kermit makes these tips easier to remember...who would've thought?

Hi Jared, I just came back from 2021. No worries! You will get 1.34M subscribers in 2021 and be one of successful youtubers in photography bc I am from 2021~!

Extremely helpful

From heat damage to the sensor and aperture blades due to high energy sun light getting focused by the lens. Focus the light falling through a looking glass on your hand or a piece of paper and see what happens. There are also some videos here on RU-vid of sensors getting fried by laser light shows on concerts.

Thank you very much for this tutorial , but I can ask you a favor on how to set the peedlite on manual step by step...even on Ettl an others...

Jared you should get a 18-55 and shoot with that on the D7000 just for fun and see what you could do with your knowledge and experience, just show you really can do with a simple kit lens that comes with your camera. I don't know about you or others, but I think it would be inspiring.

Tamron 17-50 f2.8...and really that is probably the best option when looking at the price/quality ratio. You got a constant 2.8 aperture which gives you a nice shallow DOF and low light capabilities. Now weddings...If your goal is to shoot weddings just for fun that's ok but if you're serious about it you will have to spent lot's of money. D5100+T17-50 may work as a backup in that case:)

@lighto999 im not a fan of live view personally.

Yered Bro , your video is superbe !

Using spot metering, instead of switching to manual and trying slower shutters, I just stay with the aperture priority mode and play with exposure compensation to get better light. I find that easier.

great video and very informative. Is there a video to show how to expose for people standing in-front of a lake/water so both people and water are exposed correctly? Is this possible without a flash?

"Kermit are you ready for this?" lol

Oke but if i set the exposure higher my skies will be blown out. So what to do of i do want sky in the picture, just under expose it and fix it with editing?

Hi Fro! I photographed a subject recently where we needed a grand outdoor vista behind him. We were protected from direct sun by the structure we stood within. I matched my flash exposure to the daylight behind him. Do you have suggestions on how to tweak a shot like this so they don't look like he was photographed in the studio and composited the shot separately? I have never quite figured this out. Thanks man!

Another fun video from the Fro bro pro! Right now, I've been shooting surfers spraying in the sunset and like to use exposure compensation. I'll experiment with other meterings. Do you have any recommendations for moving objects that are back lit? Also, I dig your concert photos being a big music buff. Thanks! Happy snapping.

You have stuff on weddings. .I'm planning to shoot a wedding in full manual outside and reception inside... what are stuff things to keep in mind...????

Sir what about the baground detail which is blown out??? I want a balance photo where subject and baground both look good

Awesome video Jared. Sweet work, at 6:18 you said "Kermit thee frog here." I chuckled.

Hi Jared, thanks for the vid. Any reason why you didn't recommend using exposure compensation while remaining in aperture priority? I understand your approach helps you learn how to nail your parameters right over a period of time, but to achieve the same outcome for the moment, using exposure compensation without getting into manual mode would do as well (?) Thoughts?

thank you Sir! now i understand better.

Jared, 1st of all I highly respect you as a photographer, you are superb not only at doing the pictures, but explaining... Ive ran into a couple problems when doing a couple of weddings recently.. Outdoors, DIRECT sun IN the faces.. Subjects are washed out, or 1/2 their faces are. What is the best tool to correct in the edit room, and do you bring along a diffuser, OR would you suggest using one at an outdoor wedding, without it being to distracting for the ceremony. THANK YOU!

I have a Canon T6. I always try shooting in manual and no matter how many times I adjust the setting my picture comes out way over exposed to the point that its white. When I shoot indoors or.in shade the opposite happens and its too dark. Any tips?

thanks for the tutorial. when you were shooting at 1/250 s and F4 in the manual mode where you still considering the light meter reading?

Thank you for this video. It made everything....click!

With all the same. how would u adjust ur settings, shooting a group from far away with the same conditions.

Thanks. Good tip

Nice video Jared. Thanks. I would've liked more on this subject though. No mention of using flash or graduated filters which are both standard ways of dealing with direct sunlight I believe. Can we have something on those methods too? Thanks

Why shoot with ISO 200 and not 100? A higher Aperture would help? Thank you for all the help that you provide through your videos.

you forgot the Fuji Film camera

Could you have used a flash as a fill in flash? What setting would you use?

2,3,5 different exposures may work for perfectly still objects and backgrounds. This technique is often used by a landscape photographers.

Kermit is like; “Please just leave me at home dude.”.

absolutely amazing, something that can never be done on a point and shoot camera.. =)

Hey Jared. Newbie to photos here! I have a question. If the sunlight in so strong and present, should´t I go for the lowest iso possible?

jared polin frooknows photo .. i love that intro .. it's legitt

@JaredPolin I'm new to photography and I thought that you shouldn't shoot into the sun. Are you using any special equipment to protect the camera?

Can you use a flash to compensate and get both the background and the frog at the correct exposure?

Everyone tries to use spot metering should learn the Zone System. Spot meter on the green head I would dial EV of -1/3 to -2/3 because the green head is darker than the 18% grey. Then you will get correct reading without having to fiddle with shutter speed after switching to manual.

what if I'm shooting a group of people with a massive backlighting ? which metering mode should I use

kermy are you ready for this hahaha

I've always liked backlighting subjects. Especially portraits because then you don't have squinty eyes and get less shadows on the face.

"the power of the raw is with you" amen!

hahaha! Nice one Fro. "Luke, use the force of the RAW!'

Interesting.. :] 1. Is there any angle that mostly works for flash usage? should you aim towards your person from below? from top? or at his leveled height? 2.I also make video with my 5D2. not just stills, so a diffuser is the way to go for constant light. Problem is..it blinds the hell out of the subject when u use silver side. But when u use the white side- it gives very little fill light. not alot of power to it. wanted to share that if u have any ideas how to deal with this situation? :]

i do a lot of selfies, and i nearly always shoot into the sun, and if i set my camera on auto my images would be useless, you need to expose the image yourself to get the best from a backlit subject. And i adore lens glare too, something that most togs avoid, i actively seek it =)

thank u so much

@lighto999 Live view on pretty much any camera at the moment SUCKS for adjusting exposure. The only good thing about is is for adjusting composition on a tripod or at a super low angle. Also a lot of video is done in "Live View" on Nikon's and other cameras.

Jared, how about using flash to compensate the harsh sunlight? what do you think?

Sweet :] I just remember i saw the from a certain height that you place the flash [above the person or below it]- the shadows look weird on the person. i think when the flash was placed below the subject's eye level- then shadows usually looked weird. i dont know if that goes same for using a flash+umbrella...maybe it spreads light nicer on the person, so it doesnt matter- the height you set it on. Anyways, any links to your work, Frozen? :]

@cndoorack9 he said in the beginning of the video that its againts "the rules" but rules are made to be broken. your dslr is capable of compensating almost any situation. Thats what hes teaching in this video :)

I would say yes. In such scenario, you will be forced to use a flash as the main light for your subject but the problem is that direct, on-camera flash will give you very unpleasant results (flat and harsh front lighting on your subject). The best thing would be to move the subject into the shade or buy a proper strobe equipment and learn how to use it...

Hi, how a correct histogram looks like in backlight portraits (in those sunny days)?

@JaredPolin What would you do?