Top Tips: Rim lighting in Portraits

Before I start I'd like to apologize for not posting in so long. The past few weeks have been pretty busy for me and I've been struggling to decide what to write next. Turns out, this is what I decided on, so let's get right into it!

 

Rim lighting is a technique that uses a light from behind to create a rim of light around the edges of the subject. In the image below you can see a bright rim around the model's hair.

There are lot's of ways you can use rim lighting. You can make silhouettes, or light the face to keep the detail. You can have a dark theme, or a light theme. It all depends on what you want to do and what fits your personal style.

But I'm not just gonna talk about what rim lighting is--I'm guessing you're reading this because you're interested in doing it yourself, am I right?

Okey, so let's learn how!

Tip One: Light your subject from behind

As I said earlier, the light coming from behind your subject (in this case my little sister) is the light that creates your rim light. I put a light right behind her head to create this effect. For a more subtle effect you can also place the light further back or to one side (and out of the frame obviously...unless you want it in the frame, which sometimes can create an interesting effect if done correctly)

Tip Two: Use a second light

Unless you're looking to create a silhouette, having a second light source is not optional. There's no way to light the front of the face unless you have another light source. In my case, the second light source was an umbrella light. I used an umbrella with a reflective silver surface on the inside and a matte, black surface on the outside. This let me turn the umbrella to direct the light where I wanted it to go because the light could not go through the umbrella as well as if it were, say, a white diffusion material.

If you absolutely have no extra light to use, a reflect could also work. You could reflect some light from the back-light onto the face to bring in more detail there and that could totally work too.

Tip Three: Bring up the contrast

Contrast is your friend when you're dealing with rim lighting. It brings out the back-light and shadows to create the dramatic rim-lit effect. Don't go too overboard though; too much of a good thing can be disastrous.  

Well that's it for this post. I hope you learned a little something! Now it's your turn to go out there and make your own amazing rim lighting effects in your portraits. (or anything else you want to try rim lighting for that matter!)  And if you found this helpful, don't forget to subscribe so you wont miss any future posts!