In a light edit of this post before republishing it on 28 November, 2025, I was struck by two things:
1) Serious professional photographers take the technique of shooting a subject with a light source behind them (i.e. backlit) very seriously. I highly recommend watching Martin Castein's recent YouTube video about this technique, at Shutterbug.com
(Restrictions on that page require you to paste this URL into your browser. I cannot embed the link. But the slight effort is worth it!) https://www.shutterbug.com/content/3-backlit-photo-techniques-all-shooters-must-know-video
2) I continue to love my "Dark Brooding Visions" gallery. I have added more images this week! (and again in January 2026).
Here is one of the photos I am talking about:
Snag near Flagstaff Medical Center at dawn, 11/27/25
This post about light and dark is related to my more recent galllery-creation, Dark Brooding Visions. Think about it though: I am sure backlit subjects have SOME emotional quality, but in "Dark Brooding Visions" the emotional quality of darkness is the whole point, and dark far outweighs light or brightness. Visit that gallery and see for yourself!
May 2025 Blog
light, dark, backlit subjects
I have been working quite consciously on taking a shot in which the light on a subject contrasts with what's around it. the A frontlit subject can be boring but I've been making such subjects stand out. I show three backlit photographs first, then two frontlit subjects. The second of those two is quite unique.
Note that backlit means light coming toward the lens but back of the subject, NOT behind the lens. And frontlit means from behind the lens but striking the front of the SUBJECT.
See how the light comes from behind the deer in the first shot below?
On a recent (mid-May 2025) morning, the sun just about to breach the horizon lit up this deer from behind. It was a backlit subject I HAD TO photograph.
At a freeway rest area in late afternoon with a great westerly view, this backlit tree beckoned me.
Dark-eyed juncos like this are just about an all-year presence in Flagstaff, Arizona. Snow can also fall almost any month, but this photography was taken the day after a March 7, 2025 snowstorm. Trees are still mostly bare then, presenting no obstacles to the sun rising behind this backlit junco.
I actively sought the moment when dappled sunlight struck these goslings on their way into a narrow dark channel connected to a pond.
Is this backlit? Frontlit? The problem is that it was shot before dawn, and the sun was probably going to rise behind the lit-up structures, but I am not sure! The structures are power lines! The starry sky forms a great background , with some extra dawn light spilling onto the bottom of the photo.
Please visit my Photography Techniques page! I update it regularly. Of course light and dark are important in all photography techniques. Many of them I explore in other blogs and galleries linked to my Techniques page!