Flash photography tip: Separating your subject from the background with a hair light

Saturday 17 February 2024, 22:44 by Elja Trum | 2,804 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Is the available light already beautiful, but does your subject blend into the background a little? You can separate your model from the background by using a hair light, also known as a rim light.

You use a flash from behind, aimed at your model's hair. This creates a clear separation between the background and the hair.

Amanda - f/2.8, 1/250s, 125 ISO @ 47mm
You do not have to use a hair light to separate your model from the background. It can also create the effect of pleasant sunshine falling on your model. This gives your photo a summery feel.

You can place the hair light directly behind your model and make sure that, in your photo, the model blocks the flash itself with their body.

A good alternative is to place the flashes diagonally behind your model. Your hair light will then be considerably larger on one side than on the other, but it gives you more freedom of movement.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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