Flash photography tip: Light the background

Saturday 19 April 2025, 15:30 by Elja Trum | 2,507 views | 0 comments

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

The first thought when taking a flash photo may be to light your subject. Often, it can also look great to light the background instead.

You usually do this in combination, but when your model is standing in the doorway of a dark room, for example, just lighting the dark room can also be a great addition to your photo.

Anke - f/7.1, 1/100s, ISO 250 @ 70mm
You can place your flash to the left or right, outside the frame, but placing the flash directly behind your model also works very well. Zoom in a little with your flash to create a spotlight behind your model, drawing even more attention to your subject.

For this photo of Anke, I used a bare flash, zoomed in on the background behind Anke. The background itself is simply a concrete wall in a multi-storey car park.

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