Film grammar / Lighting
Backlighting
Light from behind the subject: rim, halo, silhouette.
What it is
Backlighting places the main source behind the subject. Hair and shoulders glow, dust and smoke light up, and with no fill the subject becomes a silhouette.
When to use it
Golden hour sports commercials are almost entirely backlit.
How to prompt it
Add what the light hits: "sun behind her creating a rim of light on her hair, dust glowing in the air".
Backlit, a sprinter crouched in the starting blocks on an empty stadium track at night, floodlights behind creating lens flare.
13 examples in the library
Inside the Barrel
trackingwide
Set
slow push-inmedium
Eight Seconds
handheldmedium
Drop In
trackingwide
Nets
handheldmedium
Silhouette
staticfull
Launch
slow tilt-upextreme-wide
Summer Gang
trackingwide
Goodbye
slow orbitmedium