I have been experimenting with back-lighting a flower of a Christmas Cactus – here are some of the results:
All these photos are as ‘just out of the camera’ – they have not been ‘Photoshopped’, just re-sized and watermarked. As I was studying the lighting effects, I have not been too fussy about the background, hence the leaf in the background. All the flashguns are on manual settings – no auto /ttl flash.
This first one is where I had a small flashgun pointing to a translucent panel to provide a white background. There is a flashgun high to the left shining through a translucent panel and a small reflector was held above and to the front reflecting light back onto the front. I was quite pleased with this result. A larger version can be seen in the gallery. The setup is shown below.
Behind the white panel behind the flower is a small flashgun as shown in the side view below:
You can just see the flashgun on the left that shines through the translucent panel. Removing this panel enabled me to try the next 2 photos where I am back lighting from below with a back background:
Both these images were taken under similar conditions – the difference being the use of a reflector held above and to the front of the flower, reflecting light back down onto the subject.
In these next two, they are back-lit from above, the difference between them being the light from the top left and a reflector to the front.
The basic setup for this is shown below:
