Backlight

Also known as back light, backlighting. Category: Lighting and optics

A backlight is a light placed behind the subject. In product photography it is used to brighten the background to pure white or to create a silhouette that separates the product from the background.

How PhotoRobot uses it

PhotoRobot uses a back-lit shot for Freemask background removal. Its studio lighting overview names excessive backlight intensity as one of the most common mistakes: it whitens the background but causes light-wrap, loss of gloss, colour shifts and loss of texture.

  • Light-wrap: Background light spilling around the edges of a product, softening its contours.
  • Freemask: PhotoRobot background removal from a front-lit and a back-lit silhouette shot of the same angle.
  • White background: A background of pure white (RGB 255, 255, 255), standard for e-commerce product images.
  • Diffusion: Scattering light through a translucent material to make it softer and more even.

Where this term appears on photorobot.com

Mentioned on 9 pages of photorobot.com:

  1. Studio Lighting Overview for PhotoRobot Systems (Manual)
    One of the most common mistakes in studio lighting is using excessive backlight intensity for product photography.
  2. Jewelry Photography - Behind the Scenes Production (Blog)
    For photographing jewelry, we also use an integrated light tent, top lights, and backlighting for optimal translucence.
  3. PhotoRobot CASE 850 Portable Studio User Guide (Manual)
    for the heavy backlight of a pure white background.
  4. PhotoRobot PINK User Guide & Instructions for Operation (Manual)
    …LAN Socket (6) Service Doors (7) Patients Telescopic Handlebars (8) Front Lights (9) Back Light (10) Lampshade (11) – parasite light protection Camera Slider Assembly (12) Digital Camera with 50mm…
  5. Product Photo Background Removal and Adjustment (Tutorial)
    This back-lit shot will then serve as a pixel-exact mask within post production.
  6. Mastering Product Photography: Apparel and Clothing (Blog)
    What is more, incorrectly set backlighting can cause a photograph to lose edge-clarity (so-called “light wrap”).
  7. Quick, Easy, and Effective Product Photoshoots with PhotoRobot (Blog)
    With this approach, we take two images from the same angle, one with only the backlight.
  8. What’s New in the November PhotoRobot Software Release (Blog)
    This back-lit shot serves as a pixel-exact mask within post production.
  9. Product Photoshoots with PhotoRobot (Video)
    We take two images from the same angle, one with just the backlight.

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