Rim light / pop to mountain biker
by mudanomanRider: John Hauer, Location: Cupertino, CA
One of the things I wated to experiment with this shot is to bring some pop to the rider and isolate it from its rather cluttered background. This is actually one of the few times I have positioned a flash behind the subject to created the effect and something I may have to consder doing more often as it seems to be quite effective.
Some of the difficulties of setting up this shot is flash placement relative to where you want to frame the rider (in the case of mountain biking, always dynamic), shadows projected from the light source, and potential blown areas /”glare” from the flash.
I admit that there are many flaws to this photo, but overall I am quite impressed at how the rim light brought punch to the rider and made it stand out. For my next attempts, I plan to position the light source further away and maybe even utilize a snoot of some sort to better isolate the source. I’ll share a setup diagram when I figure out a way that works well.
Best,
Ivan
Update: I just remember I have a photo of where the flash was positioned relative to the rider. It was situated behind the rim facing upwards. See below:
