No contradiction about contre-jour.

I’m a big fan of images where the light comes from behind the subject.  It’s known by the French phrase “contre-jour”, which literally means “against the day”.  It’s great for producing high contrast, edge brightness, silhouettes, flare, glare and general photographic yummyness.

On a recent trip to Portland Bill, Dorset, the time of day was just right for me to stand in the shadow of the famous lighthouse and get the sun peeping through the lantern’s structure.  I used my OM System 100-400mm lens to isolate just the lantern.  I used a couple of stops underexposure to make the sky a bit moodier.

A sycamore seed makes for a more controllable subject that’s not as dependent on the time of day.  I just held it up in front of my OM System 60mm macro lens and let the sun peep over the edge.  There’s a lovely rim light on the left-hand side, and some translucency texture on both sides.

These clouds in front of the Malvern Hills are lit by the late afternoon sun.  The  background hills are semi-silhouetted, which gives good contrast to the backlit clouds.  Five minutes after I took this everything had changed, the foreground clouds had gone, and the light was much less interesting.

Remember to have back lighting at the front of your mind.