How to make your pictures look like this

[NickWenmaekers]

Hi, I'm a new member of this wonderful forum.

I was looking at this blog http://www.skaiphotographyblog.com/

So I was wondering how to get such pictures

Some examples:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6053/...bf789e07_o.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6154/...95d118fb_o.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6157/...2369a3be_o.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6198/...53eb6137_o.jpg

So I'm guessing, these are all backlit right?

[mshi]

you can achieve that look easily by using curve, selective color, solid color, gradient map and layer blending modes. that kind of look can only work well with high key scene though.

[spinq]

mshi You're talking about post processing. It's easier to use a simple reflector like e.g. white plaster board. You place your model in front of the light and reflect some light on him. Or you can overpower the sun using flesh but then you loose quite a lot of ambient light.

[Atmikes]

Use a fast lens (50 or 85mm), shoot between f1.2 and f2.2, expose for shadow, this will blow out the highlights.

these images are probably shot early morning or late afternoon while keeping the sun behind the models (this wil give you the high-key ethereal look) this works well with a pretty low position of the sun because of the natural fill that occurs, if you don't have enough fill a soft white bouce panel will come in handy, if you use fill flash watch out for exact color temperature blending.
you really have to watch out for lens flare because the sun is almost always shining straight into your lens and this might result in a washed out, low contrast look.

in post you might want to fiddle with saturation and vibrance and push exposure even higher, in split toning you can add a hue to the highlights and you may want to raise the black point a bit with curves.

It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it, just shoot against the sunlight in M mode and expose for "the dark side" ;-)

[NickWenmaekers]

Ok thank you all for the advice.

Now I just have to hope the sun will shine soon in rainy Belgium.

If I put a flash behind my subject, would I get the same effect?

[Atmikes]

How funny, I'm from Belgium too :-)

No you would really need sunlight to light up the entire scene, sunlight can be imitated but it is never the same, with the clouded and rainy weather we have now, flashlight is the ideal for some "underexpose the ambient" but for the high-key thing you will need a bit of patience

[skoobey]

You Might like Jordan's work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jojo2fast/

+ You don't need the sun, this kind of photography can be done on a cloudy day as well, just as long as the sun is starting to fall or rise (not directly overhead, or you'll have to kneel in front of your model in order to achieve the effect. Use low aperture for that smooth backdrop and white reflector to illuminate the subject if the background gets too right.

[Johann29]

Also a big fan of this type of portraiture.
and also having trouble doing it right. specially the type on blown out highlights from a window backdrop im having trouble exposing the models face.