Contre-jour (; ) is a
photographic technique
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed in many ...
in which the
camera
A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...
is pointing directly toward a
source of light, as well as an equivalent technique of
painting
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
.
Description
Before its use in photography, contre-jour was used in painting, where the
shadow
A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...
s would fall to the left on the left, to the right on the right and forward in the lower centre. The edges of the subject would show surprising colour effects.
Contre-jour produces
backlighting
A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) that provides light from the back or side of a display panel. LCDs do not produce light on their own, so they require illumination—either from ambient light or a de ...
of the subject. This effect usually hides details, causes a stronger
contrast between light and dark, creates
silhouette
A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...
s and emphasizes lines and shapes. The
sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
, or other light source, is often seen as either a bright spot or as a strong
glare
Glare may refer to:
* Glare (vision), difficulty seeing in the presence of very bright light
* Glaring, a facial expression of squinted eyes and look of contempt
* A call collision in telecommunications
* GLARE, Glass reinforced aluminium, an ...
behind the subject.
Fill light
In television, film, stage, or photographic lighting, a fill light (often simply fill) may be used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in ...
may be used to illuminate the side of the subject facing toward the camera. The subject is generally considered silhouetted when there is a
lighting ratio of 16:1 or more.
See also
*
Forward scatter
*
High dynamic range
High dynamic range (HDR), also known as wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, or expanded dynamic range, is a signal with a higher dynamic range than usual.
The term is often used in discussing the dynamic ranges of images, videos, audio o ...
References
External links
*
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{{photography subject
Photographic techniques