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But how do you position your stage lights for good backlighting?Ī good rule of thumb for theatre stages is to position your backlighting lanterns directly upstage of the area that they will light and at a fairly steep angle. So we know that backlight can make our live performers seem even more real. It can also be used to wash the stage floor with intense colour without making your performers look like they have been painted all over. Toplight can produce interesting colour casts (fancy lighting word for coloured light reflection) on performers hair, shoulders.

Backlighting also gives the eye some references on stage depth and distances and these visual clues help the audience see the performers as real.īacklight can also produce some interesting effects for dramatic lighting, show performer’s forms while hiding their faces and cast menacing shadows on the stage floor. This has the effect of showing the depth and 3 dimensional quality of the actor and making the “stage picture” less 2D. Backlighting doesn’t reflect back to the viewer, it creates a false “halo effect” around surfaces, particularly on curved ones such as the human body. Stage lighting that shines from the front (audience), lights the subjects on stage so that they can be seen by the paying public. Great backlight study by jeffery95112 on Flickr Why is Backlight important? Light directly overhead is referred to as “toplight” or “downlight” and shares similar lighting qualities to backlight. The angle of backlighting can vary from low down, right up to nearly over the “subjects” head. On a conventional theatre stage this means lights that are hung upstage (towards the rear of the stage) that shine back towards the acting area. A light source placed on the opposite side of the “subject” (model, actor) from a viewer’s (camera, audience) point of view.

So what is it, why should you use backlighting and what effect does it have in different stage lighting situations?īacklight is a term used in visual arts such as photography, film and stage lighting that simply means “light that comes from behind”.

Backlight is an important element in 3-point stage lighting that can be neglected on small shows in schools and drama clubs.