SiewPeng and I went to KekLokTong (one of the “cave-with-temple“) in Ipoh, Malaysia.  We found different types of hibiscus there.

My first intention was to go there and shoot the lotus, but it was not the season of lotus, therefore I switched my target to the colourful hibiscus.  While shooting the hibiscus, I have practiced the technique called backlighting.

Do you know how to prove that these photos are using the backlight?  The answer is - look at the shadows.

The light passed through the semi-transparent flower petals ( and also the leaves) created the following effects:-

First, it shows the greater details on each flower petals.

Second, the edges are highlighted.

Third, if the petals were overlapped, the flower petals which is nearer to the light source (the sun) will create shadows on the flower petals nearer to the camera.

The edges of the petals were curly, which help in creating the shadows too.

As you may know that most flowers like to  face the sun, in order to take a backlit flower, I have to position my camera to take the back side of a hibiscus.

SiewPeng said that the effect of backlighting can hardly be seen in the picture above.

Yes, it is because the light source was not a 100% backlight but more toward sidelighting.  However, I confirmed that the light has passed through the semi-transparent flower petals because the filaments and stigma appear as shadows on the 7 o’cl0ck petals.

We hope you will enjoy these photographs.