When you're first starting out with studio lighting, it's easy to become focused on getting the key light just right, but if you become too fixated on that, you can overlook the importance of the rim light. This great video will show you how to use a rim light to separate your subject from the background.
Coming to you from Jeff Carpenter of Outside the Softbox, this quick and helpful video will show you how he uses rim lights to separate his subject from the background. One of the most common mistakes photographers who are new to artificial lighting make is failing to make sure their subject and background are properly separated (in the visual sense), which can make it seem like the two are blending together, reducing the sense of depth in your image. This is where a rim light becomes highly useful. Put simply, a rim light is a light that illuminates your subject from the side or from behind and produces a thin outline of them (a rim), which makes them stand out from the background. They're one of the most effective ways to give your images a polished, professional look. Check out the video above to see how Carpenter does it.
