Backlighting Winter with Flash Photography

When first learning flash, I was awestruck at the unbelievable images I saw online.  In particular, I wanted to learn how to make snowy scenes look amazing and surreal.

In this case, I invited our neighbors up for a late-afternoon session in our side yard when it started snowing (behind the scenes photo included courtesy of our Ring floodlight camera).

We used two flashes behind the kids with orange colored gels to create the background scene.  I used the same orange gel on the main light at a 45 degree angle from the front.  Although you would think that would turn the subjects orange, I neutralized that by making the white balance much cooler.  The practical effect is that the background turns a beautiful cool blue.  I also used a softbox from a company called MagMod to provide the overall light on our neighbors.

Enjoy!