Q: How did you create the background light effect in this picture?
A: Creating this light effect with the background is actually pretty easy. I position myself so that there's light behind the subject. I drag the shutter and rotate the camera from portrait orientation to landscape orientation or vice versa. The slow shutter speed means that the camera is capturing the light behind the subject as I rotate the camera. The flash freezes the subject. Please see the exposure settings below.
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Settings: f3.5, 1/5 second, ISO 800
White Balance: Flash
Lens: Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS shot at 17mm focal length
Camera: Canon 30D
Flash: Canon 430EX with a Sto-Fen Omnibounce (2nd curtain sync)
Here's how the image looks like when I'm not rotating the camera. Take note of the lights in the background.
