Some fish for fun; While others fish for food, photo by Luther Roseman Dease, II

The term “contre-jour” is French for “against the daylight”, a photographic technique in which the camera is pointing directly toward a source of light.  In Shooting into the light: mastering the contre-jour technique, Jeremy Walker writes:

One of the first pieces of advice I was given was: ‘Don’t shoot into the light – always have the sun over your left shoulder.’ At the time I was young and naïve, and it seemed like good advice – but it wasn’t. In landscape photography you will often be looking for cross lighting to bring out the texture and character of the countryside. This is fine, but I would also advise trying your hand at contre-jour technique, or to put it more simply, shooting into the light. This technique creates a striking backlight behind your subject and will help to emphasise lines, shapes and silhouettes.

Read on for a bunch of tips and tricks.

View Luther’s photo bigger,  see more in his Contre-jour slideshow, and visit his website to view more work