Design Nomenclature / Light & Optics

Rim light

Also called back light, hair light, kicker, edge light, separation light

A source behind the subject, aimed back toward the camera, that grazes the contour and separates it from the background. It reads as a bright edge where the surface turns away from the lens — a largely specular effect, so its strength depends on the material's gloss and on the grazing Fresnel response.

Plan view: a rim lamp on the far side of the subject from the camera, twenty-nine degrees off the camera axis and steeply raised, throwing forward onto the subject's contour — the key opposite it on the camera's side, so the two lamps are separated by the subject rather than by their angle.

In practice

A kicker usually means a rim placed low and to one side rather than dead behind; a hair light means one aimed at the top of the head. Same trick, different address.

How this term connects

FresnelKey lightLow keySpecular highlightThree-point lightingRim light
Related Confused with