What does the "backlight" feature on my digital camera do?

What does the "backlight" feature on my digital camera do?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What does my digital camera's "landscape mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "kids and pets" mode do? and more...

The back light mode on your digital camera allows you to tell the camera that your subject will normally be a silhouette. And you can tell the camera to lighten the picture so the person is not dark in the fore ground with the back ground normally lit. That's what back light is, the back ground normally lit, the subject in the shadow. So, in the back light mode, the camera lightens the exposure to make the face of the person in the fore ground to look normal. The back ground will then be to light or blown out.