backlight

Etymology

back + light

noun

1. (uncountable) Light shining from a source behind the object of interest or attention.
   1. (countable) A spotlight that illuminates a photographic subject from behind.
   2. (uncountable) Light that is behind a photographic subject.
      If I do use backlight, it's not to separate the subject from the background; I use it to set a psychological mood, or to create a look. 2006, Michael Grecco, Lighting and the Dramatic Portrait, Amphoto Books, page 73
   3. (countable) A light attached to an LCD display.
2. (countable) The rear window of a motor car.

verb

1. (transitive) To illuminate something from behind.
   It offers few subtleties, but those can be effective, as when the chorus is backlighted in the rear of the auditorium to produce an ominous play of shadows onstage. June 2, 2007, James R. Oestreich, “Strange, Faraway Fantasies of Hell and Paradise”, in New York Times
   Backlit by the setting sun, an Avanti West Coast Class 390 Pendolino crosses the River Ribble at Preston on December 30 2022. March 22 2023, “Modern Images”, in RAIL, page 61, photo caption