Working with natural light, especially on a bright sunny day can be challenging at times. However, the resulting warm and engaging portraits created from shooting in the afternoon sunshine make it all worthwhile.

Backlighting your subject is a beautiful way to separate them from the background, giving your images an instant glow-up.

So, for this challenge, we want to see some perfectly executed backlight, and images with rim-light that really add the separation and give the Glow-Up feeling.

Here, in no particular order, are our top 10 images. Congratulations to the photographers, fantastic work.

Charlotte & Craig 🐶 📸 ✨

We provide video feedback on all images submitted for the challenge, and from there, we select our Top 20 and Top 10. Without further ado, here are the Top 10 images for this challenge!

Amanda Friedrick

What a delightful little character, posed beautifully with a great expression. The rim-light is well handled and the low angle draws you to that sweet face.

Ave Paasuke | Coastal Tails

An incredibly sweet moment which gives us a story of the relationship between the dog and the person. The backlight hasn't been crafted in the traditional way by filtering the light through trees, but it does have a good clear rim-lit look that fits the brief very well.

Camilla Johannessen | Hundefoto.nu

This is a clever use of backlight to enhance separation between the different points of stride of this dog. A creative interpretation of the brief that has been beautifully photographed and edited.

Dana Gookin-Owens

The golden tones in the backdrop and the lovely rim-light on the subject give this a warm feeling, perfect for the Glow-Up challenge. The soft, whimsical gaze of the dog is lovely too.

Dawn McBride | Fuzzy Love Photography

What a gorgeous expression and a beautifully sun-drenched, backlit portrait. You can feel the magical end of day warmth glowing, almost literally, in this image.

Erica Harvey | Erica Lane Photography

The tonality in this image is gorgeous, the detail in the subject, as well as their pose and expression, excellent. The subtle Glow-Up is a complete outline of the dog too.

Katie Romig | Katie Romig Photography

Gorgeous warmth and well handled backlight fit the brief perfectly. The balance of light on the front of the dog is excellent with lovely big catchlights in those adorable eyes.

Krystal Annetts | _tinky_the_border_collie_

Lovely posing and gorgeous glow-up style backlight make this ideal for the challenge. The highlights are well controlled and the balance of light on the front side of the dog is great.

Lina Hoggren | Liljeros Design

There's such a soft peaceful expression in this dog. It compliments the scene and type of light beautifully. The rimlight is well handled and gives the subject the glow-up we're looking for!

Shelly Linehan | Paws for a moment photography

A lovely, clean and simple portrait that is executed to a high standard. The backlight is well done and there is plenty of contrast and texture in the dog's fur.

Embark is the foundation 6-month interactive challenge-based online dog photography course in our Unleashed Challenges series, focusing on helping you to learn new shooting skills and create more variety in your work.

Want to be the first to hear when Embark opens for enrolment each year? Register your interest here.