we all like the silhouette photography. Silhouettes give photography a dramatic, mysterious and very beautiful touch. We love silhouettes because they are simple yet captivating. A silhouette can convey ideas and messages that a well-lit portrait with a thousand colors could not.
If you like this type of photography today I am going to give you the basic rules so you can do your first steps on the subject. Please don’t be intimidated by technical terms. I will try to make this article as plain, simple and easy to understand as possible. I just want you to pay me a little attention, you’ll see how easy it is.
How do silhouette photos work?
Before going into details, let’s see how this effect is achieved in a general way, as above. The camera normally works in such a way that:
- If there is a lot of light, the camera itself tries to “darken” the photo a little to compensate for so much light and that in the end a balanced light is achieved. The technical term here would be underexposurefor those who want to know.
- If there is little light the camera will normally try to ‘brighten’ the final photo. is the overexposure.
Therefore, to photograph a silhouette, we should simply photograph the person but make it underexposed or “obscured”. How can we darken a person (in a portrait for example)? Easy… putting light, lots and lots of light behind it. Why? Well, because that way the camera will see that there is a lot of light and therefore it will try to “darken” the photo to reduce that light. When the camera does this, it will also darken our subject, which is great because that’s what we were looking for, to get that silhouette as a result.
rough way that’s the idea. Everything else is technical maneuvers to improve this idea and polish it, but the basis is that: place the subject in front of a light source. Graphic illustration below so that the concept is clear of what a rear light would look like:
Once this idea is clarified, let’s move on to the details that will help us improve the result.
A recognizable subject or object
The game of silhouette could be practiced on almost anything, however I recommend that you choose subjects with a typical shape, easily recognizable, prominent, striking, etc. This is because the photo normally, in addition to the shape, is supported by other elements such as color, contrasts, focus / blur, etc. When we work silhouettes we lose these elements, and we keep only the shape of the silhouetteso you have to give a lot of importance to the form.
flash off
Evident. If you leave the camera fully in automatic mode, the flash may go off. Try to have it well deactivated. You know, if the flash goes off, the subject you are photographing lights up and the silhouette goes to waste 😉
Give prominence to the subject
Decide what thing or body you want to draw as a silhouette, and make sure that it has all the limelight in the photo. Take care of the details, and try to prevent more unwanted silhouettes from appearing that will later distract the viewer’s attention. There is no problem in wanting to give prominence to several silhouettes at the same time, for example a group of people, a crowd, etc., the only thing is that it has to be because you want it, not that it is a mistake. Control the spotlight. Do not allow anything to “steal” your subject’s prominence unless you want it that way beforehand.
And if it is a group of people, make sure that they do not overlap and that each silhouette has its well-defined shape.
Portraits, best of profile
Most of the time it is better to photograph people’s silhouettes in profile, to highlight their nose, mouth, eyes, forehead, etc.
Steps for a silhouette photograph with a Compact Camera
If you are using a digital compact camera follow these steps:
- Focus on the brightest area of the landscape, for example focus directly on the light source.
- Press the shutter only halfway.
- Move your hand with the camera and now frame your subject well to take the photo, all this while keeping the shutter button pressed halfway.
- Now that you have your subject well framed, press the shutter button more deeply and take the photo.
This trick will work on most compact cameras and will help the photo come out with very dark silhouettes, although it is true that on some compact cameras it may not work. Test it.
Steps to achieve a silhouette photography with a SLR Camera
The recommended steps to photograph a silhouette are:
- Shoot in RAW mode. On several occasions I have explained to you that the RAW mode is great but that it was not appropriate to use it always, but only on some occasions. Well, this is one of those occasions in which the RAW mode will help you achieve real wonders. In our blog there are articles that explain how to lose your fear of RAW mode and how to get the most out of it. read them please.
- Measure with spot metering on the background, in the illuminated area.
- Lock exposure and reframe to get a good silhouette composition.
Let’s see here the difference of measuring the light in the background or in the subject you want to silhouette. The images are unedited. But if you have listened to me and have shot in RAW, you will be able to darken only the shadows and thus darken your silhouette and even lighten the background if necessary.
- Measurement of light in the ball
- Background light measurement
last tip
The best silhouettes are usually achieved during sunset or during sunrise. Obviously with a clear sky or at least the sun is visible.
Do you like what you have read so far? As an example and inspiration I leave you a photograph that I took some time ago in Asturias and that came out relatively decent, where this technique is appreciated.
Do you see it easy? I hope so. If you find this article useful to improve your silhouette photography let me ask you please 2 things: the first is that you recommend it on Facebook, we need to grow as a blog and reach more people, and we will only achieve this with your help and your recommendations. So many people will benefit. The second is that you practice this technique a bit and share the result with us: you can leave a comment below with the link to your photo and so we all see it.
Luck…