In one of our earlier articles we had covered the topic How to Photograph Silhouettes; this article is in continuation where in we discuss some of the finer points of silhouette photography which were not covered earlier.
1. Choose a Colourful Scene
Try to choose very colourful backgrounds to shoot your silhouettes, sky during sunrise and sunset is perfect for the job.
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| Photo By Mike Buedel |
2. Convey a Sense of Place
While selecting the background you should keep a couple of things in mind, first consideration should be for the fact that the background selected should be considerably brighter than your subject. Secondly consider background that has some local features, landscape, architecture, natural formation etc, so that it conveys a sense of place to the viewer this will be way more attractive than a featureless white background.
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| Photo By Giandomenico Ricci |
3. Exposure is Critical
Nailing the exposure right is very important in case of silhouette photography. If you underexpose then chances are more that your background muddies up and if you overexpose you risk the chance of flare spoiling your shot. A practical method to attain good exposures is to shift your camera to spot metering mode, take reading off the brightest part of your background, take a test shot and add compensation if necessary.
4. Tips for Selecting the right Subject for Silhouettes
Preferably the subject you wish to silhouette should have a compelling shape or body language; look for physically active subjects which have a specific character type or expressive activity.
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| Photo By Stefano Corso |
5. Detail in Silhouette
On many occasions it is found that instead of rendering the silhouette pitch black, preserving a little bit of detail, a small hint of colour, texture, contours etc adds visual impact to the silhouette.
6. Don't Overlap Subjects
while shooting silhouettes, make sure you place your subjects far apart and clearly distinguishable from one another. Placing one subject close to or even in front of another is fine in regular photography, but when photographed as silhouettes the shapes appear to merge together and more often than not serves no other purpose than confuse the viewer. So either move your subject and if its not possible moving your camera a little bit and choosing a different angle to shoot from could often resolve the problem.
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| Photo By Mike |