|
Silhouetting is an easy technique to make a photograph stand out. You’ve probably seen lots of silhouettes before. Any photograph with the foreground in shadow and the background lighter is really a silhouette.
A silhouette is a dramatic departure from a standard photograph. Usually photographers work very hard to make sure their subjects are well lit, but with this technique, the roles are reversed. In order to make an artistic or bold photograph the main part of the subject is cast into darkness while the rest of the frame is brightly illuminated.
The Shadow Knows
It’s easy to set up a silhouette. You can make one anywhere where there’s a light source behind your main subject. The trick with getting the exposure right for a silhouette is making the camera think that you’re only interested in the light part of the picture, and ignoring the dark subject in the foreground.
Many cameras have automatic metering, meaning the camera looks at all the light in the image, and figures out the best exposure to make sure everything comes out well lit. But with this type of photograph, you don’t want everything to be well lit. Automatic exposure is great when you’re trying to make sure your picture is well exposed, but it’s not so great when you’re trying to do something creative.
Here are some tips for getting a good silhouette:
- Your background should be much brighter than your foreground. Position your subject between your camera and the sun.
- Make sure your camera’s flash is turned off.
- If you’ve got a camera with automatic metering, you can trick it into taking a silhouette. Most cameras measure the light when the shutter button is being depressed part of the way (at the same time as it auto-focuses), not when the button is pressed all the way down (which takes the picture). Point the camera directly at the lighter background, and press the shutter half way, then (without letting up on the shutter release button) point the camera at your subject, and press the button all the way and take your picture. In most cameras this will lock the exposure setting into the camera, ignoring the foreground.
- Many cameras have an exposure compensation control which allows you to override the camera’s meter. If the foreground is too light, set the exposure compensation to a negative value to darken the foreground.
- Unlike with film cameras, with digital you can keep experimenting until you get just what you want. Don’t be afraid to try changing settings now to get different results.
|
