Photo Tip - Silhouettes

Last month I shared how to take great photos in a barn door with a dark background. This month, you can still use a barn door if you'd like, just move inside of the barn instead. If you don't want to shoot inside, sunset is a great time too!



Those shooting with a manual camera (any camera where you can manually set the shutter speed and aperture) will want set the camera to aperture mode and meter the bright sky (or light coming in the doorway). The main goal is to expose for the bright part. Your subjects should be at the edge of the door, but in the shadows.

Put your camera in manual mode, just to be safe, and use the settings you read on aperture mode (i.e. 1/750 at f/4.5). Since digital cameras only have a 7-8 stop latitude, and you're exposing for the highlights in a very contrasty situation, the shadows will turn into a black silhouette.

If you just have a point-and-shoot camera, it will take more effort, but you should be able to pull this off too. Most beginners take silhouettes inadvertently. ;) First, turn your flash off. If you have a manual setting, follow the directions above.

If not, when taking your photo, make sure that most of the frame is filled up with bright light. The camera will naturally meter for this, in return, turning your subjects into a silhouette.

Quick note, silhouettes look best when there is a clear definition between legs, arms, and such, otherwise it just looks like one big dark jumbled mess.

Some more examples: