Silhouettes

Words and photography by Paul Worsley

Silhouettes are a very powerful and provocative way to portray a subject that is backlit, but can be a little tricky to produce with the right shape and exposure.

The most common form of silhouette photography would be the sunrise/sunset scenario. A simple placement of a subject in front of a colourful sky renders that subject black because there is no light reaching the front of it. In automatic mode, the camera ‘sees’ a large bright area and compensates by making the aperture smaller, and/or using a faster shutter speed which will give the correct exposure for the sky and therefore make subject black.

The trick is to make sure the camera does this consistently. If you have, for example, a person filling up a generous area of the viewfinder and you meter for the shot, the camera sees a large dark area and will compensate by opening up the aperture. This will cause the background to blow out and overexpose, leaving the subject ‘correctly’ exposed. No more silhouette.

There’s a couple of ways around this. One is to zoom in a bit more on the sky, press your shutter button halfway to meter. Take note of the exposure reading, then zoom back to where you had it originally, switch to manual, put in the new exposure reading and take the picture. Voila, a beautiful silhouette. The second way is a bit faster if time is not on your side. Decrease the size of your subject by zooming out more or by walking further away. Your camera will then see more light and adjust accordingly.

The shape of a silhouette is an important factor as well, so have a good look at the whole image. Sometimes people’s legs and feet can be lost with the ground from the knees down; sometimes the shape can look confused. A few simple adjustments in movement or perspective can make a whole world of difference. Enjoy the dark side of photography.