Home Photography Tips #5 - Silhoettes

April 05, 2020  •  Leave a Comment

This simple but effective shot can be easily done by placing someone between you and the sun.  Just position yourself in their shadow.  The brighter the sun i.e less cloud, then the better the effect will look.

The best times to do it are sunrise and sunset but you can do it in the middle of the day when the sun is higher but you'll need to shoot from a lower angle like this -

Silhoette low angleSilhoette low angle

A side on profile is best so that you can make out the features and tell who it is. 

Silhoette of man holding baby in the airSilhoette of man holding baby in the air

If shooting two people leave a gap between the faces to let light through and define the features of their profile. 

silhoette of bride and groom kissing forehead black and whitesilhoette of bride and groom kissing

Vary between close ups and further away.  Use the editing options to increase the contrast which will darken the shadows.  You can also increase the saturation if you have a sunset and want to give the colours some punch.

Silhoette of bride and groom at sunset by lake at Cumberwell ParkSilhoette of bride and groom by lake at sunset

If shooting with a DSLR where you can control the settings, use a fast shutter speed around 1/200th - 1/500th seconds to reduce light on them and show the colours of the sky.  Keep the ISO settings as low as possible and adjust your aperture accordingly.

For example, for this shot below I used 1/200th, f/9, ISO 200.

Bride and groom kissing in fields at sunet at Wellington BarnBride and groom kissing in fields at sunet at Wellington Barn

Now the sun should hopefully be making more of an appearance then you'll have some more opportunities to try them out in your garden.

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Check out the previous tips on Light, Black & White, Backgrounds and Posing

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