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Creating Silhouettes
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Gareth on 15 January, 2008 03:57:00
 
Silhouettes can be some of the most striking, effective and simple images you
will ever capture.
A couple walking on a beach silhouetted against a setting sun or perhaps an
everyday object given a new sense of mystery and shape.
Whatever your composition there are some basic steps to creating effective
silhouettes and that is what this tutorial is going to identify and help you
achieve.
In this tutorial we are going to be looking at two main elements;
- Under exposing
- Spot metering
Under exposing
The easiest way to compose a good silhouette is to place your subject between
you and the light source, but with experimentation of your cameras settings you
will be able to create a silhouette from almost any composition.
With the your subject placed between yourself and the light source, it is
simply a case of tricking the camera into underexposing certain parts of the
image and thus creating a silhouette.
You will of course have produced involuntary silhouettes in some of your images
on occasion when your camera is unable to balance the exposure of the image.
Usually this is when you are in a semi or full automatic mode and your image has
bright and dark areas and the camera tried to balance the exposure.
We are going to set up the camera to deliberately under expose areas of the
image using spot metering.
Spot metering
When spot metering is selected the camera bases its exposure settings on a
small selection of the scene – the metering point. This as opposed to matrix
(multi-zone, evaluative, ESP) metering, which takes information from the entire
scene to base exposure settings on.
Your spot meter acts as the mid tone and the rest of the image adjusts
accordingly. So if you were to spot meter on a bright part of the scene
(therefore setting the mid tone), anything darker than that part of the sky will
likely be in silhouette, voila!
Ready? Ok let’s set up and shoot!
For this tutorial we are going to use aperture priority mode, but for greater
control consider using manual to set the exposure manually and therefore how
deep your silhouettes will be.
1 Set your camera to aperture priority mode – A or Av on your mode dial
2 Look in your camera menu options until you find auto exposure lock (AE Lock),
then select this. It may be referred to as AE Hold.
3 Change metering to spot metering mode – this is usually indicated by a
small dot inside a rectangle.
4 If available, make sure you are shooting in RAW as you will be able to adjust
exposure much better in processing.
5 Ok now compose your shot making sure that your subject is positioned between
you and the light source.
6 Find your focus point and half depress the shutter to lock focus on that
point.
7 Now move to a bright point in the scene with the centre of the viewfinder and
the metering point on the bright area. Then depress and hold the AEL to set the
camera exposure settings based on that area.
8 Reframe and take your shot.
9 Review your shot and see how it looks!
10 If your silhouette is too light, then retake the shot but select a brighter
area to meter from, or a darker area if the silhouette is too dark.
You’re finished! Now look in the Photoshop Tips & Techniques to see how you
can create a masterpiece of composite layers!