Tuesday, March 24, 2015

3-15, Silhouettes

I'm posting a little out of order today.  My first attempt with silhouettes occurred with my hot light set the week before I purchased my new strobe lights.  I was not happy with these images, so I didn't bother editing them until after I'd finished my other post "All About Me".  I wasn't happy with the lack of lighting control and thus the new light set.  But as I was browsing through these original silhouette photos, I realized that some were just too cute to keep hidden.  I am a fan of black and white images (though my NYIP advisor suggests I scrap all my black and white work in favor of my eye for color), so I made this sequence black and white.  The first three photos were for me.  I wasn't sure how much side lighting to work with for the silhouette image I was aiming for.  These are not true silhouettes, but I can't help but love the detail I got with some of the side lighting included.  The fact that she's wearing Sandy Puc's hat is the icing on the cake.  She took to that hat like a bee to honey.  So cute.  




A little less side lighting and a subject just a little less excited.  At least silly sister was keeping him occupied as evidenced by his subtle smile.


After a little experimentation and work in Adobe Lightroom, I achieved these silhouettes.  They're a unique way of looking at things!  This won't be my new trademark style, but I think I will be throwing them into the mix every now and then.  Why not, right?!




When shooting for a silhouette, these are the basic components:

bright background
underexposed subject (meter for the bright background and this will leave your subject in shadow)

Those principles leave the options limitless:  a bright window, a bright sky, anything bright that can provide the contrast for your subject.  Go ahead-- give it a try!

No comments:

Post a Comment