This is the type of shot that always intimidated me. Even the spelling of “silhouette” intimidated me. I didn’t think I’d be able to get a picture like this. But, believe it or not, I took it the first night I ever tried to capture a silhouette. It wasn’t that hard! And you can do it too!
How to Capture a Silhouette
Tutorial for Capturing a Silhouette
I did have to move my camera from its trusty Auto setting to Manual, but it’s not as scary as it sounds!
- Find a great subject (my husband and baby in this case) and a great location. The subject of the picture should be between you & the light source (sun, fire, lamp, etc.)
- Turn off your flash. On my camera, the symbol for no flash is a lightening bolt with a line through it.
- While your camera is still in Auto mode, point at the light source (the sun in this case) and press the shutter half-way down. Note the aperture and shutter speed your camera has calculated for you. You could also press the shutter all the way down to take a picture, then look at the picture’s info in Review mode to find the aperture and shutter speed. For this shot, my aperture was f-9 and my shutter speed was 1/250. Your numbers will probably be different, but will look something like mine.
- Move your camera to Manual Mode. This will allow you to set the aperture and shutter speed, while still auto-focusing for you. Input the aperture and shutter speed data from step 3.
- Point the camera at your subject and shoot away.
Here’s my shot straight out of the camera:
Silhouette straight out of camera
Obviously, I did a little Photoshopping. A quick summary of my improvements:
- Crop
- Straighten
- Clone out people and buoys
- Move & duplicate bird on right
- Darken husband and baby
- Enhance sunset colors using this method
- Increase blues in water
- Sharpen
- Add frame
I know, I’m skipping over a lot in the Photoshop part. But I’ll help you if you need it. Post a comment if you have questions about a step. Otherwise, happy silhouetting!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Your instructions are so clear, you make it sound so easy and do-able. I’m going to give it a try! Thank you.