Silhouettes

Esoteric Vision · 17th of March 2009 (Tue)

Need some advice on how to take silhouette shots of people mourning at a grave site. What settings should I use?

birdman59 · 17th of March 2009 (Tue)

What seems to work best for me is to shoot facing light source with subject in between and expose for lightest part. The subject will be way under exposed and just a shadow.
Bracket your shots to get the results you want.

deci · 23rd of March 2009 (Mon)

When I try and do a silhouette of our cats, I

1) Shoot RAW (tweak PP in ACR)
2) As birdman said - expose for the lightest part (which I presume in this case will be sky)
3) Again - as birdman said bracket your shots.

In PP (if your software allows it), once you've converted to B+W open 'levels', click on the lightest part of what you want to appear black with the black eyedropper and click on the darkest part of the pic you want to appear white with the white eyedropper. Clean up 'stray' lights and darks with burning and dodging or paint over the bits of what should be black, with black and sample the lightest areas to paint over what 'should' be included in them.

HTH

17th of March 2009 (Tue)	#1
Esoteric Vision Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 1	Silhouettes Need some advice on how to take silhouette shots of people mourning at a grave site. What settings should I use?

17th of March 2009 (Tue)	#2
birdman59 Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Marietta Ohio Posts: 296 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: Silhouettes What seems to work best for me is to shoot facing light source with subject in between and expose for lightest part. The subject will be way under exposed and just a shadow. Bracket your shots to get the results you want.

23rd of March 2009 (Mon)	#3
deci Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Southport Lancashire Posts: 475 IMAGE EDITING OK	Re: Silhouettes When I try and do a silhouette of our cats, I 1) Shoot RAW (tweak PP in ACR) 2) As birdman said - expose for the lightest part (which I presume in this case will be sky) 3) Again - as birdman said bracket your shots. In PP (if your software allows it), once you've converted to B+W open 'levels', click on the lightest part of what you want to appear black with the black eyedropper and click on the darkest part of the pic you want to appear white with the white eyedropper. Clean up 'stray' lights and darks with burning and dodging or paint over the bits of what should be black, with black and sample the lightest areas to paint over what 'should' be included in them. HTH __________________ Canon 1D MkIIn, Canon 30D (Gripped) + Canon A1 Canon 35 f2, 50 1.2L, 50 f1.8, 60 f2.8 Macro, 85 f1.8, 70-300 IS Sigma 10-20, 24-70 f2.8, 105 f2.8Macro http://www.black-cat-gfx.co.uk Last edited by deci : 23rd of March 2009 (Mon) at 21:45.

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