In this lesson: Master the art of using backlighting to produce dramatic outcomes

A silhouette can be a powerful visual statement that adds a lot of drama and mood to your images. Silhouettes are also a great alternative method of creating a portrait when challenging lighting conditions exist.

Silhouettes require a few basic things that make their capture easily achievable for the beginner:

• Choose a form that is recognizable. A person is an ideal subject, though animals, cars, buildings, plants, and the like can be compelling subject matter as well.
• Consider the background as being critically important. The purpose of the background is to frame the subject thereby making the subject stand out. Backgrounds should have a lot of visual interest, but not be cluttered such that background elements blend in with the form of the primary subject.
• If your subject can be posed, be careful of how the subject is positioned – you don’t want to lose the drama created by the outline of their form.
• When exposing the shot, concentrate on achieving a complete loss of detail in the silhouette while retaining rich details in the background. This is achieved by taking a meter reading from the bright background.

Using the image of the man running as an example, note how there is very little detail visible in the man, other than his form, because the photographer took the meter reading from the bright sky in the background. As a result, the sky is well-exposed, but the man is underexposed, creating a nice silhouette.

Note as well how there is a much greater level of drama and detail in the background – the colors of the sunset are vivid, and some of the detailing on the individual buildings has been retained. The texture of the clouds and the faint sunbeams extending into the sky add another level of drama to the shot.

Challenge Activity

In this challenge activity, your goal is to use the tips outlined above to create a compelling silhouette.

Step 1: Scout a location that allows you to position the camera towards a brightly lit background and a dark foreground. You might shoot outdoors towards the rising or setting sun or shoot indoors toward a bright artificial light, or, as seen in the sample image of the woman in front of the window, you can use natural light coming into an interior space to create a pleasing silhouette.

Step 2: If you have a subject that can be posed, position them such that you’re able to highlight their form against the bright background.

Step 3: Compose the shot, keeping framing in mind. Position the subject within the image such that nothing in the background will interfere with the portrayal of the silhouette.

Step 4: Expose for the background, taking a meter reading from one of the brightest areas of the scene. Use a fast shutter speed to freeze any movement (i.e. 1/125 seconds or above) and a mid-range aperture, say, f/8-f/11, so you have good depth of field with sharpness from foreground to background. Adjust ISO as necessary to get a well-exposed background.

Step 5: Fire the shutter and examine your image on your camera’s LCD. Make any adjustments necessary to posing or positioning of your subject and the exposure settings. Repeat the process, fine-tuning your settings until you achieve a high-quality image.