Many people like watching and taking silhouettes. The silhouette photos are really nice. But how to make a good silhouette?

It’s not hard.

What is silhouette?

Silhouettes are usually taken against the light.

The elements in the picture are much darker than the brightness of the sky or other backgrounds.

Expose the brightness of the background to normal, and these elements in the picture will appear in black or near black brightness.

Although these elements have no surface details, they can express their own characteristics or photo themes in outline.

So we should remember that silhouettes are usually taken against the light. Or you can’t get out of the silhouette. Sunrise and sunset may be the easiest time to take a silhouette. Besides, it’s in front of the light.

How?

This problem is Xiaobai’s most worrying problem. But when you have a photographic foundation, it’s not a problem at all.

First of all, now cameras basically have electronic viewfinder, so if you use electronic viewfinder, you can directly simulate the exposure effect. Just adjust the exposure compensation directly to the effect you want.

Now micro single and small DC are electronic viewfinder. At present, the new SLRs have electronic viewfinder mode, which is generally called real-time viewfinder.

Too old SLR has no live view. Then take a replay and adjust the dark spot when it is on. Dim the adjustment highlights.

For the reference of exposure, in fact, 0ev can be used as the basis. Because the background is bright, the silhouette you want will come out at 0ev. Adjust on this basis.

If it’s a snap shot, it doesn’t hurt to expose in this way. It can be adjusted later. As long as the highlight is not dead white, it can be adjusted to what you want in the later stage.

So don’t worry about exposure at all. It’s nonsense to measure the light and add or subtract how much exposure compensation. Because the light ratio of each scene is different, there is no unified formula at all.

How to focus?

Because it’s a silhouette, the elements you want to focus on are often dark. Then it’s hard to focus.

But focusing is not difficult, just focus on the contour.

Because the outline has obvious light and dark contrast, it is easy to focus.

What is the key to a good silhouette?

In fact, when taking silhouette photos, if you want to look good, it mainly depends on the viewfinder.

For example, when you take a silhouette, does the color of the background look good?

For example, this photo was taken on a roadside in Nagasaki. At that time, I saw that the weather was very beautiful, so I asked the driver to stop. I ran down with my partner.

As a result, they all ran to the front in order to get a clean view. I found it better to take a silhouette of them in the back. So there’s this one.

Five small partners as the shooting subject, some squatting, some standing, can also be regarded as “scattered”. The sunset in the distance is very beautiful.

Another example is whether the moment you shoot is wonderful?

This photo was taken at the trumpet ditch gate. I reached the top of a mountain. It’s nice to see mountains in the distance. The nearby mountains have also become silhouettes. It’s a little after sunset. The whole tone presents a cold tone with high color temperature.

But even though it was cold at that time, I waited here for nearly half an hour in order to wait for the birds. The silhouette of the birds enriches the elements in the picture and makes the picture flexible.

Sometimes the subject is not necessarily a silhouette.

For example, this photo was taken in the Great Mosque of Hassan II, but teacher Sui Xiaolong, as a model, did not appear in the form of silhouette because there was light on the side. The silhouette is actually carved on the window. This place is easy to make films because of the carved silhouette.

So remember, shooting silhouettes is the key. Don’t worry about exposure.

Go shoot your silhouette!