Street Photography & Silhouette Pictures

Taking a silhouette is one of the techniques frequently used by photographers to capture impressive colors and moments, especially at sunrise and sunset hours. The silhouette photos, which provide remarkable images due to their intense and mysterious air, are basically made by placing the person or object in front of a particular light source, but it contains a different atmosphere that appeals to our dream world.

If you are wondering how to take silhouette pictures that allow us to be in touch with photography and explore us, how to adjust camera settings, what to look out for, the answer is in this article.

• The logic of silhouette shots

For those who are wondering how to take a silhouette picture, we can say that the background should be based primarily and the person or object should be focused. The less we expose our object, the better the silhouette will be.

• Choosing a good subject

Choose the right place to shoot and focus on taking stunning silhouette shots. Coastal fishermen, towers, sculptures, trees, bridges can be useful for you. Take advantage of the power of light at sunrise and sunset times.

• Camera settings

Select aperture-priority or manual mode for silhouette pictures. You can use this feature as most digital cameras have automatic metering mode. However, you need to prevent your machine from illuminating the object. You can avoid this situation by focusing on the bright spot and by letting the machine adjust the measurement to the bright spot. You can also set an aperture value between f8-f13 for ideal sharpness and depth of field. Finally, you can prevent the image from shaking by using a tripod.

• Using the flash

If you are using your camera in automatic mode, you may encounter your camera turning on the flash spontaneously during the photo shoot. However, light should be used as little as possible in silhouette photographs. You should make sure your flash is off.

• Correct light usage

The fact that we will not use the flash does not mean that we do not need light for silhouette photographs. Although you are taught to illuminate your subject as a general photography rule, you will need to break this rule when taking silhouette photos. Instead of illuminating the object or subject, you need to illuminate your background. You can make your job easier by choosing to shoot at sunset or sunrise times.

• Framing the image

You will get more effective results when you place a bright and cloudless sky behind your subject. You can make your image look more pleasing to the eye by sitting in the frame with a golden ratio.

• Creating a prominent silhouette

If you have more than one object in the silhouette photos you take, try to keep these two objects apart as much as possible. If there are two men on the bridge, wait for the moment when they diverge. Also tree, pole, castle, car, etc. It is necessary to keep the people leaning against objects in order not to be seen as a whole with the object. In portrait shots, we can clear the details of your face by making sure that your subject looks at another point, not directly at the lens.

• Checking the histogram

Lighting your background can cause an explosion in the image. Therefore, check the histogram to make sure that there is no explosion after shooting. You can see overexposed places on the screen by turning on the bright zone warning option of your camera. If there is an explosion, you can use negative exposure compensation.

Make sure you have a strong subject and focus correctly to take successful silhouette photos. Be aware of the people around you and wait for the right moments.

Friends, you can take very nice silhouette pictures by following the rules above. Some rules that I mentioned above may have flexibility. For example, if you are using Pro Dslr, Flash cannot be opened or there is no rule that the aperture value will be between f8 and f13.

The most important thing in silhouette photography is to capture the moment correctly and obtain an impressive composition in the photograph.

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Friends, I wish you all a happy day. We will be away from the streets for a while, but our return will be magnificent.

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Camera	Canon EOS 5d + Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di
Location	Izmir-Turkiye

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