Portrait photography tip: How to create a silhouette portrait

Thursday 2 April 2020, 16:16 by Elja Trum | 7,485 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

A fun way to create a different kind of portrait photo is to capture a silhouette. With a silhouette, you expose for a bright background instead of your subject. This is usually easiest if you set your camera manually based on the background light.

Sarah - f/14, 1/250s, ISO 100 @ 50mm
Next, have your model stand in front of the bright background. Your model is now underexposed, so they appear as a silhouette in the photo.

Because you can no longer recognise a face in a silhouette, the pose has become much more important. After all, you want to keep a recognisable portrait without showing a face. Pay attention to the hair, face and body.

Remember that, for example, an arm in front of or behind the model will not be visible. So let it fall 'outside' the body, for example by having your model place their hands on their hips.

With a successful silhouette photo, the person in the photo should still be clearly recognisable to people who know them.

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