Photos: Silhouettes
Get to know when and how to take silhouette pictures at the beach.
Sometimes you will simply "luck" into them but if you work with natural light you usually can create a silhouette photo.
17 Mile Drive Monterey Pine Ocean Sunset. This photo qualifies as a sunset picture, scenic photo and silhouette. It is a silhouette because the trees have lost all color and appear totally black. They are shapes that we assume are trees.
Surfer Silhouette. This photo on left is a silhouette of a girl carryin a surfboard on the beach at sunset. The only thing we can determine is that it is mostly likely a female (long hair) and the person is carrying a surfboard.
Palm trees, blue silhouette: Palms sway in the afternoon breeze in silhouette with beach onlooker - in shades of blue.
Silhouette of Fishermen at Pier. Although a portion of this image actually shows the ocean blue against a setting sun, the surfers on Huntington Beach Pier are completely black images seen in silhouette.
In the simplest of terms if you take pictures of piers, people and other objects with the bright sky in the background, you may end up with a silhouette photo. Silhouettes are accomplished through contrast. You can create them artificially with image software but you should learn how to take these pictures at the beach. It is one of the first assignments photography students are taught to become familiar with and master. It's actually a fun lesson and once you learn how to, it becomes part of your arsenal of tools that you can use when you want it.
Silhouettes are indeed pictures of contrast but what sets them apart from other types of photos such as sunset photos are the lack of detail in objects -- people, sailboats, piers, birds and palm trees -- offering no information or detail beyond shape. Faces are dark and not visible, nor are other objects.
A light meter reading will help you determine if you have the correct setting to create a silhouette. Around sunset when the sun is low in the sky be sure to turn off any automatic flash fill. Did we tell you that you will need a camera that allows you to control the flash? Most do.
