How to take a portrait silhouette?

How to take a portrait silhouette? Many friends have asked Bian Xiao this question. In fact, this problem can still be seen and solved. Portrait photography is very popular with everyone, because it can quickly outline the outline of the characters, the picture is concise and bright, and the contrast between light and shade is bright, which attracts the attention and gives the audience endless reverie.

Then, next, Bian Xiao will take a few mistakes that he often makes when shooting a portrait silhouette as an example to tell you how to shoot this portrait silhouette!

1. The scene is too messy.

When we choose the background for silhouette works, we must choose an empty background without too many messy scenes, otherwise the outlines of all scenes will be mixed together and the picture will become chaotic.

If the surrounding scenery is chaotic, you can also try to lower your posture and shoot a small angle with your backhand. The sky will occupy most of the picture, at the same time, the scenery on the ground will become very few, and the picture will naturally be clean:

There are many people in the lower right corner, which is very messy.

Put the plane down and the world will be quiet in an instant.

2. Exposure error

The exposure error of portrait silhouette is mainly divided into two types, one is "not black enough":

The outline of the subject is incomplete, the details are looming, there is no effect of highlighting the outline, the details are poorly expressed, and both ends fail;

To avoid this mistake, you can turn on the live view function, adopt the average metering mode, and then manually lower the exposure compensation to confirm that the foreground is completely dark on the big screen before shooting;

Or, you can focus on the bright part of the picture, which can also ensure that the foreground is completely silhouette and becomes dark enough.

But I personally suggest using the first method (live view+low exposure compensation) as much as possible. Aiming at the bright part of the picture can easily lead to the second exposure error, that is, "too dark".

"Too dark", that is, the exposure value is low, which leads to underexposure of other non-contour parts of the picture.

As shown below, the color of the background was originally rich, but due to insufficient exposure, the color became dim. At the same time, because the whole picture is dark, the contrast effect between light and shadow becomes weak, and the outline of silhouette is not obvious.

3. Wrong posture

Taking a portrait silhouette, posture is very important. You need to stretch your arms and legs as much as possible and don't curl up, because the silhouette only keeps the outline information. If the posture is not stretched, the silhouette will become a whole.

Especially don't sit down with your knees. This small, fresh and lovely gesture is very suitable for girls, but it's not good-looking when taken in silhouette:

A head on the black triangle

In addition, if you can shoot the side, try not to shoot the front/back, because the front silhouette is likely to feel like this:

These are ... two mops?

And if you shoot the profile, you can shoot the outline of the nose and mouth, and the outline information of the characters will be much richer.

If you are close enough, even your eyelashes can be photographed;

When standing on the side, it's best not to put your legs too close, so it looks like there is only one leg after silhouette, which looks a bit awkward:

If you stand with your legs together, you can not only avoid the sense of disobedience when you silhouette with your legs together, but also have a flexible center of gravity and can match more diverse hand movements.

Improper dress

Generally speaking, spring and summer are more suitable for taking silhouette portraits than autumn and winter. Why do you say that? Because everyone wears less clothes and is thinner in spring and summer ~

There is a simple reason. When taking a silhouette, the outline of the clothes will be taken as the outline of your body (except for light transmission). Naturally, the less you wear, the thinner you look.

If you shoot in autumn and winter and wear a thick down jacket in front of the camera, you will feel that your body can't bear to look straight:

Even in summer, it is not a good thing to dress too loosely.

Many young people like to jump when they take a silhouette. Their movements are lively and dynamic, and they can also take the sky as the background to avoid the interference of the ground scenery, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

However, if you jump up in loose clothes, your silhouette will become strange, just like the man on the right in the picture below:

And if you are wearing tight clothes, taking a silhouette is a good opportunity to show your figure-if you have confidence in your figure.

Ok, Bian Xiao has compiled these, hoping to help friends who like to take selfies during the trip. Come and take a good photo when you have mastered it!