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 solved. Portrait photography is very popular with everyone, because it can quickly outline the outline of the characters, the picture is concise and bright, the contrast between light and shade is bright, eye-catching, and it gives the audience endless reverie.

Then, next, Bian Xiao will tell you how to shoot this kind of portrait silhouette, taking several mistakes he often makes as examples!

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 the scenes will be mixed and the picture will become very messy.

If the surrounding scenery is chaotic, you can also try to lower the plane and shoot it at a small angle. The sky will occupy most of the picture, while the ground scenery will be less, and the picture will naturally be clean:

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

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

2. Exposure error

There are two kinds of exposure errors in portrait silhouette, one is "not black enough":

The outline of the subject is incomplete, the details are looming, there is no effect of highlighting the outline, and the expression of details is poor, and eventually 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 outlined and dark enough.

However, I personally suggest using the first method as much as possible (reducing exposure compensation in real scenes). Spot metering in the bright part of the picture can easily lead to the second exposure error, "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 original background was rich in color, 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 silhouette is not obvious.

3. Wrong posture

Portrait silhouette, posture is very important. You need to stretch your arms and legs as much as possible, instead of curling up, because the silhouette only keeps the outline information. If you don't lengthen your posture, the silhouette will become a whole piece.

Especially don't sit down with your knees. This little fresh and lovely gesture is very suitable for girls, but it doesn't look good after being silhouette:

A head on the black triangle

In addition, if you can shoot the side, try not to shoot the front/back, because this is probably the feeling when shooting the front silhouette:

These are. Two mops?

If you shoot the side, 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 perfectly:

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

If you stand with your legs in tandem, you can not only avoid the sense of disobedience of the leg contour, but also have a flexible center of gravity, which can cooperate with more diverse hand movements.

Inappropriate clothes

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

There is a simple reason. When taking a silhouette, the outline of the clothes will be used as the outline of your body (except the transparent one). Naturally, the less you wear, the thinner you get.

If you are shooting in autumn and winter, wearing a thick down jacket and facing the camera, you will feel that you can't bear to look straight at your body:

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

Many young people like to jump when taking silhouettes. Their movements are lively and dynamic, which can not only take the sky as the background, but also 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 very strange, just like the man on the right in the picture below:

If you wear tight clothes, taking a silhouette is a good choice.