What does "silhouette" mean in photography terms and how to shoot it?

Silhouette photography highlights the needs of the subject, showing the shape and posture of the object and the outline of the object. The subject of silhouette photography can be people, things or a scene, and the subject itself often has only a black outline without any details. Silhouette photos are usually taken by backlight shooting technology.

1, shooting angle: In most cases, photos are taken under light, which means that the light is reflected from the front of the subject. When backlighting, the light source comes from behind the subject and shines directly on the camera. When the contrast between the reflection of the object and the backlight is large, the object will be darkened.

2. Exposure: It is best not to use the camera automatic setting when taking silhouette photos. When automatic setting is used, the camera will extend the exposure time and increase the exposure of the subject. Set the camera to shutter priority and the shutter speed to1125s. If the camera has a surround exposure function, it can shoot continuously at different exposure settings, and set the photos two levels apart. The sensitivity should be set to ISO 100 to reduce noise.

3. The outline of the subject: A clear outline of the subject helps to express the content of the photo. Because the main body of the silhouette photo is seriously underexposed, the details of the main body can hardly be seen, so it is necessary to express the main body by its outline.

4. Background: The cooperation between the subject and the background gives the audience more imagination. When the photographer uses the outline of the subject to express the picture, if he can use the background to match the subject and outline the whole environment complementarily, he can give the viewer more room for thinking and imagination, and can also use the interaction between silhouette and background to bring out the story.

Extended data:

Matters needing attention in silhouette shooting:

1, exposure control is not spared.

Silhouette photography pursues underexposure. If you are a novice photographer, inexperienced in using the aperture shutter and don't want to use the automatic exposure mode, then you must remember that when adjusting the aperture shutter, you would rather be underexposed than overexposed.

Silhouette photography pursues underexposure. If overexposed, the black part of the silhouette will not be black enough and the background will be overexposed.

Don't chase the sun blindly.

Although it is easy to take a silhouette with the sun as the light source at dusk, it is not only the sun that can take a silhouette, even the picture can take a silhouette without a clear light source. For example, if someone is sheltering from the rain under the eaves, the brightness under the eaves and outside the eaves may be very different. At this time, there is no need to find the position of the light source. As long as people who take shelter from the rain are underexposed, it can be regarded as a kind of silhouette photography.

Baidu encyclopedia-silhouette photography