Silhouette Shootings

Silhouette is one classic method to get an artistic touch to your pictures. You may use it for book cover, or simply framed it big and hang it on your living room. I went for a short trip in Kuala Perlis, Kedah with my model (my younger brother) and there was a nice coastal line facing the sun set. We were there just in time.

Getting nice silhouette shots is easy. Just drop your exposure low enough to get the nice contrasting background, the sun reflection on the surface of the sea and put your subject in between you and the sun. Walla!



Sometimes, the sky does not have the tone that you really like to have. It could be very dull. For example, this shot below...




What you can do is adjust the color level using your photo editor program. Some program may have auto level option. Simply click it and the photo will be much better.



And here is the result...



If you like, you can add more gradient on the sky to make the image looks deeper and more natural. First, add another layer to your photo...



Then select a gradient option with transparency mode. Choose gradient type depending on your photo. Adjust the opacity as you wish. For this one, I used linear type...



Put up the gradient on top of your photo, adjust it accordingly. You can even move it up and down by pressing Ctrl button while clicking and dragging it up and down with you mouse.

And finally...


One more photo from me below.

How to Shoot on a Hot Sunny Day?

Walking around and taking pictures in bright day light is not an easy task for a beginner like me. You may get too much exposure or you may end up getting too little exposure. Went to Masjid Zahir in the city of Alor Setar in Malaysia for a short shoot out. Had about as much as half an hour as I have other businesses in this city.

At the side of the majestic mosque, under the shadow...


Here's the histogram...


As you can see, the sky is too bright and the building is too dark under the shadow, and this is tally with the histogram. For those who do not know, histogram is the graphical interpretation of an image on how much data you have with respect to the brightness level. Left is darker, and right is brighter. Most of the time, a digital camera works best if the information lies between the two extremes.

What to do in this situation? I tried using the built in flash. It didn't work.

Well, some old rule says that the sun must be on your shoulder, that is, the sun must alway be behind the camera. I tested it out. See below...



Nicely exposed, with no extreme dark or extreme bright. Here's the histogram...



Below are few more shots using the rules...


From the other side...


This one I shot later from the window of a tall building where I went after that. A lot of adjustment since I shot through tinted window glass. Got two shots and I quickly kept my camera. Lucky I didn't get kicked out by the security, hehehe. Automatic setting (panoramic) of course. A nice view of Masjid Zahir from above...




On the first picture, by the time I put up this entry, I already know the answer. I need an external flash to get a correctly exposed photo under that kind of condition. A Canon Speedlite 580EX maybe? Why external? I'll discuss about it next time.