A silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. This means being in the right place at the right time, and having the right exposure settings.

So when is the right time?

For best results, pick a time when the sun is just above the horizon — that is, immediately after sunrise and before sunset.

In a sunrise/sunset silhouette photo, the sunlight in the background is exposed correctly, forcing everything else in the photo to be underexposed, causing the silhouette effect.

To create a silhouette, ensure that you put an opaque object in front of a bright background and expose for the background.

If you’re using a point-and-shoot, switch off the flash. Point the camera at the bright area, half-click and hold  the shutter half pressed to fool the camera into thinking the whole area is bright, then recompose the shot using the dark areas as a frame.

If you’re using an SLR that has a spot-metering feature, take a reading of just the bright area and then bracket in half- or full-stop increments toward overexposure.

Look for subjects that have simple but bold shapes, and it’s important not to crowd the shot: one fisherman at dawn creates an uncluttered shot; four or five fishermen in close proximity could leave you with nothing but a dark clump.

Silhouette photography is a wonderful way to convey mood in a picture. You might get lucky and snap the perfect silhouette at any given time, but more often than not, you have to work at ‘shaping’ the picture.

When you see a brilliant sunset looming, let your imagination take over. Find the ideal silhouette subject — it might be a person, an animal, a tree or some inanimate oject — and experiment.

And remember: practice makes perfect. You might not get it right the first time, but you can have a lot of fun trying for that perfect shot.

In summary, remember to:

Choose a strong subject with a defined and recognisable shape

Turn off the flash to have as little light on the front of your subject as possible

Get the light right by having more light shining from the background than the foreground

Frame your image so that the brightest light source is behind your subject

Make sure the silhouette shapes are distinct and uncluttered by making subjects recognisable and keeping multiple subjects separate.

Photo by Dan Shirley

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