Tips & Tricks

Silhouette photography: telling stories with shapes and contrasts

Silhouette photography: telling stories with shapes and contrasts

1x Blog-Tips & Tricks
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by Editor Marius Cinteză

 


"...another day older and deeper in debt" by Graham De Lacy


It is a fact: the sophisticated mystery of a silhouette photography immediately grabs the attention. It is usually a striking simple composition: a dominant black shaped subject that appears against a lit background. Unlike for other photography types, the subject is identified by its shape only - no other details, no other distractions or colors. With a black shaped subject only (mostly humans) smartly separated by the lit background elements, the silhouette photography is more about creatively using the shapes and strong tonal contrast to express the right message.

Silhouette photography convey a special mood and often is very dramatic; it makes you reflect and push your imagination. The outlined story is usually not very obvious, and it is on the viewer’s mind to decode its meaning.

At the end of the day the silhouette photography is a powerful tool to visually proposing stories in a unique and challenging way. And this actually helps to the photographer’s ultimate goal: to capture and share their visual stories. The technique is simple: choose a strong shaped subject, meter the camera and expose for the background and place the subject in the shadow.

But before start practicing, allow me to invite you to enjoy and be inspired by the amazing silhouette photos below taken by the 1x.com members!

 


“Child Labour Is Just Not Fair" by Yvette Depaepe

 


"It's time to go" by Vito Guarino

 


"Discussion" by Peter Svoboda, MQEP

 


"Caught in the sorrow" by Stefan Eisele

 


"Dancing" by Bocah Bocor

 


"Step by step" by Marcel Rebro

 


"Where Ever You Go..." by Hengki Lee

 


"Girls, girls, girls!" by Fernando Coelho

 


"Street people" by Antonio Grambone

 


"Music is my Life" by Tomoyasu Chida

 


"Karşıyaka'dan Bir Yansıma" by Ali Ayer

 


"Games in a bubble" by Juan Luis Duran

 


"Back home" by jay satriani

 


“out of the mist" Alexander Schönberg

 


"Comfort" by Marius Cinteză

 


"I play my lonely song" by djeff act

 


"Paris I: La Pluie" by sensorfleck

 


"Left behind" by Paulo Abrantes

 


"after the rain" by Roswitha Schleicher-Schwarz

 


“the cloud mystery" by Piet Flour

 


“As lonely as one can be.....!" by Huib Limberg

 


"rain at night" by Ayatullah R. Hiba

 


"Farmer with his buffalos" by JINNY TAN

 


"Right Here Waiting 4U" by Mirela Momanu

 


"@the station: rush arrival" by Sebastian Kisworo

 


"Walking to nowhere" by Santiago Pascual Buye

 


"To heaven...." by Wieteke de Kogel

 


"misty ride" by Barbara

 

 


"Choices" by Mal Smart

 


N/T by Massimo Della Latta

 


"A sunday afternoon at the beach" by Frédéric Verhelst (Papafrezzo)

 


"Watching them come and go" by João Custódio

 

 

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