Silhouette photography: telling stories with shapes and contrasts

Photographers

Silhouette photography: telling stories with shapes and contrasts

1x Blog-Photographers

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"...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!