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Silhouette Shape.. The Basic Elements of Photography.. Book of Photography

Silhouette Shape

Look at the sun setting on a clear landscape and you will notice how the scene gradually changes with the movement of light. The composition, volume and depth remain apparent and clear until the sun is below the horizon. After that, all the protrusions disappear and you are left with an image formed by thick outlines and shadows that appear against the sky. The effect can be striking: a completely natural subject is transformed in a drawing into two dimensions with almost abstract surfaces. The ability to see and use such shapes and such outlines is important for composing a photograph.

In a photograph where shape predominates, the photographer can use backlight lighting to shade his subject against the illuminated background. The most important shapes will take on expressive power in the silhouette thanks to the simplicity and harmony of the details. This is an important point: if the selected subject is overloaded with information, the image will be disturbed.

The silhouette highlights the precision of the lines: it transforms, for example, the branches of a tree in autumn into a complex and soft drawing: a black line against a light background. The silhouette can contain a wealth of information without revealing any detail in the mass. The silhouette expresses the character of the person being photographed more than a traditional portrait. The head, the outlines of the nose and the mouth help to create an impressive and powerful image. To obtain a semi-silhouette, that is, an image with some details arranged in the shadows, use additional side light or a flexible reflector: this will give a slight clarity of volume and will give the image a more realistic quality, provided that it does not remove the clarity of the lines provided by the reflected light. The shape is the most important element in photography. It is more important than the tones, weight and composition because it determines the construction of the image. Look around you, and you will see to what extent shape dominates a scene, especially if seen through a camera lens. No matter how effective a picture composed entirely of irregular shapes or no matter how complete its composition is to give the desire to touch it, a simple silhouette in black and white will have a stronger effect.

This is because shape is the main element that allows us to recognize an object: it is the first thing we recognize - before size, color and smell. If we close our eyes, we can recognize an object - an orange, for example - by its smell, but we must recognize the shape of this object to confirm this first impression.

Taking silhouettes in the studio
Backlighting

A procedure similar to that used by portrait painters in the past: an old frame covered with galaxies is received above it.

The silhouette is made thanks to a strong light projected 0.90 meters behind the model, with the screen facing perpendicular to the light source. In this case, do not focus on the high lights, i.e. on the illuminated background.

Rolliflex 1/15 sec. Aperture 8: Kodak Tri x.

White illuminated background
This more complex type of silhouette is fun to compose and photograph. You light the background in a single pattern, not the subject, with several spotlights (projectors). This output occupied a width equal to about four meters deep. The person and objects were placed 1.8 meters from the background and the machine was 2,700 meters from the subject. If we achieve several similar images in this way, we can collect the negatives to draw them on one photographic sheet. We can also montage the images to form a frieze.
Hasselblad 1/60 sec. Aperture 8 Kodak Tri-X

Silhouettes in nature

Silhouette outside
At noon, the machine was placed on the ground so that the horse and carriage would be shaded by the noon sky, showing the composition of the sand.
Rolliflex 1/250 sec. Aperture 16 Kodak Tri-X

On a foggy morning
The morning fog shows the thin lines of the branches and their winding shapes, eliminating the details of the background surface. Here, the exposure must be determined very carefully.
Hasselblad 1/250 sec. Aperture 8 Kodak Tri-X

At night

Here, after having calibrated the machine at half-distance, I turned off the car lights and placed the cat in the area of ​​the lights. When the lights came back on, the cat froze. A short time to take the picture on very fast film was enough. The exposure was measured on high lights and reduced by two stops. The greater part of the scene appears dark.

Hasselblad 1/30 sec. Aperture 8 Kodak Royal-X

Natural light in reverse light

This is the simplest of the profile pictures. The photographer simply places the subject or person in front of a backlit background so that the light does not hit the part of the subject facing the machine: a window is a more suitable background. As with all silhouettes, the exposure must be calculated on the basis of the backlit background.
Rolliflex 1/250 sec. Aperture 11 Kodak Tri-X

Add a Reflector

This image was taken against a well-lit white background (two 500-watt bulbs) and the subject has been softly illuminated with a silver reflector (silver) placed 1.5 metres from the face and reflecting the background light. This technique gives some detail and a sense of volume without destroying or eliminating the silhouette effect.

Hasselblad 1/60 sec Aperture 11 Kodak TRI-X

Selecting the Viewpoint

These two views of a grain warehouse in Canada were taken a few minutes apart. They show how changing the viewpoint changes the direction of the light relative to the subject and creates a completely different atmosphere. The viewpoint chosen for the large image gives depth to the scene because dramatic lighting shades the building at contrasting levels. The very low viewpoint facing the sun creates a great harmony and symmetry between the two very close railway lines and the imposing mass of the warehouse that stands out in the sky. The calibre has taken on strong light. Leica Flex 1/125 sec. 16 Ektachrom EX.

Form in form

Here Henry Moore the sculptor is silhouetted on the canvas of his chaise longue under the bright Mediterranean sun. A natural form of light reflection - note the sharper parts of the silhouette, especially the face, where the body is not fully in contact with the chair. The chaise longue has a nice shape that provides a strange frame for this innovative and funny image.

Hasselblad 1/500 t. 22 Ektachrom EX 500.