How to create a silhouette

Summer sunsets are the perfect time for silhouettes! Fortunately, these stunning photos are much easier to capture than it seems. There are just a couple of things to know.

• Look for a strong shape - whether it is a person, a tree, a bird, a boat, or a building. You want your object to stand out from the sky.

• Try to position yourself so that the subject has some breathing room around it so that the shape doesn’t get swallowed into surrounding details. If your subject is a person, try to pose them so that arms are a little separate from the body and you see a person shape instead of a blob shape. :)

• Choose your settings for the sky to be correctly exposed . If you’re in manual mode, that means using the colorful sky as the point where you meter for exposure. If you’re in auto or a program mode, try to change your camera to spot metering, and then set your focus point on the sky. You can hold down your “half press shutter” and recompose your shot. The camera should keep the settings it chose for a correctly exposed sky.

I’d love to see what you come up with! Tag me with #tamicutlerphotography if you post so I can take a look! If you have any questions about any of these techniques, try my ebook or personal coaching!

This is 13 years old, and still one of my very favorite photos. Something about a silhouette makes it timeless.