Silhouette

[Pichead]

This one is pretty simple, but, for those of you relatively new to photography, this tip might encourage a decent shot with very little effort...

I was photographing my son yesterday with my camera on Single Point focus mode. Through this focus mode (which I use 90+ % of the time) a single point on the sensor/viewfinder is chosen using the dial on the back of the camera. This is the point within the frame on which the camera will focus. This would be opposed to a more automatic mode whereby the camera analyzes the scene and chooses the focus point based on various factors including lighting, contrast, etc.

In addition to being in Single Point focus mode, I was also shooting in Spot Metering mode, which chooses the exposure based on the individual point selected for the focus.

So, I move the 'point' through the frame, selecting my son's eye to be the sharpest thing in the shot. The camera not only uses that as the focus point, but also meters off of the eye in order to set the exposure...

My focus point accidentally drifted from my son's eye and fell onto the window behind him. This caused the meter to read that the scene was very bright, and it increased the shutter speed significantly to account for that brightness, which in turn made my son a completely black figure, silhouetted against the window. After checking the viewfinder and realizing what happened, I immediately changed over to Manual mode, as the silhouette shot was now my goal.

I increased the shutter to 1/640th of a second (way too fast to see any detail on my son's face) and left my aperture set at f/2. After that, it was only a matter of getting my son to turn in the right direction, in front of the window, so that I could snap off a few frames. And, while you might think this wouldn't be a big deal, it's sometimes difficult for him to stay stationary...even for 1/640th of a second.

[NathanLeduc]

Thanks for the tip. The silhouette is surprisingly clear because of the contrast of the window behind him.