Experimenting with Silhouettes

[jeanneholverstott]

I spent an evening experimenting with this tree and learning how to manage the sky in order to produce a silhouette. It wasn't perfect, and I made some changes in iPhoto. But, overall, how'd I do, especially with regard to exposure?

Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

[clearsky]

ok. i like the colors of the sky especially between the yellow and blue..

i would suggest using a tripod to a void raising the ISO.and also to zoom closer to eliminate the Dark Area on the foreground Or to try shooting it from a nearer distant..

And keep it up

[Krusty79]

Your exposure looks okay for a silhouette shot. I would encourage you to bracket your shots on a tripod and/or shoot RAW. That way, you have more images to select from and you can process RAW files more before they show noise. I wonder if your shot would have more color if you underexposed it? I find underexposing sunset shots usually gives me more color in the sky at the expense of darkening the foreground.

I like that you did not center the tree. I can't quite tell if your horizon is level, as it looks like the tree is on a slight slope.

[benchdog]

I like the exposure and colors, and the composition is nice. I think it needs to be leveled a small bit. Looking at your settings you could have cut your ISO in half and reduced you shutter speed where you could still have hand held and had a sharp image. I always recommend a tripod though but know you have to hand hold sometimes or don't own a tripod.

Nice work

[jeanneholverstott]

Thanks for all comments. I have not bracketed before, so that will be my next experiment. I do not own a tripod, though I spent last weekend assessing if I should invest in one. If I am going to shoot at night, I realize it will be necessary. I do appreciate how it will let me reduce shutter speed and ISO.

Krusty, thanks for the comment about underexposing -- I will try that!