how to make this not a shadow shot

[nycjyo]

Hello!

Just got back from a European vacation! Have a few shots that I will post individually for some feedback. I am a beginner and any feedback is extremely helpful!

For this particular shot, what should I have done to make this focus on the person and not the background? Such that the person did not look like a shadow?

Stats:
Aperture: f/7.1
ISO: 400
shutter speed: 1/400
focal length: 90.0mm

Thanks!

[dcclark]

It looks like you were in a location which was very dark -- and the background (the city) was much lighter. In this case, it would be very hard to balance the light with just a single shot: you could use spot metering to get the person exposed right, but then the background would be severely blown out.

With more processing, you could do an HDR shot: take two (or more) shots, one exposed for the background, one for the person, and combine them with the software of your choice.

You could use a flash to expose for the foreground, but it might look very artificial.

But, overall, I like the silhouette shot! If you were to remove the person on the left (bending over), it would be very cool indeed.

[cphoniball]

I agree with all the points dcclark made - also just wanted to point out that in situations like this, your camera meter will expose so that the picture comes out to a roughly middle gray (notice, roughly). It also usually tries to save any areas from blowing out, or becoming pure white from overexposure.

If you had wanted to render the person properly, you would have had to overexpose the picture in general to get a proper exposure for just the person. Of course, this means that your background will be overexposed to the point that it'll probably just look like he's surrounded by pure white.