Civil War in silhouette

[indykaleu]

Hello all,
This image was taken at a Civil War reenactment recently in Indiana. I've tried getting silhouettes in pictures before, but without much luck or good results. I noticed these kids playing on a hill and took several pictures until I found an aperture setting that worked for me. I originally was shooting in full manual mode, but switched to Aperture priority after several poor results. My questions is this, what or how can I achieve better results when shooting silhouettes? I understand that I need to set the aperture settings to the light source behind the subject, but what about focusing on the person or thing or on the light source? Thanks for any help....


Kids on patrol by indykaleu, on Flickr

Exif data
Camera Canon EOS 30D
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 38 mm
ISO Speed 100

[lenslizard]

This is going to be an easy triumph for you. The next time you take a silhouette shot, meter for the sky behind them first, shoot in manual, and then focus on the subject. Don't change the dials after metering for the sky. The sensor will tell you that the exposure is wrong, but what does it know in the face of creative shooting :P

[indykaleu]

Originally Posted by lenslizard

This is going to be an easy triumph for you. The next time you take a silhouette shot, meter for the sky behind them first, shoot in manual, and then focus on the subject. Don't change the dials after metering for the sky. The sensor will tell you that the exposure is wrong, but what does it know in the face of creative shooting :P

Thank you for the help.

[Surprised]

Hi. I know you haven't asked for feedback on composition, but I can't help wondering whether this would have been better in landscape rather than portrait... The silhouette works for me, though, and I love the colo(u)rs of the sky.

[Rookie10]

Why don´t you try to increase contrast and saturation to achieve your aimed for silhoutte effect? Already worked for me. Since it´s very unlikely that you ever get to shoot exactly this scene again, I think you should give it a try!

[MrJones]

I think the problem is that you shot from below.
this way their legs are blending with the ground and when you push the contrast up to achieve the silhouette effect - you lose them and left with only the upper body which gives it a weird look in my opinion. normally for a silhouette you'd want a dark object on a light background, here you've got dark on dark, at least for the bottom part.
also, I agree with Surprised, the photo will have more impact in landscape orientation.

[indykaleu]

Thanks again for the comments and critique. I'll definitely keep everything in mind the next time I try for a silhouette picture. As for the landscape perspective, I did take a couple of pictures with that perspective in mind, but there were too many people who were not dressed for the Civil War period and I didn't like those pictures. In hindsight, I should have kept them and cropped out the other people. Live and learn...thanks again for the help.