Shooting silhouettes... With or without flash?

[ChrisAdval]

I've been seeing silhouettes being shot with flash on the subject which to me doesn't feel like a "real" silhouette from what I've seen in silhouette photography.

What do you guys think?

[zona5101]

I suppose part of it depends on how you define the sillouette. I would think in the true sense of the word there would be no light on the subject, just the backlighting. Some might call this a silhouette because so much of it is in darkness...I don't think I would, to me it's just dramatic lighting...

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by zona5101

I suppose part of it depends on how you define the sillouette. I would think in the true sense of the word there would be no light on the subject, just the backlighting. Some might call this a silhouette because so much of it is in darkness...I don't think I would, to me it's just dramatic lighting...

when I imaged googled the word "silhouette" I got these results

silhouette - Google Search


with these images...

http://www.friedmanarchives.com/Skat...0300%20dpi.jpg

http://www.secondpicture.com/blog/silhouette_photo.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3081/...c324afc0_o.jpg

which seems to me from the consistent results of google that the subject is never lit just the purpose of getting the outlines of the person is the purpose of a "silhouette."

[RichardTaylor]

It's an artistic decision..................

[BigFuzzy]

By the very nature of the definition of Silhouette, I don't think the image Bruce used can be considered a silhouette.. to me, it's a portrait of someone against a dark background with side lighting.. not a silhouette.

Cris, can you post an example from your initial description..?

The three other links you posted, to me, are what silhouettes are.
Granted, I've seen some sihouettes with some detail in the shadow, but the point being it was a dark outline of someone (even if not 100% black) against a brighter background.. not sure how much of anything else can be considered a silhouette to be honest.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

By the very nature of the definition of Silhouette, I don't think the image Bruce used can be considered a silhouette.. to me, it's a portrait of someone against a dark background with side lighting.. not a silhouette.

Cris, can you post an example from your initial description..?

The three other links you posted, to me, are what silhouettes are.
Granted, I've seen some sihouettes with some detail in the shadow, but the point being it was a dark outline of someone (even if not 100% black) against a brighter background.. not sure how much of anything else can be considered a silhouette to be honest.

Mrs. Hope by Eric Adeleye Photography, on Flickr

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by ChrisAdval

Mrs. Hope by Eric Adeleye Photography, on Flickr

This is not a silhouette, period. As far as I see it. It's a flash lit portrait where the sun is used as back lighting.
The photographer himself noted his intent when you invoked the word silhouette.
"This photograph would have turned out like a silhouette if I hadn't used my SB-700 flash off to subject's right to light up her face. My goal was to get the sun in the picture with her and also light her up so that she wouldn't appear as a silhouette."

It's not a "real silhouette" as you noted originally because it was never intended to be one. Having a subject back lit alone doesn't qualify as a silhouette.

So now I guess the initial confusion you may have had was the fact you were self-labelling stuff as "silhouettes" when in fact they aren't and were not intended to be.

[BigFuzzy]

Oh, and what I wanted to add at the end, in response to your thread title is that you can use flash to shoot a silhouette when that flash IS the backlighting that actually creates the silhouette.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

This is not a silhouette, period.

Agreed.

plus characters to make 10.

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

This is not a silhouette, period. As far as I see it. It's a flash lit portrait where the sun is used as back lighting.
The photographer himself noted his intent when you invoked the word silhouette.
"This photograph would have turned out like a silhouette if I hadn't used my SB-700 flash off to subject's right to light up her face. My goal was to get the sun in the picture with her and also light her up so that she wouldn't appear as a silhouette."

It's not a "real silhouette" as you noted originally because it was never intended to be one. Having a subject back lit alone doesn't qualify as a silhouette.

So now I guess the initial confusion you may have had was the fact you were self-labelling stuff as "silhouettes" when in fact they aren't and were not intended to be.

I understand, yes self-labeled it because it felt like silhouette, but just with a twist that just didn't feel or look right. That's what really confused my photographer's eye to raise an eyebrow .