On Saturday those who are participating in the October Photo Challenge are going to be creating silhouette pictures, and I thought some of you who are newer to photography might be wondering how you can do this.
It’s actually incredibly easy. Just make sure that all of the light is coming from behind your subject. Meaning all of the light should be coming right into your lens, not from the right of you, not from the left of you, not behind. If you expose for the background, instead of the people, the subject will be black and the background will be pretty and colorful (if it’s sunset/sunrise).
That’s why most silhouette pictures are done at sunset/sunrise, because the light is coming from one direction. This picture looked almost exactly like this straight out of the camera.
You can also use Photoshop or other editing programs to really enhance the colors in a sunset silhouette picture, like I did with this one.
I did a Day In The Life day last week, and I actually created a silhouette picture of T1 looking out the window. As you can see, it’s sunset, and I have no lights on in the apartment behind him so the outside is light and the inside is dark. This is a way you could create one even if it isn’t sunset/sunrise. Position your subject in a room with one window, with their back to the window (or their side if you want to do a profile shot). Make sure all of the lights are off in the room and expose for the light outside instead of inside.
You could also use artificial light like I did for this one. This is from one of my first weddings and I had the couple stand and kiss right in front of the flash. I positioned myself so the flash was coming through their lips/necks/face and captured a silhouette of them kissing.
I suggest sunrise/sunset because it’s both pretty and fairly easy. But if you can’t make that work, think about trying things out with a lamp in your living room or even a flashlight! And your picture doesn’t have to be of people, those just happen to be my favorite subjects. 
October 13th, 2011 on 4:21 pm
It also helps if the subject is not white (a white person is fine, white clothes make it much harder). It will be harder to create a silhouette if the subject is reflecting a lot of light.
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October 13th, 2011 on 4:22 pm
Can you share your camera settings for that first picture and the picture of TI? Not sure if that makes a difference but I always find it easier to set up a photo if I know what type of settings are being used. Great pictures by the way!
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Jenna Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
I easily can with the one of T1.
ISO 1250
35mm
f2.0
1/6400 sec
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October 13th, 2011 on 5:12 pm
I shouldn’t feel silly asking this, because I’m learning and most of us are, but how do you expose for the light and not the people? That’s a new one for me-and will probably help for a lot of photos I want to take in the future. Thanks for this tutorial though, great photo examples too!
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Tiffany Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
great question…I have the same one…I felt silly asking it too.
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Jenna Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Not a silly question at all
When your camera takes a picture for you (on auto) it decides which thing should be exposed for correctly. Say you had a picture of a tall building on a sunny day with a large shadow. Do you want to be able to see what is in the shadows? Or maybe you want the building to be very dark and the sky to be very rich and blue? Whenever you take a picture on manual these are the things you have to think about, and they are the things your camera takes into consideration when you take a picture on auto.
So to expose for the background you either need to shoot fully on manual yourself, or shoot on a semi-auto setting like “P” or “Tv” and tell the camera what to do. When you use these semi-automatic settings you have an exposure compensation dial that you can use to indicate you want the picture to be darker, which will help.
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October 13th, 2011 on 5:30 pm
can you do this with a point and shoot camera?
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Jenna Reply:
October 13th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
For sure! I have a silhouette of my friend jumping on a trampoline at sunset, created on accident as a kid when I didn’t even know what I was doing. I’m sure you can do it with your point and shoot as well.
I talked about this a little bit when answering another commenter, I’m not sure if that will help? It will be easiest on a day with a good strong sunrise/sunset. And make sure that you don’t have the flash go off! That absolutely will prevent you from getting the results you want.
If you can’t do a sunset, try going out into a field, in the middle of nowhere, and using a flashlight at night behind the person with no flash. Even on auto I think you would probably get a silhouette shot.
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October 13th, 2011 on 5:40 pm
Wow those tips are great. I can’t wait to practice this out.
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October 13th, 2011 on 7:20 pm
I love your work and I ESPECIALLY love all the fun tips you share
I’m gonna start saving up so that one day when we are in the same state I can have you take some pictures. You are so talented (which is great) but I love that you are so eager/willing to help others become talented and learn to shoot great pictures too!
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October 13th, 2011 on 10:12 pm
It can’t be that easy…. It can’t be that easy!! : ) Seriously I had no idea making silhouettes was something attainable with my crap “skillset.” Can’t wait to try now! You’re a hero, thanks for sharing!
And LOOOOVE that first shot!
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October 14th, 2011 on 7:59 am
Wooo. Lookit Opie and me being all cute-like! Wasn’t expecting to see myself on your blog today.
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October 15th, 2011 on 9:30 am
Thank you so much for the tips! I was about to give up, but I read these last night and tried one more time.
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October 16th, 2011 on 2:49 am
[...] Silhouette I totally thought I knew what that meant and had my picture all planned out. Then when this was posted by Jenna at That Wife I was thinking I obviously had it all wrong. After some more [...]
November 1st, 2011 on 11:55 am
The first shot is awesome, i am going to have to try and recreate this one. I love it.
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