Shooting Silhouettes

Words and pictures by Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)

Karl with his set up on a crisp Melbourne morning

Silhouettes can be extremely powerful images. They allow us to concentrate on the form of a subject instead of cluttering our minds with detail and depth. Normally when the sun gets too low for normal bird photography you will find me running around (literally ) looking for good subjects to capture in silhouette.
It does’nt matter if the sky has much colour in it, there are always good silhouette opportunities as long as there is enough light to contrast your subject against. The sky or water will normally be your canvas but finding a good subject is quite often the real problem.
What you are really looking for is a subject with an interesting shape or one that has assumed an interesting posture (a cormorant drying its wings is a good example).
It is always best to be somewhere flat when taking silhouettes as you will have more opportunities. The beach is the best place to be, especially near a communal roost of some sort or a flight path for homecoming birds, but silhouette opportunities can be found just about anywhere if you have got your eyes open.

There was not a whole lot of colour in the water in this image but it still has impact as a back drop

SETTINGS FOR SILHOUETTES
I would suggest that the best way to shoot silhouettes is in manual exposure mode. Your aperture can be wide open as you are not looking to capture detail, just an outline. As you approach a subject try experimenting with shutter speeds. I normally start with 1/500th. This normally gives me an idea of how fast I am going to have to shoot to capture the subject in silhouette and whether I have to add or subtract light.
Be sure not to get too close because you may miss that magic moment when the bird stretches its wings or preens its tail feathers etc.
In silhouette your subject will dominate the composition even if it is small in the frame so getting super close should not be your aim (unless you are trying to capture a head profile silhouette or something similar.)
Don’t let your selected focus point dictate how you compose the image. If the subject is static(still) try using One shot focus so that you can focus and then recompose the image to your liking.
If you are shooting flight silhouettes Servo or Continuous focusing will be required but you should have enough contrast in the overall image to try out off centre focusing points with a fair bit of accuracy.
If it is a flock or a small group of flying birds you are shooting you may want to adjust your aperture if you have enough light so that you have sharp edges on all of the subjects. Experimentation is definitely the name of the game when it comes to silhouette shooting. You’ll soon find yourself setting the correct speeds just by judging the amount of light in the sky/water.

You may have to wait a while for the subject to do something interesting or for the sun to fall/rise into a good position

SHOOTING INTO THE SUN

When shooting towards the sun you may run in to several problems.
Firstly, if you have the sun or a very bright reflection in the frame, your camera may not be able to focus on your subject. Again,(if the subject is static) use One shot AF to focus accurately or use manual focusing if you have real problems.

If using AI servo or continuous focusing to silhouette moving subjects (flight etc) with the sun in the frame, it is best to attain focus on the subject before it reaches a point where the sun will be in the image. If you wait until the moment when the sun is behind your subject to start shooting/focusing you are going to have a real problem getting a sharp silhouette.
Try to remember roughly where the sun is before you put your eye in the viewfinder, track and focus on your incoming subject and hit the shutter just before you get to the point where you know the sun to be.

The sun can be an awesome addition to any silhouette if you can get focus before the sun enters the frame

Secondly, you may not be able to shoot fast enough (1/8000th sec. is about the limit on most DSLRs) to get the image that you are after.
If shooting into the sun it is best normally to set your cameras lowest ISO setting (ISO 100 is normally low enough).
This will insure that you can shoot at your fastest shutter speed if you need to. The images shown in this essay were taken at shutter speeds of 1/2000th to 1/8000th of a second and at ISO setting 100 and 200.
When I know I’m going to be shooting silhouettes with the sun in the frame I will normally go straight to spot or centre weighted metering (with ISO 100 already set) and take a reading from the sky directly next to the sun. This will give me a pretty good idea of the speed that I will have to use to get a nice black silhouette against the bright sky. Take heaps of experiment shots if you have the time and remember that you may have to change your shutter speed slightly as the sun goes down/up or if affected by clouds.

Even subjects with fairly plain outlines can look great in silhouette

An important thing to realise is that looking through your lens at the sun is very bad for your eyes and in some cases your camera.
In the case of the above shot with the pelican on the pole with the full sun behind it, I was waiting for this pelican to preen or wing stretch with my eye in the view finder for extended periods. After I had finished shooting my eye sight did not go back to normal for about an hour after I had left the site (and I had to drive home very scary) so keep this in mind!!
Also remember that you dont have to shoot with a black silhouette. Try leaving a bit of detail if you like, it sometimes adds a great effect to the image.
Other than that EXPERIMENT…EXPERIMENT…EXPERIMENT!!
Its the only way to go when shooting into the sun.

So when you see that sun going down and you are about to pack up, look around for any silhouette opportunities. You’ll be surprised.

Cheers and happy shooting, Paul Randall