Outdoor Photography How To

It’s often difficult to make compelling images when shooting in the middle of the day under harsh lighting condition. But in the video below you’ll learn how to make use of contrast to create dramatic silhouettes.

In this tutorial freelance photographer Gavin Hoey not only explains the proper way to capture striking silhouettes, but he demonstrates a few tricks for making the images even more dynamic.

Hoey explains that contrast is the key to making silhouettes, which is why it’s typically best to shoot either in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is low in the sky. But he explains how to get the job done when the sun is overhead by dressing a model in dark clothing and using a dark prop (like a bicycle) with an easily recognized shape.

After discussing the proper camera settings, Hoey makes the image even more dramatic by adding smoke to the scene illuminated by an off-camera flash. You’ll see how he merged five different smoke shots in Photoshop to create exactly the background he desired.

There are more helpful videos on the AdoramaTV YouTube channel, and be sure to watch an earlier tutorial we posted in which Hoey demonstrates a simple portrait technique using three off-camera speedlights.