JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: The Art of the Silhouette

The Art of the Silhouette

By Steve Cherry

19 December 2007

Musicians will tell you that the key to really good music is control over what is not heard, or, the silent spaces between the notes and beats. The same can be said for photography in terms of what is seen and what is not. The silhouette photo is a special example of this, and it takes full advantage of the unlit, unknown spaces, and allows a sort of "hybrid" story to develop in the mind of the viewer. The logical side of our brain sees the lit portion of the picture and determines the basic context: "Ah, so this scene takes place in an office building!" But, the other, more imaginative side of the brain sees shadow, and space, and attempts to fill in those gaps with possible scenarios.

"What is going on inside that shadow? I can tell it is a woman, but what is she doing? I wonder what color her eyes are..."

My first attempts at photography were crude ones because I had no real appreciation for light control. So, it should come as no surprise that my first silhouettes began quite simply as accidents. But one day, as I picked through some shots of my 2 year old playing with the cat in the window through the curtain, I was about to hit "delete," when a thought occurred to me. I applied a black and white filter to the image, then I played with contrast and exposure settings a bit more. Then, I realized that this image was not only pleasing to my eye, but it had captured an intimate moment without even seeing my son's face or expression.

Now as I look back over my portfolio, I have seen a trend emerge, and that is my affinity for the silhouette. Over time, I have trained my eye to seek out interesting silhouettes and partial silhouettes instead of creating them by accident. The common wisdom and tutorials train us to avoid harsh light and to use fill flash whenever necessary, but I say "take the shot" - even if that pricey light meter says otherwise.