I was reading the other day about making silhouettes. It reminded me of a time several years ago when I read a similar article and thought I would give the technique a go. It seemed so easy.
So there I was, following instructions. My subject, my son, was standing against a light background, the sky. Expose for the sky and there you have it.
Except it never turned out the way I wanted. In those days, it was film, not digital and I had to wait several days for my photos to come back from processing.
There was no silhouette. The features in my sons body were still clearly visible. They were darker but still there. It all looked a bit muddy and, quite frankly, rubbish.
So out I went again and changed my camera settings a bit. Waited another several days and the same problem. It took me a while to get things right.
What is the point of all this? Well, I learned that things are not always as easy as they might appear on paper (or on your computer screen). That is not to say that photographic techniques of this type are hard, they are not. But you need to take a number of variable factors into account when taking images your equipment, the time of day, the light sources, the subject and so on.
The great thing with digital cameras is that you CAN experiment and change settings. You can see the results straight away. Your best pictures may come from settings and techniques that YOU choose rather than some dictat from others. It doesnt matter. Just get that satisfying picture.
Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com
