֎ For as long as photography has existed, silhouettes have been popular – during the Victorian era, they were even seen as an affordable way of capturing a portrait. It’s easy to assume the process of creating a silhouetted image is straightforward. We spend so much time producing balanced exposures and avoiding reducing subjects to silhouetted outlines so to shoot one intentionally, you may assume that all you have to do is underexpose.
However, this represents only half of the procedure. If care is not taken, the main subject can become lost in the frame. Overlapping of elements in the scene can cause a loss of shape and therefore impact, while even choosing an ideal subject for this treatment can prove a challenge.