May 14, 2009

Silhouette Sequel

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silhouette sample sequel

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I'd like to sum up the last couple posts with a maxim, a phrase from Plautus in the Mercator (that I found in an essay my 12yo son wrote this week!!!): "Happy is he who learns wisdom at another's cost."

And in the spirit of that maxim, I offer up to you my last photo with a list of dos and don'ts. Do: encourage your family to act like rockstars! Do: place your subject right against the light. Don't: forget to check your focus! Don't: fail to select a smaller aperture.

The Men in my Life.  :-)

Do: Remember that Silhouette Week is happening at I Heart Faces on May 25. Now, go shoot some silhouettes!

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25 comments:

Jon and Steph said...

Your pictures are just stunning! I just love them!

fxmixer said...

They're all very cool, but that first one BLOWS ME AWAY! Love everything about it. I think the rockstar here is behind the camera. ;)

angie {the arthur clan} said...

Is your area of the world really that beautiful or do you just know how to find the extreme beauty in everything?!?!? AMAZING shots. I'm just speechless.

~Angie
co-founder of iHeartFaces

Melissa G said...

Wow, those are amazing!

Unknown said...

Wow! You're photos are just breathtaking!

Melanie said...

These are really quite beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration!

the monkeys' mama said...

i echo Angie in not believing how beautiful it is where you live! God's creation and Glory is truly seen in each of your photographs. Thanks for sharing.

Angie said...

Really great photos! Thanks for the tutorial on I heart faces too! I am pretty new to photography and had no idea how to achieve this look. Fun! I already have some ideas. Thanks for the inspiration.

Unknown said...

This is awesome - all your pictures are amazing! :-)

Katarina said...

Those are stunning.

Donna Boucher said...

Susan,
You really are fantastic at The silhouette!!!

I don't think I have ever taken a good one. I will try.

But gosh, you have set the bar so high!

Truly spectacular!

Amy @ Living Locurto said...

These are gorgeous!!

I want to move there! I'm really a California girl at heart. Too bad my husband is an East Coast guy or we'd be there in a heartbeat. Texas is as far west that he will go:-(

Anonymous said...

Ok,now you're just showing off. Kidding. You know I absolutely love love love your photography. Great job, as usual.

Carebear said...

Blown away here! The second to the last with the awesome sun flare behind the face - so amazing! I loved your tutorial for i Heart Faces and am thrilled to see more of your fantastic sillhouettes here too! Keep em coming!

Teri said...

Your silhouettes are incredible.

I love your maxim. The one I drummed into my head while getting my philosophy degree is "I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law." My hero - Kant. Okay, I will now ease out of my geekiness.

tearese said...

Very nice, I especially like the next to last one and the fish eye lens at the end.

tiff said...

Absolutely stunning. I have a question, is it still considered silouhette if you can make out some of the facial features?
If I followed the rules of silouhette?

Skeller said...

Thanks, All. :-)

Teri - Geeky, indeed. I love it!

Tiff - the "technical" legalistic definition precludes any detail. a silhouette is just supposed to be an outline of a form against the light. that said, y'know, there's artistic license in everything ;-)

Donna Boucher said...

Oh my gosh. You are too modest Susan. I tried doing this yesterday and my first attempt was awful. So was my second attempt.

I hope with lots of practice I can learn this. Yours are wonderful.

AND man o man is there a lot of crud on my sensor. I can see it all with the shutter closed down to 22 f/stop.
Unreal. Do you have this on your camera too?

Skeller said...

Yikes, Donna! Don't shut your aperture down that far!!! It seems to me that anything past f/16 starts creating another set of problems (not least of which is having a fast enough shutter speed).

Yes. Sensor dust. Ugh. Ideally I should probably get my sensor cleaned at least a couple times a year. But at $50 a pop, I go in at most once a year.

Be happy you have a Nikon. The weather sealing on Canons is not so great, so my sensor is like a MAGNET for dust. Did I say "ugh" already?

Did you turn your spot metering off? Try evaluative (matrix on Nikon?) metering and an f-stop somewhere between 4 & 8. I promise it's not so hard. It's just that you're so masterful at perfectly exposing Katie's beautiful face that you have to try intentionally for some "bad" exposure. ;-)

MBB Founder and Editor Denene Millner said...

My goodness--those pictures are just breathtaking. Thanks for the tutorial (on the other post) and for sharing these incredible pictures.

I'm visiting from I Heart Faces...

tiff said...

Susan,

Thanks for answering my question. I have a favourite that's not quite silhouette by definition, therefore I'm excluding it. *sigh*.
It's the beginning of Winter here so there is not so much of the sunrise sunset thing going on more of the grey, wet rainfilled skies. Hopefully I can find something in my stash.

Mireille said...

AMAZING! Your pictures are stunning and indeed you raised the bar soooo high! Thanks for the tutorial, I am going to try ;-)

Jamie said...

Just beautiful! When I saw this weeks contest on Iheartfaces I was so excited. To see your shots even better!

Pamela said...

These pictures are amazing. You are so talented. I'm so glad I found your blog. :)