Silhouettes with black background?

digital faerie

Ok, I've been trying to figure out how to get silhouettes of my kitty kat....however, all the tutes and tips I've seen deal with lighter backgrounds.

I'd like a black background, and have the light catching along the outline of his fur.....so his silhouette is really quite striking this way.

But I can't figure out how to do it. Anyone have any experience with this? I wish I had a shot for you, but everything I've done so far isn't capturing what I'm after. :dunno

Mitchell

Are you talking about backlighting? I suspect a backlight would give your the effect you want around the periphery of you cat. You can then control the exposure of the subject to make it look like a silhouette. I think this is actually called rim lighting?

Basically a light eclipsed by your cat!:D

digital faerie

Mitchell wrote:

Are you talking about backlighting? I suspect a backlight would give your the effect you want around the periphery of you cat. You can then control the exposure of the subject to make it look like a silhouette. I think this is actually called rim lighting?

Basically a light eclipsed by your cat!:D

Hey Mitchell! yes, backlighting is what I'm referring to, lately my brain has been fried by CSS tutes and customization, I believe I have lost the ability to write clearly

the problem I had with the test shots I did the other day was for one, I just have a regular plug-in lamp (60 W) that I sat behind my cat on the bed. I think the biggest problem lies in the fact that I don't have very light-absorbent black fabric, it has too much of a sheen so I'm getting details from that in the shot as well.

I suppose I will need to get some felt.....the velvet I have is too reflective also.

I wish I had a way to focus the light more....I think some rigging is in order. Thanks for your reply!

Mitchell

Perhaps placing something between the bulb and the black fabric will do the trick. An opaque shade behind the bulb to allow light projection forward only should do the trick.

I had the same problem when taking pictures of some flowers with a single bare bulb against a black background. I wound up holding a piece of cardboard between the bulb and the background to allow only the flowers to be illuminated. Hope this helps!

DoctorIt

An easier way to get a smooth background might be to use the most shallow DOF you can pull off and move whatever dark backdrop you have waaaaaay back. I've done that a bunch of times and made a wrinkly old sheet look like a lovely white cloud.

Art Scott

digital faerie wrote:

Ok, I've been trying to figure out how to get silhouettes of my kitty kat....however, all the tutes and tips I've seen deal with lighter backgrounds.

I'd like a black background, and have the light catching along the outline of his fur.....so his silhouette is really quite striking this way.

But I can't figure out how to do it. Anyone have any experience with this? I wish I had a shot for you, but everything I've done so far isn't capturing what I'm after.

shallow depth of field, make a reflector out of alum. foil (try to make reflect. come above the top of lamp and bend slight forward to keep spillage off back also) to keep the light off the background...replace 60 w lamp with 100 or 150w.....the brighter the lamp the easier to get what you are after.


You may want to inverst in a cheap slave trigger also..I bought some off ebay for $10 or so....or the long pc cable....a COUPLE OF 12 FT flash extension cables ( i like paramount cables) so the kitty doesn't get hot or accidently burned and flash is somuch brighter and easier to silhoute from.


Good luck

digital faerie

thanks you guys! I look forward to implementing your tips and see how successful I can be.

Art Scott, thanks for thinking about my kitty....I wouldn't want him to get burned either!