B&W Challenge No. 17 - Silhouettes

[alexr]

Much discussion about black and white photography is about establishing good tonal ranges within an image. But for this Challenge I'm going to go against all of that. I'd like us to create images containing silhouettes. To a purist a silhouette will only have pure black and pure white with no tones in-between but photographically the term has become slightly looser and now applies to an image where the main subject is a single pure colour (usually black) but the background need not be. Of course the background doesn't even have to be monochrome, but since this is a B&W Challenge, I would like ours to be.

There are many good examples out there, so if you would like to see some simply from putting 'silhouette' in the search engines of Flickr and 500px respectively:

www.flickr.com/search/?text=sihouette

500px.com/search?submit=Submit&q=sillhouette&type=photos

Obviously most of those examples would not fit the brief I have given, but will hopefully get some artistic juices flowing.
In preparation for this challenge I would have loved to have created some examples of my own but unfortunately life has got in the way somewhat so the best I can offer at this point is one from a few years ago, which isn't perfect (I particularly think the bulk of the building is overbearing) but I quite liked at the time:

farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/16113367959_e1d4e60e2b_c.jpg

I hope to be able to get out and about again before the end of the month.

If you post an image please can you share how you created it, i.e. whether by sliding the contrast, extending the blacks or additional painting, And please share those that didn't work as well as those that did, as often this is the best way that we can all learn off each other.
Have fun and enjoy.

[hmca]

Given your avatar, you have chosen the perfect subject for this month's challenge! This should be a fun challenge no matter what season it is where members live. Thanks for this theme Alex. I look forward to finding some interesting silhouettes and seeing what our members
come up with as well.

[pontiac1940]

My minimalism phase? Canada geese past the house late this afternoon. 

[Bailey]

Hi Alex,

I am not sure if you would prefer we actually shoot a silhouette or just create one in post processing from any image and explain how we created it.

Personally, I see true silhouettes as images where the light source is behind the subject of the image.

If anyone is wondering how to shoot a silhouette, this is a very good tutorial/guide.

How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps

Hopefully I will have time later this week to take some silhouette photos and submit something.

[pontiac1940]

Great points Bailey. The " Make silhouetted shapes distinct and uncluttered" suggestion is spot on. Can be hard. 

Clive 

[alexr]

Clive, great image to get us going; clean and crisp and yes, minimalist.

Dec 3, 2018 2:48:53 GMT Bailey said:

Hi Alex,

I am not sure if you would prefer we actually shoot a silhouette or just create one in post processing from any image and explain how we created it.

Bailey, I'm happy with either. I hadn't thought of re-working an old image into a silhouette but it is a good idea. Whatever anyone fancies doing by the way of creating something new. The reason I mentioned processing was because I assumed that even with exposing for a bright background there will probably still be some processing required to accentuate the contrast.

[pontiac1940]

In which case, I'll post this shot of barley heads shot as a color silhouette and posted in my gallery a few weeks ago. 

[billz]

Commuters leaving the tram station, silhouetted against an opaque glass wall. Shot at this morning's sunrise.

[ritage]

The Top of the Dance Door at the Los Angeles Music Center

Converted in Photoshop and Topaz Restyle

I replaced the sky because I shot it into sun veiled by early afternoon smog, not a very interesting background 

[Sydney]

Great to see you on the Creative Effects team, Alex! You are starting off your Black and White campaign with a great challenge. I will definitely be in on this one as soon as I can think of what would look good in silhouette. The first challenge for me will be learning how to spell it as I see that the system just did an autocorrect on it...d'oh!

Your image is suberb as are all of the entries thus far. I particularly loved Clive's barley against the sun and Bill's image of people behind the translucent window panes. Must put my thinking cap on.

[alexr]

Gosh the standard is being set very high here...
Clive, and a great shot of the barley too, beautifully placed and once again, clean and crisp.
Bill, you have a great eye for a shot, I would probably have just passed that scene by without noticing anything but you've spotted that it is a fascinating image. Its not a classic silhouette, but there are lots of figures silhouetted nevertheless. And all the angles create additional interest and framing.
Rita, a packed image with plenty to admire as you've positioned yourself so well. I can't tell it is a replacement sky, and it suits it perfectly.

[Bailey]

Dec 2, 2018 15:15:37 GMT alexr said:

...
If you post an image please can you share how you created it, i.e. whether by sliding the contrast, extending the blacks or additional painting,

And please share those that didn't work as well as those that did, as often this is the best way that we can all learn off each other.
...

ok, this is one that hasn't totally worked as a silhouette.

I took the original colour photo a while ago without intending it to be a silhoutte. I had to crouch down a bit to position the sun behind the rock at the top.

The original photo has detail in the foreground but I thought I would try to convert the image to a "sort of" silhouette. Because there are no really distinctive shapes to silhouette, I retained a hint of detail in the blacks otherwise the rock at the top combined with the rock it is perched on and the rocks in the foreground would be just one large messy black blob.

I used Elements+ to convert to B&W.

I slid the grey slider in a Levels Adjustment Layer to the right to raise the grey point and so darken the shadows to create a sort of silhouette while maintaining a hint of details in the shadows.

I used a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer to highlight the foliage on the right a little.

Fine tuned the shadows and highlights by dodging and burning to give a little more depth to the image.

[tonyw]

Here's a shot of Corfe Castle taken a couple of years ago - I originally took it as a silhouette with the sun behind the ruin - I tweaked the settings in Lightroom to make the sky more dramatic and darken the castle to eliminate the detail of the stonework although when I did a black and white conversion in Silver Efex the preset I used brought the detail back and I rather preferred it that way so that's the way I left it.



Tony

[alexr]

Bailey, thanks for sharing even though you don't think it quite worked. I have to applaud you for your effort, though and it is great to see how you have created the outlines around the main rock. I think you have created enough interest across the image to make the viewer want to study it, which is one sign of a successful image.
Tony, I love how you have used the fire cradle as the silhouette and I think you have done the right thing with the castle as the brickwork texture works well and adds a contrast to the pure black of the silhouette.

[Tpgettys]

I got this shot in early morning.  The jay was just sitting there contemplating the sunrise and I was just there thinking this was another great pic missed, but no!  Go figure, it happens that way sometimes.  I did apply some sharpening, and a gradient to make the light more as I remembered it.