idea for an assignment on silohuettes, but i need some help please

callmedna · Feb 18, 2008

im in my first photography class and loving it so far :heart:. my professor assigned a sillohuette assignment. i had an idea to take my friend down to the beach at sunset. but i want her to be holding a sign with the quote by winston churchill that says "I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours," however i can not write it on a plain poster board because it will be silohuetted as well. i, obviously, only want the letters to be silohuetted, not the whole sign. does anyone have any ideas on how to go about this?
thank you so much!

JerryPH · Feb 19, 2008

It can be done.

The standard silhouette that you know:

... and now using a simple off camera flash:

Or ... you could take the same pic twice (once with and once without flash), and then in photoshop, using layers bring up ONLY the sign when it was flashed and visible... that way your girl is in silhouette and the sign is clearly visible.

Or... you could just use the silhouette layer and photoshop the sign, but then it becomes an exercise in photoshop, NOT photography.

JimmyO · Feb 19, 2008

Might be a stretch but you could cut the letter outs out of the board so the sunset shines through them aswell

callmedna · Feb 19, 2008

JimmyO said:
Might be a stretch but you could cut the letter outs out of the board so the sunset shines through them aswell

that is a very good idea. why didnt i thinnk of that? haha. i was going through all these ridiculous solutions in my head. i tend to overthink. this is so simple.
thank you!!