Photographers are often too obsessed with details, wanting to make sure that shadows or dark colors are not just blobs in the image. Occasionally the goal is to get a subtler approach by either exposing for the dark, using bracketed shots that offer a range of exposures in quick exposures one after the other, or otherwise using post-processing software to bring it out.
Sometimes, though, the shot works better as a silhouette or with barely noticeable detail. This is because too much information can be distracting. If we want impact, the impact of a small outlined figure against an essentially uniform expanse provides the pop. In this way, the image can succeed as a minimalist images in which a particular detail is set against an uncomplicated background.
Here is an example from Barcelona, of a woman on a paddleboard.
Sometimes, though, the shot works better as a silhouette or with barely noticeable detail. This is because too much information can be distracting. If we want impact, the impact of a small outlined figure against an essentially uniform expanse provides the pop. In this way, the image can succeed as a minimalist images in which a particular detail is set against an uncomplicated background.
Here is an example from Barcelona, of a woman on a paddleboard.
I did several things to create a photo that had sufficient contrast to have an impact. First, I did not do a close up of her; the isolation of the paddleboarder against the expanse of sea was the subject of the photograph. Second, I put her off center and slightly towards the bottom, and had more sea than sky to further break it up. Photographers are often told of the Golden Ratio or Rule of Thirds which divides the image into three rows and three columns. Under this rule, placement of the main subject anywhere but in the center is considered better practice to break the symmetry and create a tension in the image. Like all rules, it can be broken successfully, but in this case, I put the person more to the right, since it follows another recommendation which is to leave space for a person in motion to move into. Sometimes symmetry can have an impact, but here I wanted her off center horizontally to create a sense of movement but more centered vertically to increase the sense of isolation—at least that is how it appeared to me. If she were completely centered, she might seem "stuck."
Another example is from Abuja, Nigeria, of two men padding on a lake, where I also put them off center. However, there is not the sense of isolation here, and the silhouette is not perfect. There is color visible on one of them. While I liked this image because of the sense of purpose and camaraderie demonstrated by the two paddlers, it doesn’t work in the same minimalist way as the Barcelona photo.
Another example is from Abuja, Nigeria, of two men padding on a lake, where I also put them off center. However, there is not the sense of isolation here, and the silhouette is not perfect. There is color visible on one of them. While I liked this image because of the sense of purpose and camaraderie demonstrated by the two paddlers, it doesn’t work in the same minimalist way as the Barcelona photo.
It remains an interesting photograph to me, depicting something of life in Abuja but the one taken in the Barcelona is, in my opinion, more powerful.
If you are going to do a silhouette, consider it as part of a minimalist exercise, so the viewer focuses essentially on just two elements—the silhouetted figure and the background.
If you are going to do a silhouette, consider it as part of a minimalist exercise, so the viewer focuses essentially on just two elements—the silhouetted figure and the background.