Silhouette Lesson/Assignment

For this assignment you will hone your skills creating silhouettes in Photoshop and capturing them with the camera.  This assignment has 4 parts:

1. Take an image of yourself in class (profile view).  Set the timer on your camera to capture the image (this works best with a light background (such as the projector screen).  Bring the image of yourself into photoshop and follow the link below to the tutorial starring Mr. Kimble to create your silhouette.
http://mrkimble.weebly.com/refining-mask-silhouette-turorial.html

2. Take an image of another person or an interesting object to apply the silhouette tutorial to.

3. Using the camera, capture a person or object utilizing backlighting to create a silhouette.  The silhouette can be a full black color, or it can show some detail of the person or object with the majority of the subject dark.

To accomplish #3, if you were trying to capture a silhouette of a building, it is important to direct your camera to expose for the sky and not the building.  This can be done manually or by pointing your camera at the lightest part of the image (sky) and holding the shutter button down halfway.  Then pan back to crop the scene as you want it to look while keeping the shutter button pressed down halfway.  Then click.

If the lightest part of the image is properly exposed, it makes any object in shadow appear completely black: and there's your silhouette.  When editing the picture before turning it in you can play with contrast and exposure in Photoshop to make sure you are achieving a rich black.

4.  Look at David Allen Reeves' tumblr page:  http://davidallenreeves.tumblr.com/

You will need to create an image in the likeness of a David Allen Reeves silhouette.  This can be achieved with cut paper, or action figures posed to create an interesting scene (don't forget to utilize depth of field when you shoot).  

Upload all 4 images to your blog for grading.

DUE:  May 3rd

Rubric: