Silhouette of horses

kathybrunet

I am fairly new to using a Canon T3i.
A friend of mine saw a photo of a silhouette of a cowgirl riding a horse. She would like me to try this using my camera. Any hints how to accomplish this? It would be done in the evening hours.
Any suggestions would help.
Thanks

ohyeahar

If I’m understanding you correctly, here’s what you need to do.

You’ll need to do this at around sunset, preferably prior to sunset.
Position yourself east of your subject (i.e., rider and horse). This means your subject is backlit by the sun (or sky).
Assuming you use Evaluative Metering, the bright background is going to fool your camera into underexposing your subject, so your subject will appear as a silhouette. Underexpose using exposure compensation if you want the silhouette effect to be more pronounced.

I would use a relatively wide focal length for something like this. Perhaps the short end of the kit 18-55mm, or perhaps 35mm, but this is subjective and is up to you.

Make sure your shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the action. If your subject is still, it’s easier. Since it’s a horse, I think it's best to play safe and don’t use anything slower than perhaps 1/250. Besides, you also have to freeze any grass movement if they’re swaying in the breeze.

If you’re using a wide focal length and your subject is off in the distance a bit, I feel like the aperture doesn’t really matter much. Even if shot wide open, your depth of field is going to be pretty large. Use your discretion here. It really depends on your location and composition.