DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How to shoot dramatic architectural silhouettes, without leaving your house

Dec 8, 2021 by Alex Baker 1 Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Sometimes we see something that makes you stop scrolling, sit up, and take note. That is exactly what happened when we saw these dramatic silhouettes shot by photographer Jennifer Arce from Florida. We caught up with Jennifer to find out how she created these because all is not what it seems.

Jennifer says it all started back during the Covid-19 quarantine period where she, like most of us, was spending more time than usual scrolling through social media. She was especially drawn towards black and white images, and vividly remembers an image that left her mesmerized.

“It was a black and white photograph of a place located in London,” says Jennifer. “It was a museum or a library with huge windows and spectacular hard natural light. I immediately thought about how lucky that photographer was to find a place like that one.”

Before the pandemic, Jennifer had scouted her local area in Miami extensively so she knew that there was no building in her vicinity that would create the same effect. Undeterred and armed with nothing more than some paper, a Nikon Z6 with a 24-70 mm lens, a Youngnuo Speedlight and her home studio, Jennifer set about making her own series titled ‘Silhouettes’.

In order to create the images, Jennifer had to make her own DIY GOBO or cucoloris. First, she printed and cut out some silhouettes of people that she found online, making them blacker with a marker pen. She then glued a paper clip and toothpick to the figure to help it stand up.

“For the GOBO, I used a piece of blackboard I had and cut straight lines on it,” Jennifer explains. “I made two of them—one with just one line and another with several lines. I held the GOBO with the help of a light stand and a clamp. I used white cardboard as a background and the Speedlight as the only light source placed behind the GOBO.” That way the light was as hard and direct as she could get in order to create the beautiful harsh shadows.

Jennifer says that the post-processing was incredibly simple. “That’s something I loved about black and white photography! You don’t have to pay attention to other distractions but just to the highlights and shadows,” she adds. First, she converted the image to black and white in Lightroom. Then Jennifer increased the contrast, decreased the shadows, and played with the white and black sliders. Finally, the image was taken into Photoshop to remove the paper clip/toothpick.

Jennifer says she still wants to visit the original location that inspired this series, but for now, she is very happy with the results. Four of these images were nominees in the International Spider Awards this year, with two of them receiving an Honorable Mention.

Jennifer says that “the biggest takeaway from this was that I don’t have to travel and spend a lot of money visiting an exact place to create an image that I have in my head. I can make any scene and lighting in my own home!”

With a little creativity and ingenuity that is entirely true. Does this project inspire you to create your own silhouette images?

You can see more of Jennifer’s work on her website or on Instagram.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

How to shoot night neon-themed portraits without leaving home Watch: how to seek for photographic inspiration without leaving your neighborhood This witty stop-motion video shows how to go skiing without leaving home This “aerial footage of Earth” was created without leaving the studio

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: cookies, gobo, Jennifer Arce, Silhouettes

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« This underwater video of rare giant jellyfish is both magnificent and terrifying
Dune was shot with an Arri Alexa LF, transferred to 35mm film and then scanned back to digital again »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Slowing down everyday activities to make one second last for one hour
  • This unique camera gives a clay pigeon’s view of the world – until it’s blasted out of the sky
  • This photo of glacier on Mars shows hint of water on the Red Planet
  • If your camera was a person, here’s what it would be like
  • How I improved a faux panoramic film camera with 3D printing

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy