underwater Photo Course :: (4) Light Underwater :: Natural Light :: Silhouettes Underwater

The basic rule with silhouettes is, that in order to record one, you must firstly be able to see one.

Exposure for silhouettes against the light is less critical than with other natural light situations, with older cameras a small aperture and setting A (for auto) covers most applications (the meter is fooled but still produces the desired result). With the more 'intelligent' evaluative systems you will need to shut down a couple of F-stops (unless you have a silhouette program built in).

If using Spot meteringMetering system that places importance on a small area center frame. Useful for taking a reading of a high contrast subject before recomposing. and manual technique you will find that taking a reading just to the side of the sunburst produces more contrasty results and keeps the color rendition of the surface more natural. Alternatively, you could take an overall reading and bracket around a couple of stops below that.

Shooting upwards in poor viz is similar to shooting from depth, it results in a uniform background color, but quite pleasing diver silhouettes can still be taken providing the subject is close.

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