STITCHING PORTRAITS
Learn key Canon camera skills for stunning silhouette portraits, then stitch them together for a striking image that will turn heads, with James Paterson
As any photographer worth their salty tripod legs knows, sunrise and sunset is a good time to head out to the beach with the camera. When the sun goes low and reflections tint the water we can be treated to one of the most gorgeous sights of the great outdoors. But the best sunset photos capture more than just the bold clouds and vibrant colours. What we need is a subject to frame against the sky. Because of the stark contrast between the brighter sky and dark foreground, it’s often impossible to record detail in both areas. Instead, we have the opportunity to capture bold silhouette portraits.
You can have all kinds of fun crafting playful silhouetted portraits. In this project we’ll show you how to shoot for a striking stitch-up! This involves capturing our subjects in lots of different positions around the frame, shooting a variety of poses and bringing in different props. By using a tripod to keep all the frames aligned, it’s a simple task to combine the best poses later in Photoshop to create a really eye-catching array of silhouettes.
Whether you want to combine several portraits like this, or simply capture a single frame at sundown, you’ll find lots of tips and tricks over the following pages that can help. We’ll look at the ideal Canon camera settings, the best angles and a variety of posing suggestions. You’ll also find editing tips on how to bring a set of poses together, and a complete Photoshop walkthrough in the accompanying video.
ON LOCATION SUNSET STITCHES
Learn how to shoot a set of silhouetted portraits at sunset
01 SHOOT INTO THE SETTING SUN
The best sunset colours usually appear around the direction of the setting sun, so get set up in this direction. Here, it meant turning towards the land, but if you can get an angle with the sun over the sea then even better. Often the best sunsets occur after a storm or a rainy day.
02 AT THE BEACH
A big, flat beach is ideal for this, especially if there are pools and puddles of water to reflect the sunset sky. Look for a beach with an expanse of sand like our shot here at Dymchurch. Time it so that the tide is heading out as this way you’ll get pristine sand and puddles for reflections.
03 GET LOW WITH A TRIPOD
If you want to stitch a set of silhouetted portraits, you’ll need a tripod to keep frames in alignment. A low camera angle gets the camera closer to the puddles, which leads to better reflections and frames th
