Silhouettes Gallery

…is up and running!!  What another AMAZING Collaboration!!

We can’t express enough, how much we love and appreciate all of your participation in these projects month after month!  You guys really rocked this collaboration…so very impressive!  So, click the link, check out all of the awesome photos that YOU…yes, YOU (you sweet photog, you) submitted and then get your mind ready to be blown by the fun and exciting collab we have lined up for you next!

Not gonna lie…it’s going to be rad.

Without further ado…..  THE GALLERY!

Sunset Silhouettes

By now, everyone’s images for the July collaborative project are probably, mostly submitted.  Seems like a good time to finally put up a few that I have taken over the last two weeks. =)

The first image is one you may recognize if you follow the blog…and…well, why wouldn’t you be?? 😉  A few days ago, I posted an HDR of one of the lighthouses on Block Island.  Conveniently, the under-exposed bracket also makes a nice silhouette!

Lighthouse Silhouette

 

My second submission was really an excuse to take pictures of a purty sky. 🙂 I pulled over on the side of a mosquito-y road to take some photos of rows of corn beneath a great sunset.  Turns out, the corn photos were a bust…but the powerline silhouettes were ripe for the taking!  (Heh…that was almost a harvest joke. I’m so punny.)

Powerline Silhouette

This project was a lot of fun.  There are so many option for silhouette images…it was almost hard to narrow down what I wanted to shoot.

What did you guys think of the project?

#Rockstars

I admit, I have a serious love affair with mohawks.  They’re not right for everyone, but I have to respect any person willing to try it.  After all, mohawks are symonymous (in some dictionary somewhere) with self-confidence, which is a good thing.  Right?

This is a silhouette of my friend Rick, bass player for the band Hearts & Thieves. HashtagRockstar.

Mohawk Silhouette

Sunset-ish

I always tell myself I’m going to be at my genius sunset locale at least an hour beforehand.  I put it on my to-do list…charge batteries, pack batteries, triple check I’ve packed the camera itself (though for some reason, I don’t always remember my tripod. haha) and lastly…be there before the sun sets.

That plan works about 1% of the time.  The rest of my shoots involve more traffic than I accounted for, more gas than I had in my tank, and stopping for more snacks than I brought with me. haha

For this particular trip, I believe I got to the Castle Hill lighthouse as the sun was setting.  I remember grabbing my backpack and tripod (thankfully I remembered it this time!) and literally sprinting to the shore. Set up tripod, slap the camera on top, 2 second composition, check your camera settings, shoot.  Pick up camera, run to next spot, repeat.

Oh…and somewhere in there add “sweat” and “huff and puff”. haha

The end result?  A silhouette!

Lighthouse Silhouette

Community Collaborative Project::July

HEY CREATIVES!!  IT’S THAT TIME OF THE MONTH!

Ummm…wait…that came out wrong.  What I meant to say is that it’s time to announce the details on this month’s Community Collaboration Project (CCP for those of you who are hip to acronyms and initialisms).

But First!!

Before we spill the beans about this month’s skill set project, we wanted to give a RIDICULOUSLY LOUD, GINORMOUSLY HUGE thank you to all who have participated in our last couple projects!!  Did we mention we had over 100 images submitted to our Scavenger Hunt??  OVER 100!!  Seriously, give yourselves a round of applause.  I mean, think about it…you took on an ambitious project, rocked it full of creativity, and throughout it all, you continued to make new friends (*cough network cough*) all while becoming stronger photographers.  That’s like a win-win-win…um…win.  Or a win x 4.  Or a win to the 4^th degree?

Anyway, we are so appreciative to have you all on board for these educational, yet fun community projects.  Without all of your continued support, well…there would be a win to the zero power. haha

We look forward to continuing to make these projects bigger and better in order to consistently stretch your creative imagination and skill sets.  So…um…keep spreading the word, mmmkay? 😉

Okay, now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. <insert drum roll, please>

If you’ve been following along on our Facebook and Twitter pages (which is where a lot of the day to day details of these projects get posted.  So, you might want to subscribe.  Just saying!) then you know we asked for suggestions on what YOU GUYS wanted to practice.  After all, we’re here for you!  We mulled over the recommendations we got back, and decided that this month’s skill set would be……..

SILHOUETTES!

Silhouette Barbed Wire

Now, in the coming weeks, Nick and I will be throwing a lot of silhouette how-to’s and guidance your way but for today, we wanted to give you the basics:

● Silhouettes engage the viewer by allowing them to fill in the how’s and why’s of a story.  You’ve created interest by removing detail!

● Silhouettes are created by underexposing the foreground of an image, while properly exposing for a well-lit background.

● There are no details within the silhouette, so make sure to choose a strong subject, with a distinctive outline.  This will help avoid any confusion on the part of the viewer.

● Focusing can be tricky, so you can use one of two strategies.  First, try pre-focusing on the subject, then metering for the light.  Or, you can make use of aperture to create a larger depth of field, so more of the image remains in focus.

● Flashes need not apply!  The idea behind creating a silhouette is to leave the foreground of your image in the dark.  Make sure to turn your flash off.
The project will go from tomorrow, July14th to Sunday July 29th at midnight EST.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in on the photography fun. If you have a way to capture images – film, dslr, point n shoot, camera phone, pinhole camera, medium format – then this project is for you!  And all of your friends, don’t be stingy with the fun, ok? 😉

As always, the most important part of this project is that you have fun and get creative with it.  We know that last month’s project was extremely ambitious, so this month, we’re giving you a break.  You can submit up to 3 images (that’s only 1 per weekend!  Totally do-able!) but we really want you to focus not just on the technical side of underexposing a foreground, but on the creative side of making a great image.  Focus on making silhouette art.

When you’re ready, send an email to submit@nickexposed.com with “Count me in for Silhouettes” in the subject line. Also include the blog/web address you will want your pictures linked to when we put together the gallery at the end of the month.

We can’t wait to see what you make of this!  So far, you have continued to impress and inspire us…we have faith that this month will be no different. Get those cameras out and make us proud!

Ready?  Annndddd….GO!