A place in the sun

Learn key Canon camera skills for stunning silhouette portraits, then stitch them together for a striking image that will turn heads

- 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