Silhouette Images
Silhouette Image-A Rookie’s Lucky Snapshot
See the image in the upper left hand corner of this page, the silhouette image of the bull elk? It’s one of my favorite pictures, one taken years ago that I use today as a logo for RMNPhotographer. Pretty cool, isn’t it! Well…it was a mistake. It was taken without clear knowledge of lighting or camera settings. It was a rookie photographer’s lucky shot.
Shot with an ISO of 500, f-stop at f10, and shutter speed at 1/800, there were so many things wrong with those settings to capture an elk before sunrise. Back then I likely didn’t even look at the settings. I probably saw the elk, got excited, and did a point and shoot.
Still, it is one of my favorite pictures taken. My first silhouette image - a rookie’s lucky snapshot.
That day, I was standing at Milner Pass having taken a picture of something or other, when I saw the bull elk on a slight rise next to Trail Ridge Road. I lifted my camera and shot several images. Well…back then they were probably pictures. I didn’t get good enough to label them images until several years and a couple of camera upgrades later.
When I got home, and put the picture on my computer, I gagged, “What the heck were you doing? It’s all black.” Then as I looked more, absorbing the image in my mind, my disappointment began to shift. My impression of the picture turned to, “Oooohhhh! There’s something I really like about that!”
I liked the position of the elk’s head, the antlers balanced against the rising treeline. But my favorite part was the detail of the weed sitting framed by the elk’s back legs. A pretty cool silhouette. I grinned at my ineptness.
Since that time and that mistake, I have looked to purposefully take just such images…with the right camera settings. And I’ve gotten a few. Each time, as I look at the silhouette and see the image I hope to capture, I always think, “Will it be like the elk at Milner Pass?” Then I smile at the memory of my wonderfully inept elk silhouette.
A Lone Bull Elk Backlit
Years after that first silhouette during the fall rut of 2022, I was with a group of photographers along the road in Moraine Park. The sun was just beginning to peak over the mountains to the east, and the elk were nearby and everywhere as the cameras were clicking. That’s when I looked up and saw a lone bull elk backlit and still shaded on the hillside. He was tall and beautiful with slight clouds puffing up behind him. Looking through my viewfinder, I set the ISO high, f-stop low, and speed fast, helping balance the dark image of the elk as I took the silhouette.
That same fall, I was at Sprague Lake looking into the sun as I watched a cow elk with her four month old calf feeding in the water. In that tender moment, I set my camera to capture the silhouette. As I did, the calf lowered her head to drink. That is when a spot of sun hit the water reflecting a star burst of light under the calf’s neck. That along with the sparkles and lines of light absorbed in the water made it a special image.
In August 2023, I was taking several images at Sprague Lake. Sunrise was just about upon us, there were geese in the water and an osprey circled above. As it was all happening, a young bull moose wandered into the lake, and I moved along the trail from one side of the lake to the other. There, as he lifted his head, water rained down from his muzzle like twinkling icicle lights. The reflecting light complimented the silhouette.
This past August, I stood on the boardwalk at Sprague Lake waiting for the sunrise to brighten the eastern sky. As I did, the sun began to create patterns of light surrounded by blue. Smiling, I adjusted the camera setting so the mountains and trees were black, the sky bursting with light and blue while reflecting colors in the water. A beautiful Sprague Lake sunrise was captured.
Some of my favorite images have come from that rookie mistake creating an elk silhouette. The silhouette was profound with the blues, black, and light burst from the pages as an image accidentally captured.
Photography is all about light, and light can uniquely highlight the wonders of nature. As a rookie photographer, I made a lighting mistake motivated by a total lack of camera knowledge - and it was a beautiful picture. That beautiful mistake has been highlighted in purposeful silhouette images captured as my ineptness has faded with improved photography skills.
