What does it mean if you see a black silhouette. The black man comes at night
I had this dream when I was young. Then I was still in school, about 8-9 grade. Not that it was the scariest, but definitely one of the most significant. After this dream, I literally went crazy. At that time, I lived in Russia, in a small town that looked more like a large village. From entertainment, I had only books on the occult, which I purchased in the regional center. I was a teenager who did not want to accept the fate typical of a rural peasant, and longed for other worlds and a different fate. I have practiced various magical rituals which he found in his books and even invented his own.
One evening I went to bed and woke up in the morning. I looked out the window and suddenly a shadow flashed through it. I wanted to get up, but I realized that I could not move, my whole body was paralyzed. Then something looked through the window: it was darkness, not a face, but its terrible outlines, blacker than black. It looked and disappeared again. And then in the window I saw a terrifying black silhouette that was clearly watching me. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. Then he went through the glass and jumped on my chest. He growled like a beast and his movements were very fast. It was a clot of black fog, the silhouette resembling a human figure. Suddenly he dug into my chest. I felt terrible pain, emptiness and all my defenselessness before the power of this creature. Then he completely buried his head in my chest and disappeared. I was able to move again, but continued to be in pain.
It was quite a physical sensation of emptiness in the center of the chest. If someone has ever fallen in love unrequitedly in life, it will be easier for him to understand this feeling. So, it was both similar and, at the same time, completely different. It was as if a piece of flesh had been torn out of me and cold darkness had been placed there. This aching pain did not go away for three days. I distinctly felt in myself something alien.
And then my madness began. I began to hear strange voices that no one else heard. Once he went to bed to sleep, and woke up at night, sitting in a lotus position, at the other end of the room. Strange images and visions began to visit me. One evening I was lying in bed and my desk began to vibrate strongly, books and other objects fell from it. So, my madness began to manifest itself in the material world, and this inspired me with real animal horror. One evening I went into the room and saw four black silhouettes there. They were exactly the same as the one that came before, only it was definitely not a dream. I was paralyzed with fear. I reached for the light switch and when I turned on the light, the bulb exploded! Terrified, I ran out of the room into the hall where my brother was. I tried not to act like a psycho, but still told him that I saw a ghost in the room and asked him to come there with me. The brother replaced the light bulb, but found nothing supernatural. That night I slept with the lights on. After me, hallucinations haunted me for a long time: auditory and visual, often manifesting physically, like a sudden fall of objects. Dreams in which I was paralyzed, and in the room there were terrible creatures, were repeated more than once. And I began to look for information on this issue. It turns out that there is such a disease:
night demon syndrome
Such a disease is not uncommon in psychiatric practice. Patients suffering from this syndrome described the same symptoms that I had: the body is paralyzed, and there is a monster or demon nearby. If he enters into any interaction with a person, then all the sensations are very realistic. In addition, you do not wake up from sleep, just the image seems to melt and the body acquires the ability to move.
Doctors explain it as follows. Some people tend to open their eyes in their sleep. The body continues to sleep and everything is controlled by the subconscious. A person sees the surrounding space with open eyes and a dream begins to be projected onto him. Then the monster will appear. At the very least, I was pleased that I was probably just sick. It's better to be crazy and have hope of recovery than to be haunted by real demons. After a while, the hallucinations began to subside little by little. And then in my life began a period of experiments with hallucinogenic plants, in the first year of university. They probably cured my sick mind. Now I see images only by deliberately entering a kind of meditative trance, and they no longer come into my life arbitrarily. However, the night demon syndrome never left me completely. I read that it is not curable, but I no longer have a fear of it.
The black man is a verse. Pushkin A. S. 1831
Day and night does not give me rest
My black man. Follow me everywhere
Like a shadow he is chasing. Here and now
I think he is with us...
The black man is a verse. Yesenin S. A. 1923
Black man
He sits down on my bed,
Black man
Doesn't let me sleep all night.
Black man
Runs a finger over a vile book
And, sneering at me,
Like a monk over the dead
Reads my life
Some scoundrel and bastard,
Bringing sadness and fear to the soul.
Black man
Black, black!
Listen, listen -
He mumbles to me -
There are many wonderful things in the book.
Thoughts and plans...
There are many testimonies of people who, waking up, suddenly saw a black man in the dark.
Black man,
black, black,
Black man
He sits down on my bed,
Black man
Doesn't let me sleep all night.
We will not draw any conclusions and assumptions, but simply listen to people who have encountered this anomalous phenomenon:
remember dark silhouette, dense darkness, just like cut out of black cardboard, hat brim, outlines similar to a raincoat to the floor ... and that's what else I remember, what (may seem like nonsense ...) in place of the right eye (where it is in theory it should be if you see the face) he showed off an incomplete moon ... I remember the situation in the room, my parents sleeping nearby ... it feels like ... yes there was a numbness ... when your eyes are riveted and you can’t even look away and move you can’t, even with a finger ... however, I can’t say that I was very scared then - no, on the contrary ... but according to my feelings about a person - he was more impartial than evil or kind ... I remember that he told me he said something, told ... long and calmly ... but no matter how much I have tried to remember at least one word from his story since then, I can’t ...
The first once I saw a black man in my childhood 8-9 years. I woke up at night as if someone woke me up. Without raising my head, I began to examine everything in the room, trying to make out familiar objects: I saw a table, shelves with books, a wardrobe, and then a dense black clot - nothing was visible through it, I began to look up and saw a black hood inside there was no face - there was everything is black and big oblong eyes without a pupil - yellow color looked straight at me. I was very scared, there was an animal fear, I could not scream - I only had the strength to cover myself with a blanket, and then I fell into a deep dreamless sleep. In the morning I thought that I dreamed everything, because. I have never heard of such a thing (Soviet times), no one talked about it, even more so on TV.
Several I saw him years ago too. He woke up standing over me, I can’t move, at first there was no fear, but only surprise. The dark figure of a man in a raincoat, the silhouette of a black matte color in which it is not possible to see anything. He was very clear and direct. He leaned over me and, stretching out his hands, plunged them into my stomach, I clearly felt how he was fingering my insides with his fingers. Woke up again in panic horror, this time it was a normal reality. Like a dream within a dream
half a year It's been a while since I saw him... But I still can't figure out if it was CC or not...
Everything happened like a dream within a dream. That is, I dreamed that I was sleeping, suddenly I wake up (it all happens in a dream) from a strange feeling that someone is waiting for me. I get out of bed, go to the window and see the shadow of a man. No eyes were seen. Just a black silhouette. He raised his hand and pointed to the sky. There were TWO moons. Then I turn around to the bed, and this one is already sitting on it and telling me something while gesticulating.
And so I keep thinking, but if I woke up in reality, would I see him? Could it be that Black appears in a dream?...
I I also saw a black man. I think that this essence came out of the husband when he was sleeping. Black as a Negro muscular body. He lifted my body lightly and laid it on the floor by the door. he tried to have sexual contact with me. When I touched him, thinking that it was my husband who wanted to make peace with me, he had fur like a fringe on his sides. I cried out - Lord - and was immediately transferred to the sofa. Following. once he sat timidly and timidly at my feet in the moonlight. I again said, Lord, and he disappeared like a Gogol character. No more coming.
I I saw him for the first time at the age of 5 ... he is also in my raincoat, tall, his eyes are burning (red), he simply stands and looks ... and at that moment I can’t move, speak, or anything in general or do .... But the more often he came, the better for me, at the moment when he comes, my right leg is taken away, and I can communicate with him mentally ... He tells me some parting words what to do etc. But they told me that I can’t talk to him and it’s just my strength that I don’t use ... And when I started to read Namaz (five prayers for Muslims), he stopped walking .. Strangely, from 5 Over the years, he came to me at different times and in different places ... we often moved ... and as I began to pray, he also stopped persecuting me ... And I was absolutely not afraid of him ...
At I had this...
I don't know myself. I wake up at 7 o'clock to study. At that time, I woke up from the heat at 6.55. With the thought that I would soon get up, I threw off my clothes so that it would not be very hot and crossed my legs, closed my eyes. There was light from the aquarium in the room.
After a while, I feel that they tickle me, the heel. I open my eyes and see that someone is standing at my feet. The outlines are human, tall. At first I thought it was my father, but I remembered that he was not at work.
I ask him:
- What?
- Get up soon.
- When?
- In a minute.
I turn around, take the phone, the clock is 6.59.
I looked, he was gone. I don't know who it was. He answered me in a calm voice. I didn't feel fear. There was even some kind of indignation that they were tickling ... I didn’t see him again ..
to He came to me as a child too.
at first it was about 5-6 years old, he stood at the door but did not go inside, my grandmother was sleeping peacefully next to me, I never managed to wake her up, he appeared for several weeks, then I just got tired of being afraid. I remember that night very well, he was not even standing at the very doorway, but rather even half closed by him, I repeated to myself to him go away and kept looking without taking my eyes off, so the whole night passed with dawn, he left and did not come for quite a long time, here what’s more, the next morning I experienced a strong relief, but at the same time there was some kind of guilt
then he came when I was 10-11 years old, then I already began to understand that it was him, I began to follow him more closely:
appearance:
a black man, definitely voluminous, looks like a bunch of fog or something like that, black dense hollow, it seemed to me that he has bones but rather hollow like those of birds in plumage, I didn’t see a hat, tall (I can’t say more than 1.2 more precisely but he was definitely taller than me)
he also definitely has eyes and a mouth, but they are hard to see, I can’t say about the nose, but there’s definitely no failure
behavior:
at first, as in childhood, he just stood at the door, but the less I was afraid of him, the more active he became, soon he began to wave his hand to me (as if saying hello), then he began to walk around the room, never showed any aggression, and then at all disappeared until I can't see him again
I I saw something similar when I was a kid. But these memories never leave my mind. It was morning, I slept with my feet towards the balcony. I woke up because someone was looking at me intently, there was no one in the room except me, I listened, my mother and grandmother were in the kitchen, I didn’t move, first I looked at the ceiling then at the balcony, there was some kind of creature that looked like a silhouette, just as if someone had drawn him, he had no face, no eyes, no nose, no lips, nothing. he did not move, he just stood (where for 3-5 minutes) and I felt that he was looking at me. I was so frightened that I could neither move nor say anything, I closed my eyes tightly, and when I opened my eyes he disappeared.
then he didn’t appear anymore, but since then I’ve been wildly afraid of the dark (when the light turns off abruptly, it seems to me that someone is looking at me, and this picture from childhood appears before my eyes) and being alone in the room
I I saw this black man too. I was very small, I was 2-3 years old, I guess. I slept with my mother, and at night, like all people, I tossed and turned a lot. And then one night, when I was rolling over, I opened my eyes and saw him. He stood over the bed and looked at me with red burning eyes. It was a black silhouette in a cloak and a huge hat with a brim. He stood and spoke. And I distinctly remember what he told me. He kept repeating -two-, -two- and showing it with his fingers. I, looking at him, rolled over on the other side and fell asleep soundly, not at all frightened. But I still distinctly remember how he whispered -two-..
Not I know if it is or not...
A similar person dreamed in childhood. He was not present at my bed, did not talk to me, just stood on the corner of the house where I live, in some unnatural, motionless, broken pose. His eyes burned red, he was completely black. Then, it seems, he dreamed that he was coming out of a dark closet.
Since then (I dreamed at the age of 5, now I am 20) I do not forget him, in a dark room, if I expect to suddenly see something unpleasantly supernatural, then it is him. Didn't think anyone else had seen this.
At I also had something similar, it's like a waking dream and scary. in a dream, I was in the entrance of the house where my aunt lived, I don’t remember the details, but someone started approaching me from behind, I got scared, I looked back and saw a man in black and a hat with fields, you can’t see his face, everything black, he chased after me, I was terrified, I ran, he pulled his hands towards me, I started falling straight onto the stairs face down, and then the most incomprehensible thing happened to me: during the fall, I started to wake up, opened my eyes and for a while saw as if in reality, my face and hands physically felt the touch of the stairs on which I fell, and there was a feeling of flying up, then I was seized with horror, and I finally woke up. I lay on the bed, breathing frequently, as if from a run, and in the same position in which I fell on the stairs in my sleep. For a long time I could not move away from this state. I was about 18-19 years old. And still remembering it, I'm scared of this image of a black man.
AT 15 years old woke up at night from feelings of fear, the bed was a creature under 2 meters tall in a black cloak and bright red eyes. It stood motionless for about 3 minutes then disappeared ...
Information for thought:
1. In the myths of the Indians of South America, CC is a werewolf animal created by a sorcerer, capable of turning into a person and engaging in unnatural sexual intercourse with women.
2. In the literature, G.F. Lovecraft's CC acts as the shepherd of the Black Mass, he appears to people with superpowers and helps them through the initiation rituals of the cult of the Old Gods. More often appears in a dream or a state of borderline sleep.
3. In esotericism, CC is an egregor created to perform various functions (energy protection / blockade, attack, etc.) By the way, an egregor can be sent to someone, but such creatures do not have their own mind, rather, residual consciousness.
Black man
He sits down on my bed,
Black man
Doesn't let me sleep all night.
Black man
Runs a finger over a vile book
And, sneering at me,
Like a monk over the dead
Reads my life
Some scoundrel and bastard,
Bringing sadness and fear to the soul.
Black man
Black, black!
There are many eyewitness stories about the frightening black man these days.
“I remember a dark silhouette, dense darkness, just as if cut out of black cardboard, hat brim, outlines similar to a raincoat to the floor ... and that’s what else I remember, what (may seem like nonsense ...) in place of the right eye (there where, in theory, he should be if you see his face) he had an incomplete moon ... I remember the situation in the room, my parents sleeping nearby ... it feels like ... yes, there was a numbness ... when your eyes are riveted and you can’t even look away, and you can’t move, even with a finger ... however, I can’t say that I was very scared then - no, on the contrary ... but according to my feelings about a person - he was more impartial than evil or kind ... I remember that he told me something, told me ... long and calmly ... but no matter how much I have been trying to remember at least one word from his story since then, I can’t ... "
“The first time I saw a black person was when I was 8-9 years old. I woke up at night as if someone woke me up. Without raising my head, I began to examine everything in the room, trying to make out familiar objects: I saw a table, shelves with books, a wardrobe, and then a dense black clot - nothing was visible through it, I began to look up and saw a black hood inside there was no face - there was all black and large oblong eyes without a pupil - yellow looked at me point-blank. I was very scared, there was an animal fear, I could not scream - I only had the strength to cover myself with a blanket, and then I fell into a deep dreamless sleep. In the morning I thought that I dreamed everything, because. I have never heard of such a thing (Soviet times), no one talked about it, even more so on TV.
"I don't know if it is or not...
A similar person dreamed in childhood. He was not present at my bed, did not talk to me, just stood on the corner of the house where I live, in some unnatural, motionless, broken pose. His eyes burned red, he was completely black. Then, it seems, he dreamed that he was coming out of a dark closet.
Since then (I dreamed at the age of 5, now I am 20) I do not forget him, in a dark room, if I expect to suddenly see something unpleasantly supernatural, then it is him. I didn't think anyone else had seen this."
There are many interpretations of the mysterious character:
- alien;
- infernal being;
- created mental egregor, sent to the enemy.
- our own Shadow (inexplicable materialization of all the negative qualities of a person).
I would like to elaborate on the last option. What does Shadow mean?
Dreams with the appearance of Shadows were investigated by Carl Gustav Jung:
“As early as 1918, I noticed specific disturbances in the unconscious sphere of my German patients, which could not be explained by their individual psychology. Such impersonal phenomena always manifest themselves in dreams in the form of mythological themes that can be found in fairy tales and legends all over the world.
Jung created an explanation for the so-called "Shadow" - as the personification of all "base human manifestations" - "the lower side of the personality" that pop out. The mind no longer belongs to man, he is in the power of the Shadow.
Such a "Shadow" of the era of 30-40 years of the XX century, Jung called Hitler:
“...He (Hitler) symbolized something that exists in every individual. He was the most monstrous personification of all base human manifestations. He was a completely incapable, maladaptive, irresponsible and psychopathic person, filled with empty, childish fantasies, but gifted with the sharp intuition of a waif or a rat. He represented the shadow, the underside of everyone's personality, on a staggering scale...
If we follow Jung's explanations, then in the Soviet Union in this era Stalin became such a "Shadow".
Hitler and Stalin are not the first manifestation of the "power of Shadows" in history, for example, in the European Middle Ages - the Inquisition, in Italy during the Renaissance - "shadows".
The "lower sides of the mob" themselves created tyrants.
We remember a very expressive story of the Man and the Shadow from the film adaptations of the play "Shadow" by Evgeny Schwartz: the film adaptation of 1971 with Oleg Dal and 1991 with Konstantin Raikin.
"Shadow" 1971 (Oleg Dal)
Oleg Dal on the set of "Shadows"
"Shadow, or maybe everything will work out" 1991 (Konstantin Raikin)
The episode "A Conversation of the Man with the Shadow" and the song of the Shadow (1991 film adaptation)
Yevgeny Schwartz wrote the play "Shadow" in 1937-1940, precisely in the era of the "power of shadows" - in Germany and the Soviet Union.
Yevgeny Schwartz at the rehearsal of the play (1940)
Mystics reason that our thoughts and negative emotions can indeed materialize in the "Shadow".
Often the phenomena of the "Shadows" of other people are seen by children (as can be seen from the stories of eyewitnesses, the Black Man came to children), young souls and consciousnesses are very susceptible to the negativity of others.
Sometimes the "Shadow" begins to pursue its creator...
Each of us has our own "Shadow" and our task is to preserve with it inner harmony.
Sergey Yesenin wrote very colorfully about the shadows inside us:
... The month has died,
Dawn shines through the window.
Oh you night!
What have you done, night?
I'm in a top hat.
Nobody is with me.
I am alone...
And a broken mirror...
Sometimes very strange things happen in life. So, the most interesting and mysterious can happen within the walls of your own apartment. Mysticism, supernatural and paranormal, all this is able to "settle" in the house of any person. Sometimes an ordinary brownie can act in the form of an evil spirit.
The first type constantly helps a person and does not harm him. If he tries to strangle the household, then, most likely, it is necessary to exercise caution, changes are coming, and sometimes not of the best nature. As for the evil brownie, he is able to mischief always and everywhere.
What to do if otherworldly forces decide to visit? How to get rid of haunting shadows? In fact, there is nothing wrong with this. But leaving the problem unresolved is also not worth it. So, the first thing you need to understand is what is going on. Often a person is haunted by shadows that, in fact, do nothing wrong. But where do they come from and what is their purpose? If you see a shadow in the house, then there is nothing good in it.
The fact is that many shadows and evil spirits appear for a reason. Unsuccessful fortune-telling, cards, etc. can disturb the parallel world. A person without even knowing about it can attract negativity to himself, which is very difficult to return back. Therefore, before embarking on the process of divination, especially when it comes to complex manipulations, you should think carefully. In extreme cases, a person can come to the rescue, knowing the essence this case.
Sometimes shadows and evil forces appear in the apartment after the death of someone close. This suggests that the soul cannot calm down. There are times when the “devil” jokes with people in this way. In general, there are quite a few reasons for the appearance of various mystical phenomena. The unresolved question remains what to do? Seeing a black silhouette in the house does not bode well, so you need to know how to get rid of it. How to overcome all this and is it dangerous for a person? For example, brownies can be both good and bad.
So, if the apartment appeared evil spirit, incomprehensible shadows or silhouettes, the first thing you need to try to get rid of it yourself. Because if you let everything take its course, the consequences can be terrifying. The first step is to try to consecrate the apartment yourself. This is done with the help of holy water or church candle. So, you need to take a bowl of liquid and, while reading a prayer, begin to bless the corners, while following clockwise. It is advisable to repeat this action three times.
There is another way to do this. In this case, you need to take a church candle. The process is similar to the previous one. The candle is lit and a prayer is read. So, you need to go around all the corners clockwise and make three circles. The silhouettes in the apartment indicate that evil has settled in the house. Therefore, you need to get rid of it immediately.
If none of the above actions help, you need to seek help from a priest. Most likely, we are talking about something more serious. In many cases, a person is not able to cope on his own with this. Because "evil" is different and it appears for a number of reasons. So, in order to never encounter this, it is recommended to swear less at home. It sounds strange, but it is the negativity of a person that can attract mystical creatures in a dwelling. In general, it is not recommended to guess on your own and resort to summoning spirits. All this is fraught with serious consequences.
Getting rid of a brownie is sometimes very difficult and almost impossible on your own. Therefore, if only a shadow or a silhouette is seen that haunts, it is necessary to begin the process of “expelling” evil from the apartment. It is advisable to resort to the help of professionals in this matter.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that seeing houses of silhouettes indicates that an otherworldly force has settled in the dwelling. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to begin measures to “exile” her. Otherwise, things can get out of control.
Modern society, where every day there is some kind of technical discovery, already connected with the exploration of the Cosmos, magic remains an unsolved science. This is really a science that in antiquity...
I usually talk about how important it is to use a flash when shooting in the sun to show the details of the subject being photographed, but sometimes it will be more effective, on the contrary, to level out all the details, except for the contours, and present the subject against a bright background - in other words, take a picture silhouette.
Silhouettes- a great way to convey drama, mystery, emotions and mood to the viewer, they always stand apart in the album due to the fact that, with apparent simplicity, they tell us a whole story. I love them because they do not show the viewer a clear picture of everything that is happening, but leave room for fantasy.
The key to shooting silhouettes is positioning your subject (the shape you want to show) in front of some kind of light source and adjusting your camera exposure to the brightest part of your image (the background) rather than the subject. Thus, the subject will be underexposed (very dark, if not black).
There are a lot of white papers out there on how to get great silhouette shots that you might want to read, but let me go through a few basic steps to get you where you want to go. The key is to make your camera think that the brightest parts of the image are what you are interested in.
Here's how to do it:
1. Choose the right object
Almost every object can be represented as a silhouette, but some are more suitable for this purpose than others. Choose something with a clear and recognizable shape that will look interesting enough to the viewer, even in 2D. Silhouettes cannot be based on the colors, textures, or tones of objects, so the shape must be distinct.
2. Turn off the flash
If you are shooting in auto mode, then your camera may want to use flash, which will ruin the silhouette. AT this case you want as little light on your subject as possible - so flash should be omitted (however, I've seen some experimental shots of silhouettes with flash on).
3. Choose the right lighting
When it comes to lighting your subject, you need to forget most of what you know about normal photography and start thinking the other way around. Instead of lighting your subject from the front, when shooting silhouettes you need to make sure that most of the light comes from the background and not from the foreground - in other words - you need to light the subject more from behind than from the front. A sunset or sunrise is ideal for this purpose, against which you can photograph the object, but in fact, almost any bright light source will do.
4. Frame the frame
Frame the frame so that your subject is in front of a pleasant and simple, but at the same time bright background. Usually the best background is a bright, cloudless sky with a setting sun. You need to place the brightest light source behind your subject (so that it is hidden behind it, or somewhere else in the background).
5. Create a clear and concise silhouette shape
If there is more than one shape in the frame that you are going to represent as a silhouette, try to keep the distance between the objects. For example, if you are making silhouettes of a tree and a person, you should not place the person in front of the tree or even ask him to lean on it, because. in this case, the objects will merge into one form, and the viewer will be perplexed what it is.
Also, when composing your shot, you may want to photograph the silhouettes of people in profile rather than looking directly into the frame. In this way, more features (nose, mouth, eyes) will stand out, and the person will be more likely to be recognized.
6. In automatic mode
Most modern digital cameras have an automatic metering system that adjusts the exposure so that everything is well lit. The problem is that most cameras are so smart that they will light up the subject instead of underexposing it to get a silhouette, so you need to outsmart your camera.
Most cameras adjust exposure levels automatically when you press the shutter button halfway (at the same time focusing). So aim your camera at the brightest part of the image and hold the shutter button halfway down (and don't let go). Then move the camera back to include your subject in the frame, and then press the button all the way down and take the frame. On most digital cameras, this will give you a silhouetted subject.
This way you trick your camera into thinking that the brightest part of the image is the midtones, so anything darker will look like a nice deep shadow in the frame.
Some digital cameras also have spot metering or center metering modes, which can help you with the above technique because the camera will measure exposure from one point rather than multiple points. This means that you can tell the camera exactly which part of the light background you want to expose.
7. Manual mode
If this technique doesn't work and your camera has manual exposure or exposure compensation mode, you could try using your own settings. The beauty of digital is that you can experiment with the frame until you get the result you want.
An easy way to get started in manual mode is to look at the shutter speed and aperture offered by the camera in auto mode and start there. If your subject is too light in auto mode (i.e. you need to make it darker), lower your shutter speed by a stop or two and see what happens. Use the "bracketing" technique I described in my previous post about sunsets and sunrises to get multiple shots with slightly varying exposures.
8. Focus
In most cases, you will want the silhouette to be clearly in focus. This complicates the process described in point 4, because when you hold the shutter button halfway to measure exposure, the background is in focus at the same time. To get around this point, you can follow two strategies. First, if your camera has manual focus, you can use it. Focus before metering exposure.
The second way is to use the aperture to maximize the depth of field (the fraction of the image that is in focus). Set a small aperture (i.e. a larger f/number) to increase the depth of field - this is how you are most likely to get a sharp background and foreground.
One last tip for silhouettes- A full silhouette, where the entire subject is black and sharp, can be very effective, but it's also worth considering a partial silhouette, in which only a subset of your subject's details are shown in this way. Sometimes one small ray of light makes the object a little more voluminous and “real”. This is the beauty of bracketing - it allows you to choose between general and partial silhouettes.
Try silhouette photography - it's simple and can be artistically beautiful. It is rare to find a photographer who would not try to photograph a person with the sun behind him so that only the silhouette remains.
Done right, silhouettes can be very bright and unforgettable, making your shots stand out.
Here are some tips for beginners on how to photograph silhouettes the right way.
- Illumination of the subject. The easiest way to photograph a silhouette is to use the sun as a backlight. Positioning the subject directly in front of direct sunlight gives a clear and visually strong silhouette.
- Due to the color temperature and the low position of the sun, silhouettes are best at sunrise or sunset.
- background exposure. You need to correctly measure the exposure so that the silhouette is clear and the photo is formed correctly. Point the camera at the brightest part of the composition (but not the sun!) and half-press the shutter button to get the exposure settings that the camera gives. Remember, and then set them manually on the DSLR (in M mode). Ideally, you need to get a high shutter speed (from 1/125 s) for a high-quality silhouette when photographing.
Brigitta Sontagh
- Turn off the flash. This is another reason to use manual settings on your camera, especially if your camera has an auto flash. When using the camera in "auto" mode, it will most likely work automatically, trying to highlight the object and make it brighter. With manual setting, you have the option to keep the flash off, which plays a key role in creating the silhouette.
- Come closer. Getting closer to your subject makes it much easier to block direct light, and it also gives you more choice of shooting angles, allowing you to move around and find the best compositional solution.
- Focusing. Set a greater depth of field by manual adjustment. An aperture around f16 ensures that your entire image is in focus. A fuzzy silhouette will not look like an artistic image, but like a mistake.
- Think about forms. The silhouette should carry a strong image. Therefore, if you are photographing a person, try to capture him in profile or ask him to spread his arms so that the dark figure does not look like a monolithic block against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset, for example.
- If you are shooting a stationary subject, try to find the best angle that will emphasize the shape and make the dark figure stand out. Keep this in mind. Why do you think trees are so popular? Because their silhouettes look great!
Do not forget the most important thing - enjoy the experiment and expect great results. After all, the photo is worth it!
Based on materials from foreign sources, prepared by F. Svetogorov
The shadow is a romantic-mysterious image that has a sacramental character, akin to a mirror. In some languages, the words "shadow" and "soul" are identical, because in many myths, the image of the shadow is the second "I", like the Egyptian spirit-double "ka". The images of the eastern shadow theater play the role of visual support for the narrative; this principle of perception was the basis of the ancient oriental wall images of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Looking at the images, the viewer "listened" to the reading sacred text or remembered well known history, - this was to some extent the prototype of the shadow theater.
In the archaic form of shadow theater, the shadows on the screen were created by hand gestures.
The legend regarding the origin of the shadow theater is also gloomy and romantic: "The wife of the Chinese emperor died, he missed her greatly, and the subjects came up with the idea of showing the shadow of his wife behind the screen." This is how a form of visual art appeared, dating back to about 200 BC during the era of Emperor Han-Wu-chi. But it became widespread during the Sun Dynasty.
Shadow theater combines three types of art - music (instrumental or voice accompaniment), literature (stories and scripts), craft (puppet making) or painting (decorations and puppets themselves) in one.
Then thin translucent silhouettes were cut out of leather, most often donkey. And initially, this theater was called that - "donkey skin puppet theater".
Later, figurines were made from various materials - thin transparent leather (goat, camel), paper or cardboard, could be either solid and integral, or bendable, consisting of separate parts attached to each other. The height of the doll is most often 30 centimeters, but there are also large ones, 70 centimeters.
These figurines are called puppets. The image of puppets itself has also been endowed with a sacramental meaning since ancient times: "Man is a puppet controlled by a deity," he argued. ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. And the other great philosopher- Plato, talking with his students, took a puppet in his hands and explained to his students that people, like puppets, are ruled by the threads of Good and Evil, Virtues and Vices. But you need to obey only one thread - the golden thread of the mind. ("Golden" is the thread that controls the doll's head.) From which we can conclude that this art is even more ancient.
The figurines were controlled using bamboo, wooden or metal sticks.
The silhouette in Chinese shadow theater expresses character. The shape of the eye, head, posture is regulated by tradition and corresponds to the role. One hand of the doll, as a rule, holds a weapon or other characteristic attribute, the other moves. The silhouettes of the Chinese theater were, in contrast to the silhouettes of shadow theaters of European imitators, painted. In the Chinese shadow theater, the technique of demonstrating projections was somewhat different from the technique of European theaters. In the Chinese theater, projections are made on a transparent screen, illuminating leather silhouettes from behind. The viewer sees not only the contour, but also a delicate color. In Chinese shadow theater, the silhouettes projected onto a screen are meant to be looked at, which is why they are so intricate in outline and color. The viewer listens to the story, and at the same time looks at the projection on the screen. The characters illustrate the historical epic scenes of popular novels, legends, musical tales, legends, fairy tales, legends that were interesting and understandable to ordinary Chinese viewers. Shadow puppets were very expensive. Only rich people could afford to have them, and they were kept in rooms that were considered the most sacred place in the home. The set of the court shadow theater included up to 600 shadow figures.
The performances of the shadow theater took place, as a rule, at night from dusk to dawn. In India, a huge screen was placed on bamboo poles in a well-packed clearing. Behind the screen, a coconut shell fire was kindled, on the other side, somewhere under a mango tree, the audience was located. A storyteller sat in front of the screen, and the inhabitants of the village, holding their breath, listened to his story about the life of the gods and the exploits of the heroes of the folk epics "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata". The performance could go on for many nights in a row. And initially, children were not allowed to attend such performances, but men and women watched themseparately.
The pilgrims carried stories about the theater throughout Asia, and so it turned out in Mongolia. With the Mongol troops of Genghis Khan, they spread to other regions of Asia and Europe.
Shadow theater reached its highest form during the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Karagöz "black
eye" - the hero of the Turkish shadow theater was the most popular.
The prototype of Karagez was a very real Turkish blacksmith, a fighter and a hooligan. He lived in the middle of the XIV century at the court of Sultan Orhan and worked on the construction of a mosque. He was very fond of chatting with his friend Khajivat, a bricklayer. They told each other jokes one after another, so the work went very slowly. The Sultan found out about this and decided to execute both. Not for jokes, but for bad job. And he executed, and then repented, but it was too late. Then, in order to console the Sultan, one of his confidants cut out the shadow figures of Karagoz and Khadzhivat and showed a performance in which the friends again, as if alive, played out their jokes. They say that this calmed the Sultan, and since then performances with the participation of Karagez have been played throughout Turkey. Plays with him were played by one person, who was called karagezdzhi, he controlled the shadow figures and voiced all the characters in turn, changing his voice.
In the Middle Ages in Spain, the 3rd form of the tetra of shadows stood out, when for some time the artists were forbidden to go on stage, but they wanted to go out, they came up with the idea of performing behind a screen. Since then, the use of the shadows of living people to show the performance has become known as the Spanish shadows.
In Russia in 1733, the mention of the theater of shadows was in the newspaper "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti": "Other imitations of disgraceful games are made only by a shadow, which is cast on paper smeared with oil in a dark chamber. And although the figures shown in this way do not say anything, however "Well, from signs and other indications, it is known what they signify. This shadow depicts many wondrous types and their applications, which in other disgraceful games can not be done so well." The only large State Shadow Theater in Russia now was organized in 1937 at the Museum of Children's Books and it opened with the premiere of a performance based on the novel "Til Ulenspiegel" by Charles de Coster (one of my favorite novels). It still works today. But his repertoire includes not only shadow performances, but also ordinary puppet performances.
"Chinese shadows" were common in Europe in the XVIII and XIX centuries. In 1767, before the French Revolution, the technique of shadow theater was brought home from China by the French missionary Jules Alod. And, here the shadow theater was so loved and shown a lot that it began to be called "French shadows". And he enjoyed the greatest fame in the theater of shadows of Dominic Serafen in Versailles.
The stories of the Serafina theater commented on the present, brought out heroes whose types were recognizable. The projected silhouettes supported in this theater not epic narratives or even fairy tales, but a kind of anecdotes. In 1790, during a fierce struggle between different factions within the "Constituent Assembly" for the constitution, Serafin gave the play "National Federation" on the topic of the day; in 1793, after the execution of Louis XVI, - the play "An Apple for the Most Beautiful, or the Overthrow of the Throne." The interest of educated Europeans in shadow theater with its specific form of storytelling based on laconic visual images was integral part"salon" interest in folklore. The unpretentious show of Serafina for 2 years became boring to the courtiers, and the theater moved to Paris. The Serafina Theater existed until 1859, when its heirs replaced the shadows with voluminous puppets.
Except Serafina, the most famous theater expert of shadows recent years Republic was the Belgian Etienne Gaspard Robert. Robert's show was called "phantasmagoria", which means "collection of ghosts". It opened in 1797, two years before Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself dictator and the end of the Republic declared during the first years of the Revolution. Life in Paris gradually became more calm and well-fed. Mass arrests and executions ceased, the war moved away from the borders of France, secular salons reopened in the city. Robert's performance took place in the ruins of a Capuchin convent near Place Vendôme. During the performance, the author “revealed” to the public with the help of an improved “magic lantern” the “shadows of the dear dead”: Marat, Robespierre, Danton, Louis XVI and Lavoisier, as well as mythological characters: Hebe, Minerva, Medusa Gargona. Not the last place in the show was occupied by Death with a scythe, the Wandering Monk, the character of the popular "gothic novel" by M. G. Lewis, and other "macabre" characters. Shadows made an indelible impression on the public. "Women fainted, brave men closed their eyes." During the five years of the show's existence, "the whole of Paris" has been in the walls of the monastery.
In the representations of Robertson, as he began to call himself, visual images play more 
independent role than in Chinese shadow theatre. Most of the magic lanterns that were used for the display were quite powerful, and were placed on platforms with wheels that allowed them to be moved quickly and silently along special rails towards or away from the screen. The swift and noiseless movement of the lantern created the feeling that the image was approaching the audience, flying towards the audience, approaching them “from the depths of space”. As the flashlight approached the screen, the focal length changed. For the instantaneous disappearance of the image, a device called the "cat's eye" was used - a plug with a triangular hole that closed the light source and instantly plunged the audience back into darkness. The next fundamental decision for Phantasmagoria was a translucent screen that let the color image and light pass through the fabric, as in the Chinese shadow theater. In the Chinese theater, the light comes through the silhouette puppets and through the screen. In Phantasmagoria, the silhouettes depicted on a glass slide were surrounded by a black reflective background, they were perceived as completely autonomous, independently moving objects. The bats diving at the ladies were projected by small lanterns that they held in their hands. About 10 lanterns could be involved in the show at the same time. Flowing shadows were obtained by projecting onto smoke. The calling of "ghosts" was accompanied by sound effects, which were widely used in the theater of that time.
Robertson's desire for gloomy productions was explained by the very legend (Chinese) about the emergence of shadow theater. Here, images of the theater symbolized topics important to the public: politicians who died in the early years of the Revolution or characters from favorite gothic novels. The "terrible" images created by Robertson turned out to be so successful that they survived the show for a long time. During the Napoleonic Wars, the secret police used this technique to frighten deserters as they tried to escape from active units. They projected the head of Medusa and the Wandering Monk onto the trees of the forest at night to frighten officers who were trying to leave the unit without permission.
Images of "phantasmagoria" set the iconography of "macabre" pictures for the "home" magic lantern. For this reason, Robertson is considered the founder of one of the main genres of modern entertainment cinema - i.e. horror films.
Since 1885, there was another show in Paris "which made all Paris come together." The revival of interest in the Chinese "shadow theater" was influenced by the art nouveau aesthetics. The artist Henri Riviere once sat in a cafe, listened to the singer's performance, then began to cut little men out of napkins and cardboard and show illustrations for the songs. Everyone liked it so much that Henri Riviere created his own shadow theater.
And so, on the Rue Victor-Masse not far from Montmartre, the Cha Noir (Black Cat) cabaret was opened, which was visited by many artists and writers, among whom were Emile Zola and Edgar Degas. Cabaret in those years had a slightly different reputation than today. It was an alternative to the official secular culture. In 1887, the coupletist Jules Joux had the idea to illustrate his song on the topic of the day with a demonstration of shadows. The song was dedicated to the scandal in the government due to the distribution of orders. The number was a huge success. This led the administration to the idea of a complete transition of the cabaret to the demonstration of shadows.
Famous French artists Caran de Ash, Henri Somm and others worked in it. The Black Cat became a large theater: 10-15 people took part in the performances. Sha Noir performances were intended for a more sophisticated audience. They showed the "Epic" dedicated to Napoleon, "The Temptation of St. Anthony", "The Womb of Paris" (genre scenes), "Sphinx", "Campaign to the Sun" (about the Anglo-Burr War). Henri Riviere paid great attention to lighting effects: special colored glasses were made for each performance. Heavy zinc shadow figures moved with the help of complex mechanisms. They were carried around the stage on special rails. The performances of the cabaret shadow theater were directed as productions of the "big" theater. On the screen, not individual figures succeeded each other, as in the classical shadow theater, but scenes planned by artists. The theater existed until 1897.
The most famous shadow theater now is the Javanese Wayang Kuli: puppets made of waxed
transparent paper on hinges, painted in various colors. Javanese shadow figures are controlled by puppeteers with canes and are made from buffalo skin. into parchment. Then a master carver works on this plate, turning it into a "wayang" - a shadow puppet. This profession in Java is one of the most respected. Carvers carve silhouettes and cover them with openwork carvings. Then the painters paint them using only five colors: white, yellow, blue, red and black. Then the dolls are assembled: arms, legs and heads are attached to them. And finally, control sticks are attached to the doll. Such dolls for one performance need 100-150 pieces.
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BLACK SILHOUETTE
In another district of the Rostov region, Tarasovsky, the observation of some "strange women" was also recorded. According to local resident A. Deinichenko, the event caused a commotion in 1988 in the village of Mityakinskaya, where it happened.
On the outskirts of the village in broad daylight, four humanoid silhouettes appeared on a hillock. Witnesses of the incident could not clearly and in detail describe their appearance, because the sun was behind the silhouettes, creating an illumination effect. The mysterious creatures trampled for several minutes on the top of the hillock, then disappeared. But then there were "materialized?" in the courtyard of the house where a middle-aged collective farmer lived.
The latter stood at that moment on the porch. Noticing the "monsters", she screamed in a heart-rending voice and rushed into the house. And the "monsters" moved after her. The hostess of the house found herself under the covers on the bed, she herself does not remember how. Several times she peeked out from under the covers and, trembling with horror, watched the “monsters” roam back and forth around the room.
According to the witness, all four creatures outwardly resembled women. The growth of one of the "women" did not exceed one and a half meters. The other was head and shoulders above. And two more women turned out to be giantesses, each more than two meters tall. Their bodies were tightly wrapped in light green jumpsuits that looked like tracksuits. On the heads are something like hoops.
A few minutes later, the "women" suddenly and simultaneously melted into the air ...
And again Krasnodar. 1991 Tell, interrupting each other, Alla Zakharovna N. and her daughter Elena.
Mom works as a watchman in a hostel, and I am a librarian ... Alla Zakharovna:
What I want to tell you about happened at our country dacha. I wake up suddenly at night, at two or three o'clock. I think: what is it? What woke me up? I wanted to roll over to the other side, I feel I can’t! Neither the arms nor the legs do not obey. And in the head ... No, not pain. Some kind of pressure. Well, for sure the brain has turned into a multi-pound weight. I hear: someone, as it were mentally, that is, right inside my head! says, "Come with me."
Can't open my eyes. I think: who is calling me? Just in case, I answer, also mentally: "I'm not going anywhere." And I lie, I think, what will happen next?
Couldn't sleep until morning...
That very night, my grandmother, who lives in a country house next door, was sitting on a bench in front of her house. She didn't sleep. So, she claims that she saw a blue ball flying over our dacha in the sky.
Alla Zakharovna:
Ten days have passed. Again I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, but this time in our city apartment in Krasnodar. I get out of bed, I start, without knowing why or why, to wander back and forth around the room. And suddenly I hear a female voice already familiar ... He began to give me something like a popular science lecture. Like, our Universe is an ordered system, and the Earth is only a part of it, one of the cogs of that system. Well, in that sense.
Mommy, you better tell me about what happened a couple more days later. Alla Zakharovna:
And here's what happened. I had a headache in the evening. I went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. Spinning, spinning, I think: should I take an analgin tablet? And then a voice, resounding, as before, right inside my head, says: "I will help you." But this time it was not a female voice, but a male one! Again, an unbearable weight fell on me. I can't move. I lie like an idol. She barely opened her eyes with great difficulty. I see a dark silhouette rising next to the bed, two meters tall, or even higher. Bent over me. Completely black silhouette. For some reason, I wasn't scared, I wasn't even surprised. I’m lying and somehow I’m thinking: “I should turn on the sconce lamp hanging above the bed ...” As soon as I thought about it, I feel that my arms and legs regained their former mobility. I reached out to the table lamp. She pressed the switch button. The lightbulb flashed for only a moment and immediately burned out. The second it flashed briefly, the black silhouette vanished.
Well, what happened next was in my presence. Two or three days had passed since the visit of the black silhouette. In the evening, I see my mother suddenly falls on the sofa. A deathly pallor covers her face.
Alla Zakharovna:
Again, I was paralyzed. I realized "it" starts again. She mentally screamed to herself: “I don’t want to, don’t! Leave me alone! Get out!..” Silence in response. Tired of my own mental cries, I asked in desperation: “What did you come to me with? With good or with evil? I hear a male voice: "We came with good." I started screaming again: “But I'm not ready to communicate with you, whoever you are! You know, not ready. Go away. Leave me alone!" And the exorbitant heaviness that pressed down on my body from above moved away somewhere to the side. Lena:
And a few days later, my mother and I saw the one who “pressed” her. Yes, I saw it with my own eyes too!
Alla Zakharovna:
It was again late at night. I wake up from a familiar and extremely unpleasant sensation: the heaviest invisible concrete slab lies on me. I screamed at the top of my lungs in frustration and fear. My daughter heard my cry and jumped up in her bed. And we saw a natural miracle.
Beside my mother's bed stood a dark humanoid silhouette. He has a small square in his hand. And in the center of the square shone a circle the size of a three-kopeck coin. The silhouette gestured with the hand in which he held the small square. Without touching my mother's body, he drew a square over it from head to toe. Then my mother and I woke up at about three in the morning. We were awakened by a loud buzz.
Alla Zakharovna:
We see a familiar silhouette moving around the room.
He approaches Lenochka, who is lying on the couch, leans over her and puts a short stick to her temple, the tip of which glows brightly. The daughter screamed sharply as the glowing end of the wand touched her head.
In the morning I found a round burn spot on my temple, very red ...
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