Defeating Your Silhouette

[Psychlonic]

You see the word all the time. Silhouette.

"Don't silhouette yourself."
"Don't let anyone see your silhouette."
"Be careful of your silhouette."

Almost every serious writing on stealth will mention your silhouette and the target it presents for others to see - but what is a silhouette and how do you hide it?

A silhouette is a shape - in this case human - that stands out from it's surroundings. It is typically darker than it's surrounding areas at night and thus is easier to see. You might hear the expression of one being like a black hole in comparison to the things around you. As visibility is severely limited at night, it is often your silhouette which will indicate what you are and reveal your presence to others. Your own silhouette is betraying you at almost every instant. Because you are shaped and often colored differently from everything else, you will stand out to some degree no matter what.

Let's explore what causes silhouetting and how to defeat it.

Silhouetting is caused because you are a different shape from your surroundings, perhaps a different tone, you might even have a different level of light on you.

Tone comes down to a best compromise. You want to wear a camouflage or solid which best reflects your surroundings you have the highest chance of being seen in. Never, ever go lighter than the terrain around you. If you must, go darker - even black if need be, but never lighter. While black may produce the "black hole" silhouette, it is much better than standing out completely with a lighter color.

Shape, as far as the individual goes, is impractical to change without elaborate clothing. You are not a sniper and you do not have the luxury of being outside the action - you are IN the action and you need to stay mobile. No ghillie suits.
Your head and shoulders form the definitive human silhouette. It is this shape we see when we think we've found a fellow human. Arms at the sides are another big indicator. How do we defeat this?

When possible, move with your arms tucked in front of you. This has the added benefit of creating uniformity in your steps making it easier for you to walk quietly. You obviously can't tuck your head in, but what you can do it keep it in areas where it cannot be distinguished so easily.
Allow your cover to absorb your silhouette. Don't be a separate entity from anything you are near - appear to be a part of it. Keep low and slink along areas that won't make you stand out. If you are on a roof, be a part of the roof, not an object on top of the roof. Don't stand alongside a building - flatten out against it and be a part of it.

Always, ALWAYS be a part of your surroundings and not a separate object.


Lighting. Correlated to both shape and tone, lighting can change your tone and exaggerate your shape. Generally speaking, darker is better however there will be a few instances where you may find yourself feeling too dark to properly blend in.
Once again, be a part of your surroundings. Don't stand far away from objects because you will receive unique lighting. You want the same lighting as everything else around you. Obviously you don't want to be standing under street lights, but when hiding in the shadows - be the shadow.


As new age and corny as "be the shadow" and "be the object" might sound, that is EXACTLY what you need to do. Don't walk through open fields unless you know for sure nobody else is around - move along the outside of them instead staying near other things. If you must go through open areas alone, become the ground. Make a game of it if you must - don't let yourself be an individual, always be a part of something. The moment you break free, you present your silhouette and make yourself easier to see.

Slide along walls.
Hug trees.
Lay in the prone.
Lay next to fences.
Cram yourself into ditches.
Squeeze between two objects.

You get the idea. Most of the time, you actually won't get to place a physical barrier between you and someone who can potentially see you. Because of this, defeating your silhouette may be perhaps the most important skill you as an operative can hone. It will allow you to use cover when there is no cover, and you'll be able to sneak in areas you weren't able to before. If you're aspiring to be "Mr. Invisible", then this is for you.

[Ghost]

Always, ALWAYS be a part of your surroundings and not a separate object.

Great guide, Psychlonic.

That above statement is what i believe to be one of the most important parts of modern stealth - when you're doing it right, you should never have to rely on your clothing to conceal you. Obviously, people make mistakes, and that's what your camo is there for - when you need to take a calculated risk and go through an open area, or expose yourself to light, or when you slip up and become more visible than you should. But 95% of the time, blending with your surroundings, using them as cover and letting them shield you should be everything you need.

As stated above - when you truly are just another part of your surroundings, true stealth has been realized.

[Cadance]

Yes very good material. Something small to add though its more then likely overlapping some material: the human brain/mind is designed to see patterns. One of these default search patterns is the humanoid form. The brain is constantly scanning for humanoids / human faces in all incoming visual imagary. Early ninjas learned this and made the 7 styles (Wood, Air, Earth, and so on) to break that human shape up.

The law only applys to humans folks, so dont be human. Ideally you dont want to exist at all from an external standpoint.

[Firaku]

A lot of spot on info there Psychlonic.

I might add a few things though.

Cover up all exposed skin if you can. Light skin tones sometimes can, and will give you away when 'Becoming' a part of your surrounding.

On an Army Cadet night exercise I had someone almost walk right over the top of me. I was laying on my stomach in full camo and broad brimmed hat (also cammo) I had my head down with my hands on my face under the brim of the hat and I probably looked like a bush in the darkness.
If you do decide to use camo paint (3 tone camo paint) apply dark paint to the raised areas on your face and lighter paint to the recessed areas. As the brain is trained to look for shape in faces, even someone looking right at you while you're in darkness/semi-light wont realize their looking at a face as long as you don't move.

To break up your silhouette light material scarves are really useful. wrapping it around your neck will help break up your 'human' silhouette. Army Scrim is what I use (thick fine hole netting, think camo nets that you can wear) Depending on how big a piece of scrim you have, you can stretch and fold it to to cover yourself in many different ways. A 1m x 1m piece of scrim can be folded down longways into a scarf and then unfolded to cover your entire body if crouched down next to something. Making 'becoming' your surrounding even easier while you survey your surrounding to make your next move. You can also see through it quite well.

I once used this concealment method with my army jacket once and it worked wonders. As long as you hide next to other objects its pretty unbeatable (rocks/trees/fences/boxes etc).

[Psychlonic]

The skin tone idea is very true, although it applies more to general camouflage than silhouette. Still, for anybody serious about going in full camo it's a pretty silly idea to leave the head and neck uncovered. I've always taken it for granted since I wear a balaclava or ski mask that leaves only a tiny bit of skin exposed. Especially under moonlight, skin stands out like neon unless you're the darkest tone of black. I'm not a big fan of face paint because it takes longer to remove and can still give someone an idea of what your facial structure is, but it's better than nothing.

[Firaku]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of camo paint either...