The #silhouettechallenge is a trend that has since gone viral on TikTok, and that it dances defiantly like a silhouette, while the details of your body are mostly obscured by a red filter. But beware: crawls use software and editing techniques to remove the red filter, which means your video can reveal much more than you intended.
The Silhouette Challenge started as an idea to promote body positivity. Participants, most of whom appear to be women, first film themselves (mostly in a doorway) fully clothed for a remix of Paul Anka’s classic song “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” When the ‘drop’ comes in the remix, the video cuts and is replaced with a red filtered view of the person’s silhouette dance. To create a better silhouette, participants usually dance in different states of undress, assuming the red filter protects their privacy.
here is a guide for anyone who wants to do it #silhouettechallenge pic.twitter.com/KnYuarZkBj
– e. (@eral__) 27 January 2021
When the #silhouettechallenge took off on TikTok, some people discovered that the red filter could be reduced or removed by addressing common image / video editing adjustments such as color, saturation, contrast, and brightness.
Tutorials on how to do this with #silhouettechallenge videos have started appearing on YouTube and the internet.
Others have started using social media to warn people about this risk. Here is a warning shared by photographer Kai Lee:
@lostvsnryshots PSA TO ALL THE QUEENS ✨ #silhouettechallenge #silhouette #PSA #queensupportqueens #tiktoktrends #photography #photoshoot #phototricks
♬ Put your head on my shoulder – Giulia Di Nicolantonio
“Be aware of what you are wearing before doing all the editing of the final product, because anyone can take the images and easily bring them back to the original product,” says Lee.
Internet services like Google and Reddit are actively blocking the uploading of edited #silhouettechallenge videos.
“TikTok videos containing nudity cannot be re-uploaded to YouTube because it violates our adult content policies,” a Google spokesman said. Rolling clip. “Furthermore, we remove content uploaded to YouTube that has been altered to reveal the participant’s bodies in a manner not intended by the original uploader.”
If you ever think of using clever editing techniques to obscure anything sensitive in a photo or video you post online, think twice and work with the assumption that your privacy is not as protected as you think.
(via Rolling Stone via DIYP)
Image credits: Header-based image illustration by Lantay77 and licensed under CC-BY-SA-3.0.