The technique of silhouetting can be used to add glamour and intensity to many everyday photographs – including still life, vacation pictures and even family photographs. Handled properly, the technique will inject excitement and drama into standard photographs. Since it is concerned only with the overall form of a subject, the silhouette can be described as a well-defined, black shape that stands out against a brightly lit, uncomplicated background. Because of its visual simplicity the silhouette has remained one of the most often used effects in spite of the deluge of special effects gadgetry that is available to today’s photographer. A picture of a sailboat silhouetted against the setting sun, a fireman battling a blaze, or a solitary figure walking along a beach are all familiar examples of this technique. Each photo works well because the silhouette adds to the mood of an already strong image, intensifying the mood with a sense of tranquility, danger, or loneliness. The most important rule in exposing for a silhouette is to always expose for the background, not the subject. It is also best to underexpose an additional one-half to one full stop if there is the opportunity to take more than one shot and bracket exposures. Automatic cameras that have manual override should be used in the manual mode, otherwise the camera may attempt to compensate for the bright background if left on automatic. When this happens more often than not the result will be a photograph that is too far overexposed to be a silhouette, yet too far underexposed to be of any other use.