Next, set the exposure mode. There's no need to get fancy; you can leave your camera in its automatic mode. We want to take advantage of your camera's exposure lock feature, though. As you might know, virtually all digital cameras lock the exposure setting when you press the shutter release button halfway down. This allows you to point the camera where you want to the exposure to be measured, lock in the exposure, and then reposition the camera to fine-tune the composition. See "" for more about that.

What if your camera doesn't have an exposure lock feature? Then you can try using exposure compensation instead. Take the picture normally, but set the camera's exposure compensation (usually abbreviated as EV) to -2 or -3. That will underexpose the photo, hopefully rendering the subject a deep black in the process. You might need to experiment with a few different variations to get the right effect. For more information about using this setting, refer to "."

Of course, you'll also want to keep the focus in mind. For best results, we want the subject in sharp focus. If your subject is far enough away, that's not a problem, since when you lock the exposure on the background, it'll set the focus to infinity, and you'll get good results. But if the subject is too close, it'll be in a different focal range than the background, and your silhouette will be fuzzy.

The solution? Check your camera to see if there's a way to lock the exposure and focus separately. If there is, use that mode to prevent the focus from locking in on the background when you set the exposure. If that's not possible, switch your camera to manual focus and focus on the subject by hand. It's not as convenient as automatic focusing, but it'll make a big difference in your photo.