I love sky photos!  Anytime I'm out walking my dogs and the sky is pretty, I'll use my phone to take a couple photos of the clouds and sky.  I even have a folder on my hard drive of dedicated to sky photos!  So, when I see a beautiful sky during a session, I look for a hill to capture a silhouette.

So what exactly is a silhouette? 

A silhouette is usually an image where the subject is underexposed against a perfectly exposed background, creating just an outline of the subject. Even though the subject has no details and is just solid black, it doesn't mean it has to be a boring image. Silhouettes can be vibrant, beautiful, and even tell a story.

I love dog silhouettes and even though not all locations allow for silhouettes, I take one whenever I have the opportunity.  

3 tips for beautiful silhouettes

• Expose your image to the beautiful sky (or whatever your bright background is);

• Make sure your subject is in a position that makes it easy to know what your subject is.  You don't want a blob.  So for a dog,  have the dog parallel to you. For a person, make sure there is space between the arms and the body.  Whatever your subject is, it should be clear what it is;

• This is the one time I recommend more depth of field.  You want to make sure your entire subject is sharp. So, go for a smaller aperture, which will be the larger F-stop number.  If possible try for F/5.6 or higher, assuming it's still light enough.  Just keep in mind, that you're also balancing your shutter speed to avoid motion blur and keeping your ISO low enough to avoid noise.

You can easily try this with just your phone camera.  Just make sure your phone is exposing for the sky and add your subject. 

Play around and have fun!