One of my favorite types of photos to take during the golden hour is silhouettes.  They give us a perfect opportunity to show the wisdom of Mother Nature.  Give it a try today.  Silhouettes are easier to achieve than you might think.  

Here are the basic steps to capturing a silhouette:

• Your subject should be bold, clearly defined shapes and ideally your surroundings should be uncluttered.
• Place your subject in front of a light source.  A rising or setting sun is the perfect light.  Ideally, the sun should be just above the horizon.  In this photo, the sun is a little high, but it worked OK for my subject and surroundings.
• Expose your photo for the brightest part of the frame (the sun).  This will underexpose your subject creating the silhouette.
• You may need to move left and right or up and down to create the best play between the light and your subject.
• In post processing, you may need to up the contrast and or the blacks to create a true silhouette.  In doing this, be careful not to destroy all of your highlights.