This shot is best achieved at night because you only want to use the holiday lights to illuminate the scene. During the day you will get too much natural light and it will be difficult to create the silhouette. In addition, make sure you turn off all other lights in the room. Use the lights from your tree to set the exposure for your image. Place your child between you and the lights. By exposing for the holiday lights, the rest of the scene will be dark and it will put your child into shadows. This will result in very little detail on your child and create a silhouette. Here are a few situations in which you can experiment with creating silhouettes. In your home, use the Christmas tree, menorah or string lights. In the community, experiment with lights at the zoo, neighborhood lights or Chicago Botanic Garden exhibits.
In this picture, I used the light of the trees to set my exposure. This resulted in less light on my daughter and created the silhouette.
