Blocking out the Sun

Ideally, when photographing your want the sun at a low angle.  This means capture times either need to take place two to three hours maximum after sunrise or two to three hours maximum before sunset.  In between that time, the light is not ideal, especially if the sun is out in full force.  So what are you supposed to do if you want to capture something and the time is not ideal?
You have to get creative.  In the case of the image below, I positioned my camera the sun would be behind the lighthouse and exposed for the lighthouse.  This produced a great halo effect at the top of the lighthouse.  If I would exposed for the sky, the image would be more of a silhouette. This is where using your cameras spot meter mode is very helpful.  The sunny 16 rule would of worked here as well:  You set you camera's aperture to f/16 and match the shutter speed to the current ISO setting.  So if your ISO is 100 your shutter speed is 100.  In a pinch photographing at non-ideal times can work, but it is always better to capture you images during the better light hours listed above or the best hours (within a hour of sunrise or sunset).