Keyword in your case is
backlit! Your subject is between you and the main light source. The problem will be the same no matter if its a cloudy or sunny day, just that on a bright sunny day this situation gets even trickier as you may end up with just a black cutout. The article linked above deals with low, or better less than perfect light conditions. After all the guy is still shooting with high shutter speeds, moderate ISO and not always wide open. So it wasn't too bad those days. However he is not dealing with backlit subjects.
Taking an exposure setting that matches the subject and is not biased by the dominant bright background is mandatory, in this matter the article is a match as metering is concerned. In situations with back lit subjects it may help to overexpose the subject a tiny bit (here 1/750 s than 1/1000 s). The only way to get a good shot with somewhat balanced exposure on subject and background is to bring in some light on the subject from the front.
This is the kind of situation where using a
fillflash will save the day. The little pop-up flash can do the trick as long as the required exposure time (based on ambient light) is within flash sync speed (1/250 s or 1/320 s in High speed sync) and he subject isn't too far away. External flash guns will sync in High Speed mode up to 1/8000 s and with a flash extender like the Better Beamer you can expect efficient fill flash range up to 1/1600 s and a couple of tens of meters.
A cheaper and surprisingly efficient alternative to a flash can be a
reflector disk like this one, best used with an assistant (not included). Used with the silver surface one can shine a spotlight on a backlit subject.
Ulli
