not posting pics on this because i always get told off.

I am trying to make  figures (in the head shot) light in silhouette so you only see the shape of the character with light behind.

I have tried many ways to do this but I am not getting anywhere but annoyed so hopefully one of you nice people will save me. 

What ways have you tried?  The only method that comes to my mind is using a single spotlight from behind the figure.

At the bottom-right corner of the preview window, click the second color picker and choose whatever "lit" color you want. Turn off all lights and remove/hide glowing objects.

Note that if you save your image to PNG format, it might make the background invisible. If that happens and you don't know how to change that, come back.

i tried the single spot light behind the head but its not showing enough light behind.  this is for a shadow council thing in a comic book so i want the shape of the persons head but no features showing.

Note that if you save your image to PNG format, it might make the background invisible. If that happens and you don't know how to change that, come back.

sort of there, but why the red on the skin? 

Something in your shader setup is emitting light. 

thanks

where do i find the shader settings?

Does the figure you are using have a whiteout texture setting in the materials? If so, apply that and see what happens.

A shader like that should not emit any light.

If it doesn't have one, you will have to make or apply one to it, then apply it to all body parts.

Material Room for the figure's skin textures.  Look on the PoserSurface node for an active ambient value.  Otherwise, if the figure has nodes connected to the Alternate_Diffuse, you will also get an ambient glow.

thanks Hborre I have to go thought the figure and set the ambient value to 0 on all the head parts. will be a pain with 7 figures but at least i have an answer now

What I do achieve a "shadow only" effect is

1.  Select the character

2.  Open  the "Properties" tab for that character (right side menu under your libraries menu)

3.  Uncheck the "Visible in Camera" option.

That makes the selected character invisible in a render, but it's shadow appears.  Useful FX in many works.