Have you heard this formula? If you first camera was Kodak Instamatic you probably have. If you first camera was digital you probably haven't.

Overexpose, underdevelop is an older (though still widely used in practice) way of shooting. In short it means that one should give more exposure to film then it should be for given ISO and luminance of the scene. What the overexposure gives us is detail preservation in shadows. Isn't it great?! Well, not exactly. Because overexposure blows out highlights. To preserve highlights one needs to underdevelop. Thus this approach allows better detail preservation/grain reduction in shadows. You may dig Internet for better details why it happens. In shot, the approach uses non-linearity of sensitivity curve of film and developing process.

Can it be used ...