Silhouette Portraits

I just love the little profiles in my home and have wanted to learn how to make my own silhouette portrait like you can find here.

1. Photograph your subject, in profile, with a digital camera. Your camera should be on the same level as your subject. Try to shoot against a pure white background: this makes it easier to digitally remove the background later on.

This is how it looked strait out of my camera.  I hung a white sheet and used some lights behind him. I hung a picture in front of him on the wall to try and get him to look strait ahead and not at me.

 He was kind of tricky to get to hold still and have a calm look on his face. He's use to smiling and pulling faces at the camera:) I would have liked to have gotten  some eyelashes in there. 

2. Open your photo in Photoshop. With the Magic Wand tool, select the (preferably white) background for removal. Once clicked, the background will be outlined and highlighted, go to 'edit,' and select 'cut.' The background will disappear.

3. Go to 'image,' and select 'adjustments.' Select 'desaturate:' this removes all color. Also in 'adjustments,' select 'brightness/contrast.' Both lower the brightness, and increase the contrast: your image will take on the form of a silhouette. If your picture hasn't fully silhouetted, fill in the rest of the figure with black, or another color, using the Paintbucket tool.

4. At this point I used the brush tool to shape the shoulder area. When I got it looking the way I wanted, I used the magic want tool to select the silhouette. Then I cut and copied it into my new canvas and added some text!

I want to try this with my other kids. I'll let you know how it goes!