Wednesday, December 12, 2012

DIY: Digital Silhouettes in Photoshop Elements



I've been wanting to make these for quite a while now, and I was so glad when I figured my way around how to do it! Ever since Luis and I moved, I've been dreaming up some ways to style/decorate the full wall in our bedroom and I knew I wanted a silhouette of us somewhere on that wall. 

Let's go!

What You'll Need:
PSE (or PS)
A profile shot of your subject; not a straight-on photo but one from the side
Creativity!

Step 1:


Open the photo in Photoshop.

Step 2:


Duplicate the layer by going to Layer > Duplicate Layer > OK

Step 3:


With the Background Copy selected, go to the drop-down menu where it says "Normal" and select vivid light. This will concentrate your photo's color so that you can easily crop the photo in the next step. 

Step 4:


Flatten your image. Go to Layer > Flatten Image or right click and select "Flatten Image".

Step 5:


Using the Magnetic Lasso tool, carefully outline your photo.

Step 6:


Once your subject is selected (there will be "marching ants" as seen in the above photo) delete the selection. 

Step 7


Use the paint bucket tool to fill in the deleted portion with black, or your desired color. 

Step 8:


Go to "Select" at the top of the program and select "Inverse" and delete the selected portion on the photo.

Step 9:


This is what your photo will look similar to once you delete part of the image. If you are not satisfied here, simply use the eraser and/or paint brush tool to erase or fill in the space to create a more cohesive silhouette. 

Step 10:


This is what my photo looked like when I finished adding and erasing. I also made a silhouette for my husband Luis. Save as a jpeg to use for future projects and such! 


5 comments:

  1. So lovely! I really think hanging these up as art is so cute!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Super adorable and you make it look really doable! : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice! This was really insightful :)

    -Sabrina
    http://thelittleowlshop.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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