This tutorial is to help you learn how to create a silhouette from a photo that didn’t quite have the right exposure for it. For this photo, it was supposed to come out as a silhouette but it was a little too overexposed. But this technique will work well for any photo that has a bright light source in the background. Ok, once you have your picture open in photoshop:
1. Create a New Layers Adjustment Layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels).
2. Adjust the outside sliders so they fit the whole color range. For this photo I had to slide the left one in.
3. Adjust the exposure so it is more balanced and on the verge of being a silhouette. For this photo I had to slide the middle slider slightly to the left.
4. Create a New Brightness/Contrast Ajustment Layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Brightness/Contrast).
5. Decrease the Brightness, for this photo I decreased it by 41.
6. Increase the Contrast, for this photo I increased it by 40.
For different photos, the process and amount of adjustment won’t be exactly the same. But with this technique you can probably make the most realistic silhouettes.
