Silhouettes are a Hot Trend that we see popping up everywhere. You may have seen silhouettes in magazines or maybe you’ve purchased your own from a shop. Did you know you can create silhouettes out of your very own pictures in Adobe Elements 5.o. ?
It’s easy, just follow these simple steps.
In Adobe Elements 5.0 first open your photo and make a duplicate.
Go to File > Duplicate, then close your original photo. With the duplicate copy open use the background eraser tool or magic extractor tool to delete the background leaving only your subject visible.
Next Go to Edit > Define Pattern, when the box pops up name your pattern and click OK.
Next, create a New layer Go to Layer > New > Layer and click OK. Press Shift- backspace to open up the Fill Dialog. Choose Pattern from the Use menu and click on the arrow icon to find your pattern, click OK.
Your pattern is now ready to apply effects.
Go to Filter> Adjustments > Threshold and move the slider arrow until your image becomes black.
Your image should now appear to be a silhouette.
If needed use the eraser tool to clear up any unwanted edges or rough spots. Finally, save your image and it is now ready to use!
For my project I created a front cover insert for my daughters’ cheerleading album. I achieved this look by dragging the silhouettes onto my page and duplicating them, when finished I printed my layout out.
*Tip - you can rotate your silhouette images by using the rotating tool or Horizontal/Vertical tools. Just go to Image> Rotate > Horizontal or Vertical *
Layout credits: Tara Sroka Designs: Queen of Green kit: paper, sequins, star and crown
For my second example, I created an altered journal using the same process.
Here is the photo…
Credits: BigStockPhoto.com
…and here is the silhouette of the photo printed onto paper, and then adhered to the front cover of a journal and finished with a few embellishments.
Journal credits: Rusty Pickle: grid paper, Scenic Route: paper and chipboard frame, Making Memories: Noteworthy letters
Popularity: 51% [?]
5 responses so far ↓
1 Cindy Wyckoff // Mar 3, 2008 at 8:42 am
Fantastic tutorial, Gina! Just think of all the ways I could use this! I could turn my silhouettes into a brush or use it as a template to cut out paper in the same shape….cool!
2 Julie Ann Shahin // Mar 3, 2008 at 9:17 am
Very useful tutorial! Please feel free to post this on our ning site too.
3 chere // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:21 am
Awesome tutorial Gina!
4 masonsa1mom // Mar 3, 2008 at 9:11 pm
How cool is this Gina!!! Awesome tutorial and look!!! Thanks for the 411
5 Shape Your Digital Papers! // Mar 7, 2008 at 12:49 am
[…] to choose from in Photoshop Elements. You could also take this tutorial one step further and use Gina’s Silhouette Technique and once you have your silhouette done just follow my tutorial starting from Step 5 and you can […]
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