How to make a silhouette in Photoshop? We make black figures from the objects in the photo. Black and white silhouette

In this Photoshop tutorial, we will draw with black ink the silhouettes of beautiful ladies and their brave gentlemen.

We need a profile photo of a woman or a man.

For high-quality selection, the pen tool is best.
If you don't know how to use the Pen then check out this tutorial.

So, we create a smooth contour.

This is what the completed outline looks like.

Leave the feather radius at 0 and click OK.

Create a new layer and fill the selection with black.

I've hidden the background layer (turned it off) so the black silhouette is visible against the checkered background.

What are the shortcomings here?

1. The floor of the head is chopped off.

2. The silhouette looks boring, unrealistic.

Using the tool (move) move the silhouette to the center.

We take it again, we begin to finish drawing the head. Create an outline:

Turning the outline into a selection:

Fill the selection with black. Now the head is complete!

Add eyelashes, fluff hair. We do all this with the Pen:

After, I returned visibility to the background layer and combined the black silhouette with it. Decreased the layer with the silhouette transparency.

With the help of the Pen tool, I created a selection along the neckline of the dress and deleted the lower part of the silhouette.

In this tutorial, I'll show you how to cut a high-quality silhouette from a photo and make a postcard. This method is well suited if the photo is of poor quality, and the selection method gives a poor result.

All pictures are clickable

Image taken from the source 1zoom.ru

The lesson is based on working with the Pen tool. In fact - we will make a vector image. At first glance, the lesson may seem intricate, but in fact, everything is quite simple and fast. With pleasure draw silhouettes from photographs- you can see them.
Let's get to work.
Open the photo in the program. It is advisable to change the photo format to A4 (if it is smaller). Then the original silhouette will be of good quality.

Use the combination Ctrl / L and call the levels window. By moving the levers, we make the photo more contrast, but do not darken it completely - you can lose the outline of the image.

Remove the lock from the layer by double-clicking on it with the mouse.
Now take the Pen Tool. Select the shape creation mode - Shape Layers and
pen black color.

We start to outline. We click with the pen on the outline of the image, as a result of which a node will appear. Then we draw along the contour, the “thread” describing the contour will follow the cursor. At some distance, click the mouse and put the next node. The "thread" will not always lie exactly along the contour, but this, later, can be easily corrected. If the vector image lies on top of the photo layer, then simply swap them in the Layers panel.

Outline the entire silhouette and close it at the first node.
Now we need to align the contour and make smooth roundings at the tops of the nodes. Change the tool to the Convert Point Tool.
We click with the mouse at the point of the node, and, without releasing the left mouse button, we drag the lever. If you set the anchor points clockwise, then pull the lever clockwise. And vice versa accordingly. If you turned the lever incorrectly and the contour curved incorrectly, then just click on this node and it will return to its previous state. When the anchor point does not lie on the contour and we need to move it - press and hold the Ctrl key, take the knot and move it to the right place.

After the silhouette has acquired its correct shape, the photo layer can be deleted. We draw a silhouette from a photo. We have a vector object. And if the result suits you - the silhouettes can be left unchanged.

And do the background. To do this, create a background layer and fill it with any color.

The background color can be arbitrary. I chose the colors of the sunset. Select the Brush tool in the shape of a circle or an octagon. If you do not have such a brush, you can easily make it yourself - lesson. We make the appropriate settings.

Set the mode to Hard Mix and simply brush over the layer. Ready.

I want to go a little further and make the silhouettes more natural, so I'll continue photoshop lesson.
To do this, we will translate the vector object into a simple layer. (You can click with the Eraser tool on the document).
Next, take the Smudge tool and draw the hairs - you can do this arbitrarily.

Try silhouette photography - it's simple and can be artistically beautiful. It is rare to find a photographer who would not try to photograph a person with the sun behind him so that only the silhouette remains.

Done right, silhouettes can be very bright and unforgettable, making your shots stand out.

Here are some tips for beginners on how to photograph silhouettes the right way.

• Illumination of the subject. The easiest way to photograph a silhouette is to use the sun as a backlight. Positioning the subject directly in front of direct sunlight gives a clear and visually strong silhouette.

• Due to the color temperature and the low position of the sun, silhouettes are best at sunrise or sunset.

• background exposure. You need to correctly measure the exposure so that the silhouette is clear and the photo is formed correctly. Point the camera at the brightest part of the composition (but not the sun!) and half-press the shutter button to get the exposure settings that the camera gives. Remember, and then set them manually on the DSLR (in M mode). Ideally, you need to get a high shutter speed (from 1/125 s) for a high-quality silhouette when photographing.

Brigitta Sontagh

• Turn off the flash. This is another reason to use manual settings on your camera, especially if your camera has an auto flash. When using the camera in "auto" mode, it will most likely work automatically, trying to highlight the object and make it brighter. With manual setting, you have the option to keep the flash off, which plays a key role in creating the silhouette.

• Come closer. Getting closer to your subject makes it much easier to block direct light, and it also gives you more choice of shooting angles, allowing you to move around and find the best compositional solution.

• Focusing. Set a greater depth of field by manual adjustment. An aperture around f16 ensures that your entire image is in focus. A fuzzy silhouette will not look like an artistic image, but like a mistake.

• Think about forms. The silhouette should carry a strong image. Therefore, if you are photographing a person, try to capture him in profile or ask him to spread his arms so that the dark figure does not look like a monolithic block against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset, for example.

• If you are shooting a stationary subject, try to find the best angle that will emphasize the shape and make the dark figure stand out. Keep this in mind. Why do you think trees are so popular? Because their silhouettes look great!

Do not forget the most important thing - enjoy the experiment and expect great results. After all, the photo is worth it!

Based on materials from foreign sources, prepared by F. Svetogorov

• You need to start with the outer contour until you close it. After that, go to the internal
• You need to build the path by cutting your object inward by 1-2 px. If it is less, then as a result, the background will show through from time to time.
• And of course, strictly observe the shape of the object.
• Netoropizzo)))

Let's start with the shoes on the right foot. In the figure, I showed the drawing of the contour. But my hand trembled, or simply did not notice, and I put one point incorrectly.

This is where we begin to notice the benefits of the good old Pen (Pen). To fix (move) this point, I just need to select the "Arrow" tool and drag the point to the right place with the mouse.

But that's not all. We may have to add another point somewhere in the contour later. To do this, right-click on the "Pen" tool and select the "Pen+(add anchor point)" tool. You may also need to make the break at the reference point smooth. To do this, take the "Angle" tool from there.

When we have already drawn the outline to the edge of the document frame, to move the picture, just press the spacebar, the cursor turns into a hand, and without releasing the spacebar, holding down the left mouse button, move the picture to the right place.

If suddenly they clicked in the wrong place, and the contour disappeared, or all the points from the contour disappeared, and it itself became just a line, there is nothing wrong with that, you don’t have to look for anything and click on everything in a row. All you have to do is open the history panel and select one of the previous steps.

Having finished with the main contour, we move on to the inner ones, there will be three of them on this figure.

Having closed all three contours, we make sure that there is no one selected among them, that is, all contours should be in the form of lines, without squares on them. If this is not the case, then take the "Arrow" tool and click on the free space of the picture.

And now we have two options for further processing of this contour, this is the creation of a new layer with the cut out image and the creation of a vector mask from the contour. The second option is better in that the path can be edited, and provides a lot of other fun with the use of a mask. For example, you can perform various actions to correct the contour after rasterizing the vector mask into a layer mask, you can work with the silhouette of a girl, you can add image sections to the cut out figure. These and other gadgets are discussed in the article.

In the meantime, let's return to the first, simpler method. which is still used more often than dancing with masks and tambourines.

We continue to work on the first option. We right-click on any place of the contour, in the menu that opens, select "Create a selection", in the new window that appears, select the feather radius of zero pixels, OK.

The path will turn into a selection.

To transfer it to a new layer, press the keys Ctrl + J. Open the layers panel, turn off the visibility of the background layer, look what happened.

In order to see all the defects of the clipping, and they will be necessary, we create two layers under the layer with the cut out girl, one black and the other poisonous yellow-green.

I have captured the background layer on the arm and on the heels of the shoes.

With an eraser with soft edges, we remove these defects.

Do not forget that with an extra movement, some kind of wrong action, you can always return one or more actions up using the layers palette.

If the diameter of the eraser is too large, and along with the defect it also affects a good area, then it is not necessary to reduce the diameter of the eraser to a minimum.

It is enough to select a piece with a defect using the Lasso tool, and then apply the eraser. It will erase only in the selection area. Then do not forget to remove the selection by pressing Ctrl + D.

Usually they always say that it is necessary to use a flash when photographing against the sun: this compensates for the lack of light, and the object in the photograph acquires a clear outline. However, in some cases it is more useful to make the object devoid of any expressive features other than the outline - in other words, to make a silhouette.
Silhouettes are a great way to convey to the viewer the drama, magic, emotion, and mood of your photographs; they will always stand out in any album due to the combination of simplicity and deep story they express. They are loved because they do not reveal the whole picture to the observer and leave part of the image for reflection and fantasizing.

The main idea to follow is to position the subject (the one you want to see dark) in front of the light source. Your main task is to get the camera to set the exposure by focusing on the lightest part of your photo (the background) and not on the main subject. If you manage to do this, the subject in the photo will not be exposed (and therefore appear very dark, if not black at all).

There are so many specialized instructions on how to make a great photo silhouette, maybe you have already seen them; but this article will focus on the main steps that will allow you to achieve the desired result. In essence, you need to make your camera think that the part of the photo that is of most interest to you is light.

8 Easy Steps to Photograph a Silhouette

How to photograph a silhouette

1 . Choose a clear object.
Almost any object can be made into a silhouette, but some objects are better suited for this. Choose something with a clear and easily recognizable shape so that it looks interesting and eye-catching in 2D. To make silhouettes attractive, you can not use color, shades or texture - so the image must be clear.

2 . Turn off the flash.
If your camera is in auto mode, then it will most likely want to use a flash that will destroy the silhouette. Basically, you want the front of the subject to be minimally lit, so the flash should be turned off (mostly; some people try to photograph a silhouette with it).

3 . Get the Light Right.
When it comes to lighting your subject, you need to discard most of what you know about conventional photography and start thinking a little backwards. Instead of lighting directly on the subject, when shooting a silhouette photo, you should make sure that the strongest light source is in the background of the photo. In other words, you want the back of your subject to be brighter than the front. The best option would be to place the object against the sunset or sunrise - but, in fact, any bright light will do.

4 . Arrange the composition.
Line up your future frame so that the subject being photographed is on a pleasant, simple, but at the same time bright background. Usually the best background is a bright, cloudless, sunset sky. You need to place the brightest light source behind the object.

5 . Make the silhouette clear and concise.
If you are trying to photograph the silhouette of more than one object, try to place them at a distance from each other. For example, if you want to take a picture of a tree and a person, don't place the person in front of or even on top of the tree, as this will cause them to merge into one shape, making it hard to tell who the silhouette is when looking at the photo.
In addition, when building a composition, it will be more successful to capture the silhouettes of people in profile than in full face. In this case, the features of a person (nose, mouth, eyes) will be better drawn and more likely to be recognized. You can read about how to properly compose a snapshot.

6 . In automatic mode.
Most modern digital cameras have automatic exposure metering, and they manage to expose the entire photo and completely brighten every detail. The problem is that most cameras are so "smart" that they will light up the subject of your photo instead of underexposing it and turning it into a silhouette, which is what you want. Mostly, cameras set the exposure automatically when you press the shutter button halfway (at the same time the camera focuses). So, aim your camera at the brightest part of your composition and then press the button halfway (don't let go). Then move the camera back, frame the subject the way you want, and take the picture. On most digital cameras, the result is a silhouette photo. What you are really doing is tricking the camera into thinking that the brightest part of the image is the one with the average brightness tone. So, anything darker than it will be highlighted as a great dark shadow.

How to photograph a silhouette

Some digital cameras have a "spot" or "center" metering mode. It can help you with the above photographic technique, as the camera will only measure light at the center point of the image, not everywhere. This means that you can tell the camera exactly which bit of the bright background you want to expose.

7 . Manual mode.
If the above method doesn't work and your camera has manual exposure controls or , you can try setting your own settings. The beauty of digital cameras is that you can experiment to your heart's content until you get the results you want.

The easiest way to start using manual mode is to look at the shutter speeds and , which are offered in automatic mode, and build from there. If your subject is too light in auto mode (and you need to darken it, for example), lower your shutter speed by one or two EV and see what happens. In order to take multiple shots at sunset and sunrise with different exposures, use the technique I described in previous topics.

8 . Focusing.
In most cases, you will want the object you are silhouetted to be in focus and look very sharp. This means that the process described in step 4 can be a bit more complicated than simply pressing the shutter button halfway to properly measure the exposure. It may happen that the camera focuses on a certain point in the background. There are two ways to avoid this. First, if your camera has one, you can use it. Focus your frame before metering the exposure of the frame.

The second way is to use an aperture for maximum depth of field (the size of the image that will be in focus). Set a small aperture (that is, a large f/number) to increase the depth of field. As a result, most likely, both the foreground and the background in your photo will have clear outlines.

Finally, the last tip about silhouettes - of course, the general silhouette with a beautiful, clear, black subject will be a spectacular photo, but do not forget about partial silhouettes. Sometimes changing the light makes them a little more voluminous and "real". This is where auto-fork comes in handy for your images – it allows you to choose between full and partial silhouettes.