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, or to create a silhouette from any photograph that you would like to have the silhouette effect.

If a photo was supposed to come out as a silhouette but it was a little too overexposed this technique will work well for any photo that has a bright light source in the background.  The tutorial is for work that is being done in Photoshop.

1. First you need to open up your image in Photoshop and then create a new layers adjustment layer (Layer   – New Adjustment Layer – Levels).

2. Adjust the outside sliders so they fit the whole color range. 

3. Adjust the exposure so it is more balanced and on the verge of being a silhouette. 

4. Create a New Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer (Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Brightness/Contrast).

5. Decrease the Brightness and then you need to increase the contrast, usually the number that works best for this is roughly around 40.

The process and the amount of adjustment that needs to be made will be different for other photographs, but once you have got used to this technique you will get a good idea of which level of settings work best and create the most realistic silhouettes.