Silhouette Tutorial

I know I've seen a very similar tutorial somewhere in blogland but since a few folks asked how I made my Father's Day present, here's the technique I used.

Materials: person to photograph; digital camera; photo editing software; printer; scissors; decorative paper for backing; plain, dark paper (or sticker) for silhouette; smallish oval frame (oddly enough, I only found oval frames at Wal Mart, not at craft stores)

Step 1: get child to pause long enough to capture profile image despite digital camera delay (most complicated step by far).  BTW, do I detect a bit of toddler bershon here?

Step 2: From here you could possibly skip to step 4 but here's a few more steps you could add in for good measure if you are bored (which apparently I was)
Crop photo in editing program and use magnetic lasso to select and erase the background. Clearly I am not a photoshop expert.

Step 3: Make it all black (I found this helpful to visualize which of my  crummy photos was going to  work best)

Step 4: Resize your image in the photo editing program until it's right for your selected picture frame (mine was about 4 inches tall).  Print image.

Step 5: I found an oversized plain brown sticker at Paper Source (I really have no idea what you would need a 5 inch brown circle sticker for but it worked great for this). You could also use plain black paper.  Lightly affix the printed image to the back of the paper/sticker (double stick tape works) and carefully cut out your image removing double chins and adding necks as you go.  Also, look at the way the image cuts off below the neck, it should be longer in front. You may want to test this on extra print outs as it was hard to get right.

Step 6: Choose decorative paper and cut to fit frame. Affix silhouette

Step 7: Write in name and year along bottom of silhouette (done after this photo was taken)

Step 8: Wrap and give to recipient as a cute, personal, easy, $6 gift.

Comments

[KristaMB]

Thanks for the email, and for posting a tutorial. I now see that I was going about it all the wrong way! I still think I'll have a hard time taking the profile shot, but it can't be harder than using a flashlight and paper. :)

[Kris H.]

Thank you SO much! Now if I can only get the kids to sit still for 2 seconds, I will be able to do this!

[heather]

i'm going to put them in front of the tv for a few minutes to get the profile pic. i've never seen a child sit as still as when they're in front of the tv.

[Robin]

What photo program do you use that has a lasso editing option?

I have saw these silhouette pictures like these before and just love them but never have had any luck getting the silhouette picture.

Thanks,
Robin