Simple 4-step Photo Editing Silhouette Tutorial

5:10 AM

Not only would these look great on any wall but they would make great gifts to close family members. You could do so much with a silhouette image like card making, photo prints, scrapbooking, wall decor... its endless!  And the best part... you can make your own silhouette images with just four easy steps! And it gets even better...
 Here is a link to a completely free photo editing software download- Paint.net. I used this program to make this tutorial and its so easy to use. So anyone with a computer can make these fantastic custom silhouette images completely FREE. 

1. Take a photo of your subjects profile against a white background. Open your photo in paint.net program, select the magic wand tool, click the magic wand in the white background image area.


2. Add another layer, while magic wand is still selcting the background area, use your fill tool to fill in the area with "White".


3. De-select the magic wand, and fill in the image area with black. Merge layers.
If you like the way this is with the white background go ahead and save your project as a jpeg. file.


4. If you want a png. image so that you only have the black silhouette image instead of the white background attached. Select your magic wand tool and click on the white background, hit the delete button, and there you go. Don't forget to save your image as a png. file.

_______________________________________

Tips:
If your silhouette is just not working, it is probably either the photo you took or trouble with the magicwand settings. Make sure the background to your picture is one solid color and try to have as little of shadows as possible in the picture. If you are still having problems this youtube tutorial on the magic wand is a great help. 

This can be a really simple fast photo editing project if you have the right picture to begin with. Remember I am always happy to help, so feel free to email me at everydaymomideas at hotmail dot com if you have any questions. 



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54 comments

  1. Just One More ThingJanuary 22, 2011 at 10:46 AM

    Amazing:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarieJanuary 28, 2011 at 1:49 PM

    I am totally going to do this and make them to go on my wall in my apartment once I get one.....hehehehehe you'r making them...hehehehehehe love ya SIS

    ReplyDelete
  3. PatriciaRaeDesignsFebruary 8, 2011 at 10:25 PM

    I just discovered your blog and I have to say i'm in love lol this is amazing thank you so much for sharing if you ever want to pop by my blog any time is www.patriciaraedesigns.com :)

    Amanda

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lina - Fancy Frugal LifeFebruary 18, 2011 at 11:25 PM

    This is fantastic!!! I am going to try.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shan@FamilyBringsJoyMay 22, 2011 at 5:41 PM

    I have been looking for a simple way to make a silhouette for a LONG time now! Thank you soooooo much!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Emily @SweetlyScrappedJuly 8, 2011 at 5:28 PM

    What an awesome idea! Thanks so much for sharing. I never thought of doing it this way! Too cool!

    ReplyDelete
  7. MelissaJuly 19, 2011 at 6:50 AM

    Hello,
    Just a quick note to let you know I love this post and have added it as a favorite on my featured Guest Curator story on Crescendoh this week. http://blog.crescendoh.com/art_saves/2011/07/a-rewarding-chapter-by-melissa-bolton.html

    Hope it brings lots of traffic ~ I just adore these!

    Melissa Bolton
    DesignherBrands.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. valAugust 20, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    Thanks for the tutorial...and inspiration...I've pinned this maybe now I'll actually try it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. DeborahSeptember 25, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    i just downloaded the program and am eager to use it! i can't find the 'magic wand' tool though. can you please email me and let me know how to do that? thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Persnickety PrintsOctober 29, 2011 at 9:58 AM

    We have been printing many of these lately for customers. The 12x12 with white space looks so great!

    ReplyDelete
  11. MelissaJanuary 10, 2012 at 1:11 PM

    Thanks for the tut. I just downloaded the program as well and I have no idea what the magic wand tool is. Please help.

    ReplyDelete
  12. EmilyFebruary 5, 2012 at 8:26 AM

    Oh, I LOVE this!!! Going to try it for Valentine's gifts for grandparents ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. BeccaFebruary 29, 2012 at 6:49 PM

    Great tutorial! I just wanted to give a tip that I found useful--paint.net kept crashing my computer, so I downloaded the free program Gimp. No more computer problems, and your tutorial works with it as well. Thanks!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Maggie BergmanMarch 4, 2012 at 3:11 PM

    Great tutorial, I'm passing it on to my readers, we make fingerprint and keepsake jewelry, this would be a great addition to that!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Fuzzy speedybugMarch 19, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    I downloaded and ended up with a rotten toolbar and can't find paint.net.

    ????

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownMarch 22, 2012 at 7:08 PM

    This tutorial didn't work at all for me. My son has curly hair and using the magic wand didn't cut out a specific shape, so every time I tried to fill in with the paint bucket I got a weird black image with lines and stuff - nothing close to the success posted in the blog. Is there another way, or some sort of trick?

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousMarch 23, 2012 at 6:17 PM

    I'm totally having the same problem with the curly hair. Your son's image was cut very cleanly, but the image of my daughter is all over the place. Am definitely willing to accept any suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Jessica JohnstonMarch 26, 2012 at 8:52 AM

    Too cool! What a great tutorial! I am featuring it on my blog Friday - thanks for the great idea!!! I think it would be cool to do this with characters from picture books. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. KristiApril 15, 2012 at 8:38 PM

    I'm having a hard time with the paint.net download

    ReplyDelete
  20. MelodyApril 18, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    I'm going to make this for my LO 2nd birthday invitation! Thanks!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. BrookeMay 8, 2012 at 7:55 PM

    Has anyone found the magic wand tool? I need help!

    Thank you~

    ReplyDelete
  22. LynMay 13, 2012 at 7:38 AM

    I used to do these with my Kindergarteners. Our school cutter had Washington and Lincoln templates so I just sized their own slhouettes to match and they glued them to a banner where they had written 'Great Americans.' LOL WAY cute.....

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousMay 29, 2012 at 10:06 AM

    For those who can't find the magic wand. Press F5 to open the box with all the tool icons. The magic wand is the fourth one in the left column. Right about the paint bucket. I use paint.net all the time. It's great for changing the color of an object.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wendy BramlettJuly 9, 2012 at 3:47 PM

    I love this! Thank you for sharing. I will use this for school-- and to do my own children's sillohuettes...

    ReplyDelete
  25. MMrussianadoptionJuly 18, 2012 at 11:34 AM

    do you know if they have a paint.net that is mac user friendly?

    ReplyDelete
  26. AnonymousJuly 28, 2012 at 8:34 AM

    Ive tried and tried but cannot find where or how to download...what am I missing??

    ReplyDelete
  27. clippingimagesSeptember 8, 2012 at 2:41 AM

    Great work !! Keep up the good posts. I like your blog. Thanks for sharing this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  28. HelenaNovember 29, 2012 at 12:25 PM

    Soooo simple, thank you so much for posting this :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. AnonymousDecember 9, 2012 at 8:41 PM

    I can't find the magic wand either. F5 doesn't open any tool options. I'm stuck! Please help.

    ReplyDelete
  30. KamilleDecember 12, 2012 at 3:09 PM

    Hello,

    I had a lot of trouble with this tutorial like some of the others...but i HAD to make it work. Like one of the comments suggested I used Gimp instead of paint.net but beware of different downloads you are able to 'decline' with whatever program you choose. Here is what I did between steps 2 and 3....after 'filling' the background with white, click the magic wand, then select the image(i.e. the face). Then you can "deselect" the wand as she says to in step 3 and I found the rest of the directions to work out as she stated.

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousApril 18, 2013 at 9:46 PM

    will work the same way with photoshop and magic wand. just as easy to use!

    ReplyDelete
  32. enigmasJune 8, 2013 at 12:24 AM

    What an awesome idea! You are so creative. I love silhouettes! This one is fantastic :-) Thank you so much! roygroething.com | Checkout roygroething silhouette portrait

    ReplyDelete
  33. SmithJune 11, 2013 at 3:20 PM

    I gonna try it soon. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.
    roygroething.com | student silhouette Photography

    ReplyDelete
  34. AnonymousNovember 14, 2013 at 6:53 AM

    I hand make @140 silhouettes each year for our outgoing 5th graders. I can't wait to try this! This could save me weeks of time!!! I hope it works :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Suzanne FortescueFebruary 18, 2014 at 2:00 PM

    I've been wanting to do this forever to either make a framed print or cut out of felt and put onto a pillow.

    Thanks for the info!

    Suzanne
    www.etsy.com/shop/studiotullia

    ReplyDelete
  36. Towab Muhammad YusufApril 22, 2014 at 1:10 AM

    This is the simple way so thank you .

    ReplyDelete
  37. AenApril 28, 2014 at 10:46 PM

    Photo Editing Silhouette Tutorial seems to me sound like very nice and I'm quite sure that in such tutorial will surely be handy for people to understand that basic nicely. Thanks dude :)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Kelynn KeithMay 8, 2014 at 8:00 AM

    I need HELP! I have tried and tried and I cannot get this to work. I was hoping to give the silhouettes for Mother's day gifts. Can someone help me?

    ReplyDelete
  39. DanaAugust 23, 2014 at 7:36 AM

    Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

    Dana

    ReplyDelete
  40. Clippingpath ServicesSeptember 5, 2015 at 3:31 AM

    Can't wait to use those photo editing tips and I hope those would be very better for my task. I just discovered those are stunning and also easy to understand. Thanks for sharing.
    Photo editing services

    ReplyDelete
  41. AnonymousOctober 26, 2015 at 9:24 PM

    Gimp is also a FREE download witch you can use the same method.

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonymousDecember 27, 2015 at 1:14 PM

    Can't find the fill tool.. help!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Yuga BharathiJanuary 25, 2016 at 4:27 AM

    Thank you for these great tutorial. It was really helpful.

    professional photo editing services

    ReplyDelete
  44. HannahFebruary 18, 2016 at 1:55 AM

    This type of artistic creation has something special I think… I work with photo editing for a long time, sometimes I do silhouette photos for my clients using http://softwarehdr.com/mapp/ the best soft for it.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Nanette ArmstrongFebruary 29, 2016 at 1:21 PM

    Could you please add directions for those of us who do not know the simple things on the program. Where is the fill tool? How do I pick white? Googling I found some answers, but pretend we are in kindergarten and go from there. That would be helpful. thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  46. ashim devnathJanuary 11, 2017 at 1:21 AM

    Very informative tutorial. Thank you so much for your tutorial! Between this and blog beautiful, I think I,m finally getting on the right track.

    photo editing company


    ReplyDelete
  47. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2017 at 4:16 AM

    Thank you so much for sharing this! My daughter brought hers home from school and it was one of the worst silhouettes I have ever seen.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Janet M. SykesJuly 20, 2017 at 3:59 AM

    All of your sharing steps are very useful and effective . You have explained here very well .

    ReplyDelete
  49. Engr. Mishuk HasanAugust 6, 2017 at 9:32 AM

    Effective post !!! All the tips are so much useful. Excellent !!!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Melvin AckermanJanuary 10, 2018 at 3:16 AM

    Thanks for this awesome post.
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  51. Shadow MakingFebruary 7, 2018 at 1:45 AM

    Nice tips! Each and every step clearly explore no any confusion to follow it.. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  52. Clipping Path ServiceMay 28, 2018 at 3:13 AM

    These are really nice, You always have such interesting patterns!

    ReplyDelete
  53. Lisa MariaNovember 28, 2018 at 3:27 AM

    Wonderful tips and so helpful to me.
    clipping path

    ReplyDelete
  54. clipping pathDecember 13, 2018 at 5:19 AM

    Wonderful photo editing tutorial. Thanks for share.

    ReplyDelete

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