Landscape Silhouettes + Methodology for Creating Silhouettes

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Folks,

Just back from a short break to Peebles in Scotland - photographed some bare trees and surrounds - converted them to transparent PNG files and removed distractions - re-saved images as B&W JPEGS - added some figures that I had previously made and saved as Photoshop brushes - applied a variety of effects using Smart Photo Editor - applied major borders in SPE too - shadow borders were applied using Photoscape and the combined images were resized & combined within Photoscape too!

Love the variety that you can quickly produce within Smart Photo Editor.

All original graphics were my own work and are not available as SPE effects!

JUST A QUICK NOTE: You don't need a mask to apply effects - if the effect alters the silhouette (which happens about 30% of the time) - simply reapply the silhouette using the Composite Feature and use the MULTIPLY blending mode - the white background in effect becomes transparent. Doing it this way is quicker and lets you try different effects - much better than starting with the background and using the composite approach to superimpose the silhouette, because, my way you can rapidly try out effects one after another until you find the one that's right for you.

Sillhoutte Landscapes - Series 001.jpg (1.8 MiB) Viewed 8628 times

Sillhoutte Landscapes - Series 002.jpg (1.57 MiB) Viewed 8628 times

More next page:

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Further results:

Sillhoutte Landscapes - Series 003.jpg (1.77 MiB) Viewed 8627 times

Sillhoutte Landscapes - Series 004.jpg (767.64 KiB) Viewed 8627 times

Hope you ENJOY!

Cheers,

Andrew

[eadams Profile]

Andrew, your images are stunning, and thank you for the tip about reapplying the silhouette. I wouldn't have thought of that and it is a real time saver!

You did such a perfect job extracting the silhouettes from your photos in the first place — what tools did you use to do that?

Eve

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Eve,

Thanks for your kind comments - here is my method for creating silhouettes from tree images [it can be more difficult with people] (Note: I selected a dull day for the tree images and underexposed them a bit deliberately as it is easier to make the silhouettes).

METHODOLOGY: Using Photoshop Elements 11

ScreenClip001-vert.jpg (1.76 MiB) Viewed 8617 times

ScreenClip009-vert.jpg (1.97 MiB) Viewed 8617 times

ScreenClip017-vert.jpg (1.67 MiB) Viewed 8611 times

Hope all of this makes sense to you, anyway, all the best with your creative endeavours.

Kind regards,

Andrew

[eadams Profile]

What a great tutorial! I am going to bookmark it so I will always have it at my disposal I love the way you cropped the picture to turn the tree landscape into a design element that you placed the other people silhouettes on. By mixing and matching the different silhouettes you created endless possibilities!

This week I hope to have some time to myself to immerse myself in your other new tutorials

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Folks,

I decided to add a tutorial on how I create silhouette figures - so here it is:

ScreenClip001-vert.jpg (1.82 MiB) Viewed 8609 times

ScreenClip010-vert.jpg (1.8 MiB) Viewed 8609 times

ScreenClip019-vert.jpg (1.38 MiB) Viewed 8609 times

I hope all this information proves useful to you. I really would love to see what you come up with and how you transform your creations using Smart Photo Editor.

Kind regards,

Andrew

[Arwin Profile]

Stunning use of your silhouette images Andrew! Really loving it

Cool to see you give a peek in your kitchen on how you create your silhouettes images, first thing that pops in mind, is there no way to create an effect that will make a silhouette for you? Hmm I thing I've some inspiration here

Thanks for your tutorial, I'm sure it's very helpful!

Arwin

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Thanks Eve & Arwin for your support throughout 2014 - I have been greatly touched by your diligence and constructive and encouraging comments.

Thanks to both of you!

Andrew