Creating a Rocking Silhouette in Photoshop

If you've ever wanted to shine in the spotlight, try this tutorial. It shows you how to create a silhouette of a person taken from a normal photo, adding colorful light to it as if the light source is located behind this object.

Author: Ben Merckx

I am a Belgian multimedia designer who got interested in Photoshop a few years ago by reading and trying out tutorials on the web. At the moment I'm finishing my study of interactive multimedia design. I hope to share some Photoshop techniques in an interesting way.

Step 1

Start out by importing the image you want to cut the silhouette from into Photoshop. I used an image with a white background, which makes cutting very easy. Everyone has their own way of cutting something out, so I will not include that part in this tutorial. If you are unsure how to cut something out, look for a tutorial on that subject first.

When you are ready and feel like you have a clean cut, go into the layer's blending options, choose Color Overlay, and set the color to black. This should give you the silhouette of what you cut out. In my example, I did the hair separately and used a lower opacity on the Color Overlay so you can still see some gray tones.

Step 2

We can add a background by creating a radial gradient (Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient). In the gradient options, change the style to Radial and choose dark colors on the outside and light colors for the inside.

Step 3

To get some light shining, we add a Layer Mask (Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All, do this while having the silhouettes layer selected). Select a large, soft brush and set the foreground color to black. While having the layer mask selected (click on it in the layers pallet), brush at the sides of the silhouette so it becomes transparent. With a hard brush I got rid of the cable that runs to the guitar.

Step 4

At this point we can add a bit more color to the light. I made a Levels adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels). When I hit the Auto button it came up with some colors I liked. If you dislike the automatic settings, you can try hitting the Options button and changing the shadows and highlights there, or try out other types of adjustment layers.

Step 5

Cut a little piece of the original guitar and put it over the silhouette to give it some depth. For a smooth transition, use a the eraser or a mask to soften the edges. Desaturate the layer (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate) and set the blending mode to Multiply with an opacity of 60-70%.

Step 6

Copy the silhouette layer and change the Color Overlay in the Blendings Options to white. Give this layer a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) of 3-4px. Update the layers mask if needed (at some places too much white may shine through).

Step 7

If we want to insinuate some movement, we can make a few paths on a new layer. Before stroking, select a small hard brush and a darker color. Right-click the path and choose Stroke Path (while having the Pen Tool or Path Selection Tool active), in the options choose Brush and check Simulate Pressure.

Step 8

Create two more paths on a new layer, but stroke these with a large white soft brush. Add a Motion Blur (Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) to this layer.

Step 9

When adding text, we can use a piece of the background as on overlay so it fits in perfectly. Create a new layer above your text layer and use apply image (<em>Image > Apply Image) on it. Make this layer a Clipping Mask (Layer > Create Clipping Mask) and move it around to find a good part of the background. If you don't find a good position, try Apply Image again but this time with only the background layers shown. I also added two black boxes (with a low opacity) to create a subtle letterbox effect.

Conclusion

As a finishing touch, we need some more light and color. Add a new layer and use apply image (Image > Apply Image). In the lighting effects (Filter > Render > Lighting Effects) options, add more lights to the scene (drag the light bulb icon onto the small preview). Set this layer to Soft Light with an opacity of 80-90%.

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User Comments

( ADD YOURS )

Sean Hodge February 2nd

This tutorial Rocks.
( Reply )
Juanjo Vargas February 2nd

nice!!
( Reply )
Zenor February 2nd

Kewl
( Reply )
Backley February 2nd

Really nice!
( Reply )
Jim February 2nd

yar she be a nice tut
( Reply )
Aloke Pillai February 2nd

Amazing stuff! Great job, Ben!
( Reply )
Scorpiono February 2nd

neat!
( Reply )
giackop February 2nd

cooooooool!!
Very nice thanks…
( Reply )
Firewalker February 2nd

That’s it I thought it could be more.
( Reply )
Mr_LeE February 2nd

love it love it
( Reply )
Gleb February 2nd

Very good tutorial as usual.
( Reply )
Remus February 2nd

I seen better, cool never the less.
( Reply )
BogDinamita February 2nd

great tut man, really creative ideas that you don’t see all over the web. What’s bugging me is whatever happened to Web Roundup – DEC, and JAN, cos we’re in Feb already
( Reply )
Mohammed February 2nd

woow nice!
( Reply )
Markus February 2nd

I have to try it!
I ask the same questions as BogDinamita?! Where is the Web Roundups?
( Reply )
Constantin Potorac February 2nd

Simple and very old school…. hmmm… why didn’t I think of that )
( Reply )
Constantin Potorac February 2nd

Congrats
( Reply )
Andrei Constantin February 2nd

Simple and astonishing
( Reply )
naveed ahmad February 2nd

AWESOME STUFF
( Reply )
Tama February 2nd

I don’t like it… that’s nothing new
( Reply )
fabio sasso "zee" February 2nd

That’s awesome. I really like the colors…..
I think I would have added a Render Clouds somewhere behind the dude… but that’s because I cant do anything without smokes…
( Reply )
Mark H. Abucayon February 3rd

wow that was nice yet simple. I will try this tut later.
( Reply )
5011 February 3rd

It’s so cool, hot-rocking
( Reply )
Nancy February 3rd

~sigh~ I’m not a good cutter…good job.
( Reply )
Arzun February 3rd

Very Nice Tutorial. I love that. I am practicing for many times.
( Reply )
alex bacs February 3rd

its nice and coll
( Reply )
Ahmed Kachkach February 4th

Wow Amazing dude ! But the text isn’t as good as the reste , but we definitly don’t care about that !
REALLY REALLY AMAZING ! Thumbs up
( Reply )
Ben February 4th

Thanks everyone for the appreciation.
@Nancy: you can try and find a photo with a solid background like all white or all black which makes cutting a lot easier. Anyway practice makes perfect, right.
@Fabio: I’m not a ‘render clouds’ fan but you seem to use it very well in your designs.
( Reply )
Jonathan Solichin February 4th

That’s awesome! I agree with Fabio, I think putting render clouds will make it that much better. Thumbs up
( Reply )
Vitec February 4th

Nice thanks.
( Reply )
GeminiArt February 4th

nice effects great work dude
( Reply )
Ralph February 5th

fun to try with a female silhouette. my result at: http://tinyurl.com/2c54f5
thank you!
( Reply )
Ben Gribbin February 5th

WOW
( Reply )
Fubiz February 7th

Thanks for the tips!
( Reply )
bratwurst February 8th

ben: take a bow! nice work man.
( Reply )
kojie February 8th

tnx again!!
i will try it now>>
( Reply )
Laura February 10th

Amazing! Glamour!
( Reply )
Bunny February 12th

nice website good CBT
( Reply )
phia February 15th

2 thumbs up!
( Reply )
Pedro February 15th

just awesome
( Reply )
Prakash February 16th

Must say, very good stuff
( Reply )
Neal March 8th

The “simulate pressure” option isn’t working when I make the stroke path. I tried everything but its doesn’t work. I just get regular brush strokes that kind of mess up my picture.
( Reply )
Earl May 7th

THIS IS GREAATT WORK! GOOD JOB BUDDY!
( Reply )
Slev7n May 13th

2 Neal,
make sure that ‘Pen Pressure’ is chosen in ‘Control’ drop down menu under ‘Shape Dynamics’…
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/7443/penpressureiz5.gif
( Reply )
k phyo June 8th

nice!!
( Reply )
MD June 11th

Hey! Nice tut! thnx!
( Reply )
Mansoor July 24th

Thanks for Posting.
Good Tut.
( Reply )
Harry July 27th

awesome!
( Reply )
serpentemx September 27th

cool! http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u305/serpentem/rockincopy.jpg
( Reply )
Lee December 3rd

Nice tut. Thanks,
( Reply )
krispy December 11th

I’m stuck on step 2, please help!
how can I choose in the gradient options dark colors on the outside and light colors for the inside. I’m trying to flip bark and forth but I end up with dark color on the inside and light on the outside =/ and then if I want to continue to step 3 –>Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All there I can’t click reveal all it’s only available delete, disable and unlink (and I’m staying at gradient layer) what am I doing wrong?
( Reply )
krispy December 11th

ok, I figured how to do till 6th step now when I want to copy the silhouette layer this silhouette becomes real image (the one that I used before I changed it into sillhouete). and then when I change the Color Overlay in the Blendings Options to white I get image like this http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=9ifsbn&s=4 and when I give this layer a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) of 3-4px I get this
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=261kl6t&s=4
what an I doing wrong?
( Reply )
Lost Artz December 15th

Sorry if my other 2 comments show up, internet was giving me issues (sighs). Krispy what that section of the tutorial means, if I remember correctly, is that you set that layers blending mode to Overlay then Fill it with white. After that just following the rest of the steps.
Anyway I love the finished image from this tutorial, heres my take on it: http://s330.photobucket.com/albums/l429/lost_artz/Photoshop/
Hopefully my internet works this time >.> lol
( Reply )
GRADIENT ISSUES January 17th

I have a radial gradient, but I don’t know how to change the colors. Right now, it’s just black and white. Please help!
( Reply )
Shea January 19th

Do you have a gradient fill layer, Gradient Issues? If so, you can double click on the gradient picture in the layer menu. You should then get a dialog box that says Gradient Fill. Once there, click on the gradient at the top. That gives you the Gradient Editor dialog box. That’s where you can change the colors, or add colors to your gradient. See the arrows under the gradient … under where it says “Smoothness?” Double click an arrow to get the color picker. You can click anywhere under that gradient to get more arrows to add more colors to your gradients. The arrows at the top of the gradient that point down adjust opacity. HTH.
( Reply )
Atoosa January 21st

Thank you so much. It was so knowledgable.
( Reply )
sandeep gaur February 18th

Mind Blowing
( Reply )
Jui Masurekar March 29th

Great tutorial. Amazing results. Thanks a ton!
( Reply )
jaI April 15th

Just Plainly awesome….Amazing
( Reply )
rishteria May 4th

Good tutorial
( Reply )
RadEd May 5th

hm, nothing incredibly new but it’s set out in an easy to understand way, anyway heres my take on it
http://ribsanimaniac.deviantart.com/art/Dancing-silhouette-121418153
( Reply )
mimi May 12th

hey.. im stuck at step 7…. i keep doint the stroke path thing with the stimulate pressure.. but i only come up with 2 dots… one at the beginning of the path and 1 at the end… and then i followed the advice of Slev7n but now when i do the stroke path.. nothing appears.. help please….
( Reply )
errg May 29th

wow that is not that amazing this is my first year of photoshop and i can do it easily. not that impressive!!!!!..
( Reply )
Rita Felício June 6th

very good!!!
beautifull
( Reply )
Photo June 11th

nice effects great work dude
( Reply )
SlickSSK June 28th

this is the worst tutorial ever you skip steps it’s not very detaliated
( Reply )
Landscape Photography July 15th

Nice simple, useful techniques. Thanks.
( Reply )
Arnaud Jolois August 5th

Hi good tut but this is not the point of my comment…
Someone stole your artowork for SELLING a guitar guide…
http://www.guitarchordsmadesimple.com/123method1.php?gclid=CKuz3pmtjZwCFclL5QodBD4mXg
I hope you can sue him
Seeya
Btw he’s named “Claude Johnson” according to him
( Reply )
Nikolle August 8th

Thanks a lot! How do I get your permission to use it for my son’s avatar in his friendster’s account. He’s into music, specifically, guitar instrument.
( Reply )
medyum August 24th

great tut man, really creative ideas that you don’t see all over the web. What’s bugging me is whatever happened to Web Roundup – DEC, and JAN, cos we’re in Feb already
( Reply )
phophyu September 24th

Woo…..
Very nice tutorial, thanks.
( Reply )
Abhijeet Arora October 5th

awesummmmmm mate what a trik .. thaanku ..
( Reply )
vefk December 1st

this is very nice blog,thank you for all
( Reply )
medyum December 29th

thanks for all
( Reply )
M.Ovais.Khan January 11th

Thats good
( Reply )
sonia dhingra January 13th

it’s rely rockng,,,,,,,,,,,,,n i thnk creativ also
dat’s it.
( Reply )
the heart of the ledar ~ January 14th

nice lesson ,,
look this ^^
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8697/91600634.jpg
t.y
( Reply )
jeprie January 15th

good tuts, nice trick,
( Reply )
fotokopi January 17th

thank you everybody .This very important blog
( Reply )