How to Make a Silhouette

If you have seen all the silhouette decor lately and wish you could do it yourself, it is pretty easy with software. I used Microsoft Digital Image Pro 7. It's an old program, but is quite simple to use. This is much easier than trying to cut out a silhouette using tiny specialty scissors. Especially if you have issues with close-up work like I do.

The first step is to take a good shot of your subject from the side. After I took this, I realized it would have been much easier to 'cut' it out if I'd lit him up from the side and then took a picture of the shadow itself on the wall with no flash. This worked okay, but I made more work for myself.

Then I uploaded the photo to Digital Image and cut out the the portion I wanted to use. Next I filled it with black (I added his eyelashes by hand). For the writing in the background, I searched the internet for sayings about boys and typed my favorite ones in Word - repeating when necessary. They don't really show up that much. I just wanted something written in a nice script in the background. Another possibility would be to type your child's name, or adjectives describing him. Then I made the writing transparent by fifty percent. When I was done, I printed it on parchment paper.

This is the finished product. I found the perfect frame at Target. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)