This tutorial is going to help you through the process of making a black and white silhouette from your horse pictures. There are many uses for something like this. If you play around, you can use them for T-shirts, stencils, stamps, webgraphics, and so on.
We start by finding an image to use. Not every picture works. Here's why: Because there are only two tones in the image, shape and form can only be defined by lines, and not shading. So, if you choose a picture with a huge shadow blocking out half the horse, well, you won't get very good idea of that horse's shape once he's b&w, will you? Same goes for over exposed images. Another thing to look out for is messy backgrounds. Pick images with contrast backgrounds and not too many things in it. This will make it easier to separate the horse from the rest. If the background is super messy, but you still want to use that horse picture, consider cutting the horse out of the picture before starting.
Here are two examples of pictures we could use for this project. I have outlined the mass shadows, where detail is black and there are no highlights. Most pictures are never void of this, so don't try and look for one without. But make sure that details such as the eyes aren't covered up. The shadows should be dispersed on the subject, not one big blob. This prevents sections becoming completely black, and not being able to tell what it is. Out of these two pictures, the first would be the better choice. The second has a good bit of shadow, but what really makes it unsuitable is that the eye is in shadow, and the neck has no strong highlights to outline it.
I have chosen this picture - clear, contrasting background, clear eye, and the neck isn't completely covered in shadow. This image is a bit of an in-between of the two previous pictures. I have chosen it because it will give me the chance to show you how to correct problems.
The first thing we want to do is make sure the background won't interfere with what we will be doing. So, I take out the mask brush.
I've selected all the places where there is something that stands out. Make sure to NOT select ANY of the horse!
Now, there are two ways to minimize these problem areas. You can do as I did, and blur them with the Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur, or you can clear it. What ever you choose. Once your done, remove your mask by going Mask > Remove
This step is to help bring out the detail from the darker areas of the image. Start by creating a duplicate of the image. Go to Object > Create... > From Background OR you can copy&paste. Next, select Screen in the merge mode drop down menu.
Great! Now your image should be paler, so that we see more detail, without loosing too much of the paler detail that was already there! Hold down the Ctrl and DnArrow keys to combine the new layer to the background, or right click and choose Combine > All objects with background. Good. We are off to the next step!
Chose Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast/Intensity from the menu. Adjust the settings to match (aprox.) the ones above.
Now we have defined what is shadow and what is light for the next steps we are about to complete.
Go to your handy-dandy menu, and select Image > Adjust > Level Equalization. Pull up the two arrows that are on top of the diagram. This plays around with the amount of black and white in the image. I want there to be white and black on the horse, but no more. Play also with the grama to make sure the image is balanced. Here's a good guide to help you know how much to pull the arrows: You should not lose any part of the horse. No missing ears, nostrils, hair, etc, ... They can shrink, that's ok, but there should still be enough left to define the shape. Click ok when you're done.
Time to deal with those parts about to disappear. If you played with the settings in level equalization, you should have seen where pieces started to get whitened out. This was happening to this ear. Before we go any further, we have to fix this. We can't have a one eared horse, can we? Take out your mask brush and select the area. Make sure the brush is hard, meaning not transparent and with very little soft edge, to be able to affect the whole thing properly and equally.
Our next stop is at Tone Curve. Once you go to Image > Adjust > Tone Curve, the window and diagram should pop up. Pick a spot on the line, and a little dot should appear. Click it, and drag it down towards the bottom, or however, until the selected place is as dark as you can get it. Click Ok. Remove the mask.
Now, I want you to open up the Tone Curve again. Pick two places on the line this time, and pull them so that you get a stark contrast in your image, resembling the picture bellow.
Go to Level Equalization once more. Play with the Arrows and turn the Grama WAY down. The result should look something like the following image.
The remaining colours have started to become less and less blended. There is red, yellow, and blue. Next, we'll turn that to either black or white.
Find Image > Adjust > Replace Colours. Now, you see that first little colour picker? Click it, than go click the most prominent colour. I chose red. Make sure the Ignore Greyscale is on, and Range is at 100. In the second little drop down menu, select black, or white. You'll have to chose which one works best for the image.
Here is my image, the first with the white selected, the second, with the black. Although the white makes the neck and mane better pronounced, it completely washes out the face and head. In the instance, the black is the better choice. If you are able, you can also combine the two.
Now we will clean up the background. If you cut the image out first, or your bg got washed out, good. No need for this step. But seeing as I have some black spots, I will need to clean them up. Take out your eraser and set it to settings close to those above. Don't forget to use the size that best suits your image.
This is where it pays off to use a large picture. Clean off the little bits with your eraser tool.
Leave a nice clean edge.
Well, will you look at that? You did it! Good job!