Creating a Silhouette Effect Out of a Photograph

Step 1:

Let's first create a new flash document. First thing to do is to set the stage size. Do that by pressing Ctrl + J. (I set mine to 400x300.)

Step 2:

Import an image to stage by pressing Ctrl + R then select a photograph. I chose an action shot for this project.

Step 3:

Now it's time to convert our raster image into a vector image. Select the image then go to Modify > Trace Bitmap... then set the following: Color Threshold: 30 (Note: The lower the number, the more it drains your computer's resource! So set this number to 40, or 50 if your computer is slow!) Minimum Area: 2 Curve Fit: Tight

Step 4:

Now it's time to clean up with the Select tool. Remove chunks of the background as much as you can. Don't worry about the details yet - that's in the next step.

Step 5:

Zoom in and use the Erase tool to clean out the edges to get the following result.

Step 6:

Now it's time to convert our image into a symbol. Press Ctrl + A to select all then press F8 to convert it into a graphics symbol.

Step 7:

Select the graphic symbol, then under Properties, set the Color to the following: Tint - [any colour of your choice] - 100%

Results:

And feel free to experiment to get different results!