Silhouettes on a Hill {Photo Tutorial}

I was able to make this grandparent gift last year  by accident, but I've since realized that the process is completely reproduce-able.  And who doesn't like silhouettes of children?  Especially children playing?

Here's what you do:



1.  Find a hill with the sun behind it and no nearby hills/trees in the background.  Position yourself at the bottom of the hill.  (This was a little tricky for me because the bottom of this hill= a swamp, but somehow I managed to not fall in).  Have your kids climb to the top and wait until you count to three before they start skipping down.  If they are anything like my kids, they won't resist this command at all- over and over again. Take a million photos.

2.  Use a a photo editing program to alter the pictures.  I used Picasa because it's free and easy, but anything where you can change the light/dark contrast.  For this picture I just kept increasing the shadows until the detail and color on my daughters completely disappeared.

3.  Print and frame.  The nice thing about silhouettes is that they aren't too busy; so you can add a little decoration to the border if you would like.  We got a wooden frame from Michaels and let the girls paint it so the gift could also be from them.

Does anybody with photography knowledge want to weigh in with any tips for making this process easier/ better results?