What defines the success of a silhouette is the graphic design of the subject. If it is busy, confusing, truncated, or boring, it won't work no matter how beautiful the background might be. If it is simple, striking, and dynamic with a graphically pleasing shape, then it works. Once you have a strong silhouetted shape, like this Cambodian dancer, you can then put many different backgrounds behind it. I photographed this model outdoors against an overcast sky, and then I replaced the background with a sunset. I didn't have to select the dancer with any of Photoshop's selections tools to do that. Instead, I simply increased the contrast of the picture using Image > adjustments > levels such that the sky was solid white and the young woman solid black. I copied the image to the clipboard with Command/Ctrl C and then pasted the shot on the sunset with Command/Ctrl V. Finally, I used the blend mode 'darken' and created what you see here.
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