Photo to Stencil Effect

I'm gonna teach you how to achieve this stencil art effect on your regular image just by playing with the filters and adjustment layers in Photoshop.

Step 1: First open an image.

Step 2: Duplicate your background layer two times.
This is your layer palette now.

Step 3: Click the eye icon to the left of Background copy 2 layer to make that layer invisible.

Step 4: Select Background copy layer.
Then go to Filter> Artistic> Cutout and apply these settings:

Step 5: Now select Background copy 2 layer.
Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Hue/Saturation and apply these following setting:

Step 6: Go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Levels.
Slide the 3 sliders shown below until you get a good balance of black, gray and white area on your image.
Here's is my setting:



This is my Image now:

Step 7: Then go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Brightness and Contrast. Adjust the brightness and contrast settings to further enhance the stencil effect on your image.
Here's the settings:



Now Image looks like:

Step 8: Now select Background copy 2 layer.
Click the box beside the Background copy 2 layer to make it visible.

Step 9: Now select Background copy 2 layer.
Set the layer blending mode to 'Lighten' and Opacity to '68%'.



My Final Result!