Change face on photos

"mackdaddy315" wrote in message

Hi folks Im really new to photoshop and am looking for tutortials, plugins, and any other help i can get. My task at hand is Im playing with switching out the face on a photo where the face is very shadowed with a good shot i have. thought it would be a fun project but its turning out to be pretty tough. like i said though, im new… any tips??

It can be done – because photoshop can do anything! …

Having said that, it’s something that anyone can do, but to do it WELL is another story – especially if their is a lot of loose hair involved.

A better technique might simply be to add an adjustment layer to try any fix the existing problems. Try this …

1 Select the Magic Wand tool (set the tolerance to a low value like 5)

2. Click on part of the face

3. Hold down the shift key and click on other problem parts of the face (repeat this until all areas are selected) (if you accidentally select too much you can press ctrl-Z, or hold down the alt key and click on the bit you don’t want)

3a (optional) Click on Selection – Save Selection (to save all your hard work selecting – later you can go Selection – Load Selection)

4. Click on Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Levels

5. Play with the settings to make it look better. Can’t say if it will work for you, but if nothing else, it’s a valuable lesson – and a technique you’ll use all the time anyway, so it’s not time wasted.

By the way – you basically use the same technique for other layers as well.

If you do have to literally replace a face then you’re going to have to open up both images – select the entire good image (ctrl-A) then drag it to the good image (it’ll appear as another layer) – erase everything you DON’T want on the ‘good’ image – then select what’s left and position it in the correct place over the ‘bad’ image. Whilt it’s selected you can manipulate it by selecting Edit – Free Transform.

There are many other techniques – but they’re all difficult for novices.

Here try this link

http://www.topfotoservices.co.uk/junetips.html

—
Don Leman
West Coast Audio

Authorized retailer for Blue Circle Audio and Harbeth
"mackdaddy315" wrote in message

Hi folks Im really new to photoshop and am looking for tutortials, plugins, and any other help i can get. My task at hand is Im playing with switching out the face on a photo where the face is very shadowed with a good shot i have. thought it would be a fun project but its turning out to be pretty tough. like i said though, im new… any tips??

C J Southern wrote:

"mackdaddy315" wrote in message

Hi folks Im really new to photoshop and am looking for tutortials, plugins, and any other help i can get. My task at hand is Im playing with switching out the face on a photo where the face is very shadowed with a good shot i have. thought it would be a fun project but its turning out to be pretty tough. like i said though, im new… any tips??

It can be done – because photoshop can do anything! …

Having said that, it’s something that anyone can do, but to do it WELL is another story – especially if their is a lot of loose hair involved.
A better technique might simply be to add an adjustment layer to try any fix the existing problems. Try this …

1 Select the Magic Wand tool (set the tolerance to a low value like 5)
2. Click on part of the face

3. Hold down the shift key and click on other problem parts of the face (repeat this until all areas are selected) (if you accidentally select too much you can press ctrl-Z, or hold down the alt key and click on the bit you don’t want)

3a (optional) Click on Selection – Save Selection (to save all your hard work selecting – later you can go Selection – Load Selection)
4. Click on Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Levels

5. Play with the settings to make it look better. Can’t say if it will work for you, but if nothing else, it’s a valuable lesson – and a technique you’ll use all the time anyway, so it’s not time wasted.
By the way – you basically use the same technique for other layers as well.
If you do have to literally replace a face then you’re going to have to open up both images – select the entire good image (ctrl-A) then drag it to the good image (it’ll appear as another layer) – erase everything you DON’T want on the ‘good’ image – then select what’s left and position it in the correct place over the ‘bad’ image. Whilt it’s selected you can manipulate it by selecting Edit – Free Transform.

There are many other techniques – but they’re all difficult for novices.

Thanks for the info. Do you have links for walkthroughs on the other techniques or on cleaning things once I’ve done the second one you mentioned?

"mackdaddy315" wrote in message

Thanks for the info. Do you have links for walkthroughs on the other techniques or on cleaning things once I’ve done the second one you mentioned?

Sorry, but no I don’t. To be honest, I think it’s something that just comes with experience – the more you learn about selections – feathering – lighting etc, the better the results you’ll get. I could be wrong (and frequently am) but I feel that what you’re asking is the result of several "building blocks" that you need to master first – I suspect that trying to take a shortcut "directly to the end result" would probably get you there, but more than likely with a poor result. It’s harder to do a bad job then try to patch it up than it is to use good techniques in the first place.

If in doubt, take a good look as many of the fake celebrity nudes where the celebrity’s face had been moved to a nude body. Here’s your big chance in life to study this under the guise of "photoshop research". Hey, it’s a dirty job, but it has to be done!

Seriously for a moment, you often find in such examples that the "transplant" is made under and around the jaw line – where there is a natural demarcation, coupled with darker areas (that help to hide the evils) – you’re also going to have to consider matching skin tones and possibly look at lighting – inaddition to getting a good select and (possibly) a transformation of the image first. Additionally, if the original has long hair involved then it gets even more tricky – you can often use cloning to good effect, but too much and it may look ok, but it won’t necessarily be particularly accurate.

My suggestion would be to first of all get comfortable with …

Selecting – feathering – adjustment layers – masks – erasing and free transforming.