taking a face from another photo

[alittlebuggy]

I'm new to this forum and consider myself somewhat of a beginner with Elements. I'm not too familiar with layers. I have this photo of my family that turned out great except my oldest son had the sun shining on the side of his face which made it all bright and I don't know how to fix it. I have tried using the clone tool, but I don't know how to fix his hair. So I have come to the conclusion that the best way to fix it is take his face from another photo and put it on top of the old one. The problem is I don't know how to do this. Please help me!!

[Inspeqtor]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Doing what you are asking is rather difficult for a beginner. I would suggest you let us see the original photo you are having a problem with and let someone here give you some suggestions. The best way to do this is first to resize the original to a bit smaller size. You can do this by using Save for Web, and make the largest side no larger than say about 800. Be sure to save your photo with a new file name so you do not over write your original!. Next you can then post the photo at www.pixentral.com (http://www.pixentral.com) where many folks from this forum use.
Browse to the location on your computer to find the resized photo. When the photo is loaded into pixentral then look below the photo and you will see 2 lines; one says HTML the second says Forum. Triple click on the Forum line and the entire line will turn BLUE so you can copy/paste the line into your message to us. Copy= Ctrl-C and Paste=Ctrl-V

Start a new message then paste the line into your message. It will look strange but when you click on submit the photo will appear.

Sorry this is so long, but it really is simple when you do it.

[alittlebuggy]

Thanks Inspeqtor! Here is the photo in question.http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1jwuPO4SczFy20tcbO3GKAhS9ea3m1_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1jwuPO4SczFy20tcbO3GKAhS9ea3m1) I hope this works this is my first time doing this.

[kImages]

Hello and welcome to the forum. After looking at your photo you can see where the highlights on your son would be difficult to clone or heal. I'd be inclined to switch heads as you've suggested.

Which version of PSE are you using? I understand that PSE6 has an align feature like CS3 that allows you to line up two photo, mask, and reveal the "good" parts of each.

If you do have to do it the "old fashioned" way you'll want to open both photos, select the "good" head using your favorite selection tool, then use the move tool to slide it onto your keeper photo of the rest of the family. When the head is moved onto the "keeper" it will be placed on its own layer allowing you to move it around.

Some things to keep in mind:
-try to choose a replacement head that is positioned in the same manner as the one you're replacing,
- feather your selection a little bit so you have a little room to skootch the head around when you move it onto the keeper. And it also will give you some room to erase bits to make everything match.
- you may still have to do a little cloning so remember to use "all layers" when alt/clicking your selection point
- If you have to erase make sure that you use a soft brush - it makes blending easier.
- keep the head on a separate layer until you've completed all transformations (sizing) or color adjustments.

Have patience, good luck and be sure to post your results.

[Juergen D]

Well, since I did not have another picture of the boy for substitution, I borrowed the right part of the other boy's (front right) face. I first placed his head on top of the other one and then used a mask to only reveal that part of the face. If no mask is available, it could be done with an eraser. Carefully, with temporary lowered opacity.

There is a lot of cloning and some painting necessary, too. That has been done layers 3 through 6. Layer 7 is a Merge Visible of everything below, used for some light sharpening.

Juergen

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1hX5fcWP6VW5mDAhiVytZstZAAX_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1hX5fcWP6VW5mDAhiVytZstZAAX)

[alittlebuggy]

I am using PSE 5. Here is a picture that I think may work for switching heads. Let me know what you think. http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/130M05PMxBI0tSxxV5kH3Iexgxeka1_thumb.gif (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=130M05PMxBI0tSxxV5kH3Iexgxeka1)

[frank abramonte]

Needs a little more work blending the boys cheek.
If you change the image size to 6 x 4 you can get 133 dpi out of the photo which will print better than the 72dpi you posted.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1CQIqZAtrCyAW0a9iEayiMbEQaY0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1CQIqZAtrCyAW0a9iEayiMbEQaY0)

[Juergen D]

Going with the substitution, you would get something like this.

There are a few things to keep in mind. The boy's head on the other photo is a bit larger and wider than in the photo where the substitution is to be made. This is due to the camera angle and closer proximity to the camera.

Select the boy's head (with or without neck, I selected the neck separately) and bring it into the other photo. With the move tool, size it down slightly and compress it even more slightly from the right. This is best done when placing the new head over the old one and reducing the upper layer's opacity to 50%. I selected the neck separately, it needed some rotation. Both new layers are then blended for brightness with grouped Levels adjustment layers.

Some painting, on the shirt and some cloning around the head and the shirt finishes the project. One last correction. The new face is slightly more in focus then the rest of the group. So I applied a very light Gaussian blur (0.3 px) to the face and neck only.

Juergen

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1sx3aRUnSXHFjB1lms11tUfwySnI0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1sx3aRUnSXHFjB1lms11tUfwySnI0)

[Tina_B]

Nice job Juergen it looks great.
Tina B