How to switch heads in pictures

[jenny1328]

I have PS7. Can anyone give me step by step instructions on how to swap heads in a picture. Or direct me to somewhere that can. TIA!

[Wendy]

Hi Jenny ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

First open the image with the head in it that you want to use ... now use any of the selection tools to select the head. I would try the lasso.

Once you have selected the head you will see the marching ants around it now do Edit>Copy.

Open up the image that you want to put the head into and do Edit>Paste
Now use the move tool to position the head. You may need to resize it but you can do that with the move tool.

Hope this helps :)

Wendy

[jenny1328]

I will go and try this...sounds easy enough! I really appreciate your help! :)

[Wendy]

Hi Jenny ...

Glad to help ...

... it can be a bit difficult to do but hope you manage it OK :)


Wendy

[jenny1328]

Well...let's just say it sounds easy...perhaps I don't really need to switch my head on this picture...LOL!

[Wendy]

Jenny ...

Go on... do try it ... it is good fun to do :)


Wendy

[jenny1328]

I tried it all right, but my hand is so shaky that I can't get a good lasso on the head. It looks really weird when I paste it on. How do I resize? And what about blending the edges of the picture so that it doesn't appear to be pasted on? Any other suggestions?

[Wendy]

Hi Jenny ...

Take a look at this thread ... it should help you with selections:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5516

Resizing ... well get hold of the move tool, click on the head for resizing and a bounding box will appear around it. Click in the corner and drag inwards ... it will then make the head smaller. Drag out to make it bigger ... hold down the shift key as you do it and it will stay in proportion.

Blending in the edges .. get hold of the blut tool and just run that across the edge :)


Wendy

[kerriann85]

Jenny, here's one more idea that you might find useful for head switching.
Especially if the heads are from the same type of pose or background.

Open the pix with the "bad head" and add an empty layer to it.
Now also open the pix with the good head. Using the stamp tool (clone tool)with a soft edge brush, alt click once on the nose of the good head to set your sample area. Go back to the other pix and now click and drag to start "coloring in" or "pasting" the head onto the empty layer on your original picture right at the spot you want the new head to be. It will work best if both images are the same size but since you are cloning onto a layer of its own you can actually use the move tool to reposition or resize the new head if you need to. You can also use the eraser to erase any of the layer if you've added too much of the area around the new head. (or use a layer mask if you know how to do that)

No matter with method you use post the picture so we can see how it worked out! :)