Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-12)

Adobe Photoshop CC

Howto head-swap

CAROLINESCHMIDTSHOWS YOUHOWTOGIVEYOUR

GROUPPORTRAITS A FACE LIFTWITHA FEWSIMPLESTEPS

A

BIGBUGBEARof groupportraitsis youalwaysendupwith

someoneblinking,anotherwithanoddexpressionandneverone

whereeveryone’ssmiling– at leastin thesameshot.It gets even

harder the larger the groups grow, so knowing you have the means to

build your group portrait in Photoshop can relieve some pressure.

To ease the compositing process, there are a number of things you

can do in camera to help, for instance: keep the lighting and

composition consistent – you want the 'head swap' to be straight

forward and you’ll create problems by altering your viewpoint, the

lighting or their angle to the camera. Set your camera to shoot with a

mid-aperture for sufficient depth-of-field throughout the group but

wide enough to blur the background as the bokeh will make it far easier

tomatchandblendbackgrounds.Dependingonyourdistancefrom

thesubjects,andif you’vethegrouppositionedonthesameplaneof

focus,f/5.6is generallya goodstartingpoint.Usecontinuousburst

mode,too,soyoucanfiretheframesoffin quicksuccession.Ideally,

you’llalsobeusinga tripodtohelpkeepeachframelevelandtoavoid

changesmadeduringhandheldcompositions.Onceyou’vegot

frameswithsuitableexpressions,you’rereadytopiecethemtogether.

3

BLENDYOURSELECTIONToresizeandre-anglethehead,movetoStep

4 & 5.If it’sa relativelystraightswap,adda LayerMask(Layer>Layer

Mask>RevealAll) toyournewlayer.SelecttheBrushToolsettoBlack

paint,0%Hardnessand100%Opacity.Blendoverthehardedgesof

theselectionandtrytomatchwiththeimagebelowit.

1

CHOOSEYOURFRAMESSelectyourbaseimagebasedontheposes

andcompositionof thesubjects– tominimiseediting,trytopick

animagewherenoteverysubject'sexpressionneedstobechanged.

Nowpickyoudonorimagesthatshouldbeof a similarlayoutbutoffer

betterexpressions.Openthebaseimagein Photoshop.

4

RESIZEANDTRANSFORMOnceyou’vecompletedStep2, youmayfind

thatyouneedtoadjustthesizeandrotationof theheadtomatch.

Reducingthelayer’sOpacityslightlyorclickingthelayer’s'eye'iconto

turnit onandoffcanhelpwithalignment.Tomanuallyadjust,hold

Shiftasyoudragtheboundingboxtoresizeproportionallyorrotate.

2

OPENYOURFIRSTIMAGENowopena donorimagein Photoshopand

usingtheLassoTool, looselyencircletheheadyouwanttouse,

includingamplebackgroundforbetterblending.Copyyourselection

(Edit>Copy/Cmd& C); clickonyourbaseimageandpressEdit>Paste/

Cmd& V.UsetheMoveTooltopositionthenewheadin place.

CAROL

INE

SCHM

IDT

42 Digital SLR Photography December 2019

BASEIMAGE

DONORIMAGE DONORIMAGE