Switching Faces

It's tough to get entire families, especially when toddlers are involved, but thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, it's not impossible! I'll attempt to give you a step-by-step on how it's done to take it from almost to perfect!

So, how did I do it? Not simple, but not too hard either. First, find two photos with the same exposure and color tone. It is an option to adjust to match, but it's much easier to have a photo from the same series to match. Open both photos (if you shoot in raw), edit and synchornize so they appear the same. Once both photos are open in PS, use the marquee tool (the marching ants) to cut out the good head, in this case the one with no pacifier. Copy and paste - you will notice a new layer above your image layer. Now, right-click to duplicate that layer, but instead of duplicating within that image, choose the other image (in the drop-down menu). Switch over the image that is going to be your final image.

Here you can see the two images I'm working with...I love her eyes, but want to get rid of the pacifier, so I chose a photo that without the eyes, would look like a smile. I also chose this photo over others where she actually is smiling because it occured at the same setting with the same light, etc. The image without the paci is going to be referred to as the smile photo.  On the smile photo layer, take the opacity down, around 50% so that you can move your layer over the layer you are covering up and get a good fit. It should look a little freaky, but it's the best way to make sure you have facial features in their right spot. I know it looks a bit freaky, but use the eyes to determine how you need to scale and rotate the layer so that her facial features are all at the appropriate size and angle.

Once you have the alignment right, bring the opacity back up to 100%, then use your eraser (I usually do 50% Hardness - found in eraser settings). With black chosen as the color for eraser mode, start gradually erasing areas on the smile layer that you do not want to keep. Typically I erase all hair and start blending around the edge of the face. This is a skill you just need to practice until you figure out what to do and what not to do. When it's all said and done, we end up with an image everyone is more happy with...like this!