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??

"mackdaddy315" <mackdaddy315@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1134238462.631537.106200@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> 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" <mackdaddy315@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1134238462.631537.106200@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> 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" <mackdaddy315@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1134238462.631537.106200@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> 
>
> 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 f
ix
> 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 y
ou
> don't want)
>
> 3a    (optional) Click on Selection - Save Selection (to save all your har
d
> 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 techniqu
e
> 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 op
en
> 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 wa
nt
> on the 'good' image - then select what's left and position it in the corre
ct
> 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" <mackdaddy315@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1134741969.441002.285740@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

> 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.