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Brian Lee MPA, HLM
Brian is just one of 12 professional instructors at the Niagara School of Imaging.
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Simplified Head Transplants

One of the common problems with group photography is that not all the subjects have the best expression in the same photograph. This can happen easily if you have any young children who will not cooperate. In order to please your clients, you may have to do a “head transplant”. As more people are digital savvy, your clients know that this can be done and will ask for it. Sometimes it is very difficult if other objects or people have moved.

Here are some tips to ensure that a transplant is a simple procedure:

1. Put your camera on a tripod. This ensures that the background and other objects are in the same place for each image.

2. Use the same exposure for all of your images of each group. If the images don't match in density, then it means that you will have to adjust the brightness of the source image to match the destination image. Proper use of the camera's histogram means we don't need to bracket. There is an exception to this; if you are using available light and the amount of light keeps changing, it will be necessary to adjust the exposure to compensate. If you use aperture preferred auto exposure setting, the shutter speed will automatically adjust. This will ensure that the brightness level remains similar in all the images.

3. Don't change your crop by moving closer or zooming in for some of the expressions. Once you have set up a group, set your composition and don't change it until you change the posing of the group. Let's say you take eight exposures of one arrangement but you keep changing your cropping for each one. When you try to combine parts of one image (such as a head), the size will not match. If you keep your composition the same, it is easy to combine objects since they will be the same size in each image. If the images don't match in size, there are ways to adjust the size to match

Here is a step-by-step procedure:

1. Open the source image and the destination image. If you are using Raw files, make sure they have the same Raw settings so they match in size, colour, contrast and density.

2. Do not crop either image. This will keep the image sizes the same. Here are two images full frame:
Preferred image, except for woman in chair. Best expression for woman.
3. Look at the source area.
We will clone the head of this woman into the preferred image. The area that we will use as our source will be something that is in the same position in each image. For this image, I have chosen the bottom of the woman's necklace. This is the same in each image. Sometimes I will choose an object in the background.
You can see that the necklace is the same in both images. Be careful about choosing an area on the head. A person will often move their head up and down or left and right. If we clone this way the head may not align to the body properly.
4. Using the image with the best smile (source image), zoom in as close as you can to the source area. You should see pixels at this level of view.
Using the Rubber Stamp (clone tool), hold the Option/Alt key to set one of the pixels as the source.
5. Then go to the image that you want to copy to (destination image). Zoom in on the same area, in this case the necklace. Create a new blank layer to copy the image to. If you make a mistake in alignment, you can just delete the pixels on this new layer and try again.
Click on the same pixel in the destination image. You may notice a slight difference in the colour and brightness of the pixels. You have now set a relationship between the two images for cloning. The cloning will be on a layer above the background. Make sure that you have checked “Aligned” in the Options Bar at the top of the screen.
6. Using a larger brush, start cloning in the new face. Make sure you clone the face and the neck since the person may have moved. Here is what the layer will look like if viewed on it's own. It is easier to do this while the background image is also in view. It is a good idea to view the layer on it's own to make sure that you have not missed part of the head. If you have cloned too much around the person, you can mask this out using a Layer Mask.
Notice that the necklace was partially cloned when you set the point.
7. Once you have the head transplant done, crop the image to the final size. Here is the final image:

There are other ways to combine parts of images from one to another such as making a selection and moving this to the other image. Often, it is very hard to align the two images. Using the Rubber Stamp and aligning the two images with a common point will ensure that the objects (the head in this case) will be in perfect alignment.

It is important to photograph with the idea that head transplants have to be done. If you are prepared to do this, it will save a lot of time. Re-read the three tips at the beginning of this article before attempting this technique.

Let Brian show you other time-saving techniques in his class at the Niagara School of Imaging, Digital Workflow and Production Essentials from August 17 to 21.

Sunday, August 17,2008 through
Thursday, August 21, 2008

Designed by Professionals for Professionals
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Brian and eleven (11) other instructors at their 5-day, hands-on workshops in August at the Niagara School of Imaging from Sunday August 17 to Thursday August 21, 2008 at Brock University in Niagara Falls, Canada.

www.niagaraschool.com
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