Selections Part 2

This was fun! I've done something like this before, but not with Photoshop. I wasn't too fond of the dancing pictures (not that I didn't like them.... it's just not 'me', and I felt like making this project a bit more 'personal')

This is my first attempt and it turned out quite well. I randomly found this image the other day and thought it might be a good image to start with. I had to retake the pictures of myself because the backgrounds were not only too busy (made it hard for clean selections) but also because the lighting was too off.

Let's start off with my 'scary mug' and the image of 'Neo'




I started of by using the magnetic lasso and removing my face from the image. This is a really handy tool, but I had to try a few times before I got a good selection. I refined the edge and removed the feather and also smoothed out the edges.

Here is a screen capture of the process.


You can see in the screen capture I had removed Neo's head. This was from previous tooling around. I was attempting to use the "Paste Into" feature, but I realized it would only clip my head, resulting in a non-realistic image. Instead, I pasted my head directly onto the 'Neo' image.



Making the image opaque allowed me to visualize the placement of my face, lining up the nose, eyes and ears.

As you can see here, it is a fairly close match. I scaled the image to give it a more exact proportion.



Removing the opacity from the image. I was left with the process of making my face seem less like a 'cut and paste' and more realistic. I turned up both the Hue and Saturation. I then used a filter called 'Add Noise'. This gives the image a grainy feel. My face was crystal clear and the 'Neo' image was most likely a capture from a video, because of this the textures were way off. I added 2% noise and it made a pretty good match.

Here is the finalized picture.


It actually turned out pretty good. The shadows on my face is what throws the image off. So, instead of retaking my picture, I tried making a more 'theatrical version'. Adding a small lens flare on the middle left of the image in combination with using Lighting Effects (Spotlight) from the direction of the Flare gave it a slightly more lively feel.



If I've learned one thing with selections, taking a step back to look at the image really helps in making more appropriate changes. Looking at this Neo image I made the other day I already know a few different approches or techniques I could've used.

Right now I am working on a second image with my face, but I just wanted to post this and take a quick break.