How to make Photo manipulations in Photoshop cs2
Photoshop CS2 was the version I used to make a photomanipulation, but I am sure a bit of tweaking will help it translate to other versions. This is my first real tut apart from a screencaps one I did a while back, and that wasn't nearly so complicated so be gentle with me :)IMAGE HEAVY.

How to go from this to this



First, open the base image you want to work with, this one I found at http://www.romancebookcovers.com



I tend to study the base image for a while, to think of a suitable image to superimpose over the heads. I have around 7,000+ screencaps of Poto, but I still manage to narrow it down lol.

For Christine’s head, I used this Image.



The head was a little big for the base image I was using so I then resized the cap to 734 x413px because size is everything baby ;) Nothing worse than manips with heads too big or small!

You then select the lasso tool, which looks like this. (I am sure you knew that anyway lol.) Have the feathering at 0px you can erase the parts you don’t want, later. Draw around the portion of the head with it and the cap should now look something like this.



You then click on the move tool Now drag that layer onto your base image. It should now look like this.



Make sure you are working with layer 1. Then go to Layer > Layer style > blending options. Have the blend mode set to normal and set the opacity at 50% so that it looks like this:



Right click on Layer one, select free transform, a bounding box should then appear around the head, like this:



Now move the image until it is over the head of the woman in the base image. You can then play about with Christine’s head, until it is almost a perfect match over the head of the other person until you hopefully get something like this.



Play about with the positioning until you are happy with it. Then click the lasso tool and select apply image. The go back to layers and select Layer> Layer style> blending options and set the layer back to 100% opacity. Then select the eraser tool, which I have highlighted in red and the brush size, which I have chosen is 19, with a hard edge.

You can follow the settings I have for brush opacity etc on the screen cap. Erase as close to the edges as possible with the brush but not all the way to the edges of layer 1 or they will look hard. Also for the finer erasing it can help to magnify the image a couple of times bigger than it is, to get to the edges. Examples of some of the brushes I used....for harder edges: For the softer ones: These are only guidelines, use them as big or small as you need. The image below is what it should look like before you begin erasing.



Erase away until you are happy with what you have. This is what it should look like, do not worry if you can still see parts of the woman’s head underneath. I have a way of dealing with that later on  do not merge layers after you have finished erasing, keep the layers active in case you still need to make alterations.



Take no notice of the circle on the man’s head, that’s just where I left my brush lol. I also brightened up layer one by going to Image > Adjustment > Brightness/contrast and playing around with the levels. The skin tone of the face still does not match that of the body. It's one of the things I hate the most, not saying I get it right every time, but at least I try ;)

Note: If you have CS2 the exposure tool works just as well as brightness/contrast/

So select the dropper tool

Select the colour from a part of Christine’s face using the dropper tool. I got #b89a7e from her skin tone, but it may vary depending on how much you brightened her So select a brush and set it to colour Then select your background layer as thats the one you want to work with.

Carefully go over the neck and shoulders of the woman with the brush, its best to use one like this (just an example of brush, not actuat recommended size)

Spend time on it, go slowly, anything that takes time is worth doing well. When you have finished her skin tones should match her face better and look something like this.



The changes may be subtle but make all the difference to the finished picture. Now it’s starting to look like Christine is cheating on Erik.

Select layer one and go to filters>blur> surface blur (or smart blur for earlier editions of PS, but play about with the amount of blur as this can over do it) This will make her face look more softer and less like a photo that has been stuck on it.

Now we need to give our man a head transplant or someone might want to Punjab the man holding Christine! (Sorry about the crappy wankable jokes, who am I kidding of course I am not!)

Anyway on to Erik’s head….for this I used this image and followed the same steps as with Christine’s head. I resized this cap to 572x322px



Okay after copying all the same steps as I did with Christine’s head, I had this image . You may notice that I erased more of Christine’s real hair so it blended better. I also changed the colour of the man’s hand to match the colour of the Phantom’s face. I got the skin tone for it the same way as I did for Christine's face.



Now you may notice little bits of the man’s head underneath from the base image, which we need to get rid of, now I can show you what I mentioned earlier. Sooo… select background layer, select the lasso tool so that it looks like the image below, you can see the area I have lassoed above his head.



Right click the lassoed area and choose Layer>via copy, the dotted lines around it will disappear, but then I know you are smart enough to find the new layer you have created with it lol, then use the move tool and place the segment under his head. Erase anything of the new layer that you don’t need, you may have repeat this proceedure several times until all the part of the base image you want gone, are gone!

With each little mini layer you have created, when you have blended them enough, go to layer>merge down. If you don’t you will be left with a ton of layers and it could get more confusing.

When you are happy everything is in place, go to Layers>merge visible so that it’s its all one image. I then went to filters>blur>surface blur and then faded it to 50% I then used the tool that’s shaped like a teardrop (blur tool) set it at Normal and 30% strength. I then softened any edges I wasn’t happy with. Then finally I went to Image>adjustments>photo filter> and chose the filter below, you can play with the density of it.





This is the final image I came up with. I hope this has been at least a little help to would be manippers, if there is anything you are not clear on, do not hesitate to ask!



Good luck! And if you feel like showing me any of your finished pics, I would love to see them

Angela