Expert: Scott Valentine - 7/7/2008

Question
Hi,

I'm trying to add someone's face into a mirror in the background of a photo, to give a creepy, manipulated effect. I've tried cloning, but the face is always too big to fit in the mirror, and I've tried copying and pasting from one photo to the other, but you can obviously tell that it's copied/pasted because of the shape of the photo in the mirror.

Thanks! I hope this makes some kind of sense.

Answer
Thanks for your question, Erin. If you are able to copy/paste, I presume you are using a version of Photoshop that allows you to use layers. Check your help files for "layers" if you are not familiar with the term.

If you are using a layer, the best solution for you is to use copy/paste with a little sprinkling of the Transform tool (T). There is too much information for me to go into detail here, but the idea is you can 'warp' the pasted image to get the right shape. Depending on your version of Photoshop, you may actually have a Warp tool that will allow you to make some very interesting distortions. From there, I suggest using various blend modes and changing the layer opacity to see what gives you a good, realistic feel.

Another element to making a good composite is to mask your image appropriately. Again, this is not a simple one-button task, so if you are not familiar with layer masks, please ask and I'll provide some resources for you in addition to the help files in Photoshop.

So, the terms you will need to look up if you don't already know them:
layer
layer mask
layer blend mode
layer opacity
transform tool
warp tool (if available)

There are lots of tutorials available online that cover each of these elements, many times in combination. If you need help finding some, please let me know!

I hope this helps you on your way; the process can be quite complex depending on the level of reality you want to achieve and the starting pictures. Just ask if you need more guidance  :)

-Scott