Expert: Scott Valentine - 8/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: I am trying to morph an image of a person changing into an animal for print purposes.  What would be the best way to do this? If photoshop is not the best software to do this in could you recommend a software that I could use.

ANSWER: Well, Chris, I can tell you that the task is not a simple one if you want it to look realistic. And since I've only ever used Photoshop for this, I can't tell you if it's the *best* application, but it is certainly up to the task. The technique you are learning is called 'compositing'.

There is not enough room here to give you all of the details, but you will need to learn the following tools:

Masking
Layers
Selections
Warp
Smudge
Opacity
Move Tool
Rotation

These are the basics... add to these things like layer blend modes, channel operations, complex selection and masking techniques, and some painting, and you have quite a bit to get through! The first step is to find two images that are compatible - make sure the lighting and shadows are close to the same in direction, quality and intensity.

Next, make sure the images are roughly the same quality in terms of noise and resolution. The goal is to find shots that are already very close to what you want, including pose, point of view and focal length.

Assuming you have all of these elements, you will need to make careful selections of the parts to be blended together. One trick to make the effect look more realistic is to give one part the qualities of the other - for example, if you put a tiger's head on a person's body, give the body some tiger fur! Save your selections as masks or alpha channels, and begin positioning elements that fit together. You may need to use the Transform tool or other scaling/warping tools to get thing to match up.

With the selections saved as masks or alpha channels, you will then start blending the edges together by editing the masks. It's likely that you'll have to go over this part several times as you adjust and move things around.

After the edges and positions are correct, you can start matching elements like shadows, reflections, and textures. The intent at this stage is to convince the viewer all of the elements are really a single animal or being.

There really is a lot to this work, and my book goes into detail of preparation and what to look for or keep track of. We filled over 200 pages with this information :)

Now that you know the broad approach, it would be best for you to pick one piece at a time to work on. Give it a shot and see how far you get, then you can ask for more guidance along the way. For ongoing dialog, I recommend you find a good forum that you can post images to and get feedback from other artists.

Please let me know if I can help with some of the details - provide a link to the images you want to use and what version of Photoshop you plan to work with.

Good luck! I look forward to seeing your finished project :)

-Scott

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: You mentioned "your book".  I would like to purchase this book if possible.  Can you direct me?

Thanks for all your help!

Answer
It's "Real World Compositing with Photoshop CS4" from Adobe/Peachpit press. You can find it on Amazon.com

However, it doesn't have hands-on techniques so much as how to plan for, shoot and prepare images for composite work. You should be able to find it at a local bookstore (or have them order it if it's not in stock) so you can check it out before you buy it.

Another option for you would be to try out Photoshoptechniques.com/forum for more immediate help on details. :)