help...how do I split a person?

[tcmers]

I have a client that wants a Senior Portrait of their child with half of him in his baseball uniform and half in his football uniform. "He's seen it done." I, of course, said I couldn't make any promises on the request since I had never done anything like that before. I told them I could try, but I couldn't tell them that I could make the portrait they desire.
I'm certain I would have to pose him in the exact same potition, etc. But even with that being done...How do I split the photos and make them one? Does anyone have experience with this and willing to share their tips, tricks and how tos? Any links to tutorials would also be appreciated. Thanks!

[poloman]

Haven't done it but I think it will be easy if....
You have a controlled lighting set up (best would be studio lights etc.)
You shoot both shots in the same place at about the same time.
Use a tripod for your camera and make a mark on the floor for client position.
I think it would also be useful to have some reference for the head.
You will need photoshop to mask 1/2 of each photo right down the middle of his body. Then simply drag one into the other.
Make sure you shoot in manual mode so that the exposure is exactly the same. Nice if you have an incident light meter.
Ask the client to think about the position of their head when you take the shot and to try and duplicate it.
Once you have combined the photos, you should be able to fix any little baubles with the liguify filter. Then a little blur to blend the skin etc and you should be all set.
Sounds like fun if you have the gear to make it easy. :)

[tcmers]

I have the gear, studio (or at least a small set up in my basement), tripod, lighting, I'm sure I can find a way to mark foot and head location .... All I'm lacking is the confidence that I can do it successfully. The shoot wont be until May so perhaps I'll ask my hubby to be a guinea pig for me. That way I can make sure I can set up the photographing portion with success.
I'm still not certain how to move one half of the photo over onto another though and then be able to blend and smooth.

[AirBrontosaurus]

You'll want to have a good understanding of layers before you do this.

Basically, there's no way you can be 100% sure that you'll take the same picture both times. So, what I would do is make the lighting as controlled and even as possible. Then, you're going to want to try to take the same image, knowing you won't be exactly perfect.

Using layers to scale, transform, and align the images will be the hard part. I'd do some reading on perspective transforming, as well as layer blending. You don't want the kid to have a line down his face, nor do you want half of the face to be in one perspective and half in another.

[poloman]

You have plenty of time. Give it a few tries!
You have photoshop?

[JohnJ80]

I'd suggest that you do something different. Picture this - a living room picture with multiple versions of your subject sitting in different positions all dressed differently.

Here's some directions.
http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/26801/photo-voodoo-multiplicity.html

Here's an example:
http://www.pbase.com/manjade/image/71845457

You might suggest to the client that they can show their child in all facets of his life this way.

J

[vidguru]

I would imagine, that as long as you are close on the face, you will be okay. I mean if you think about it, the baseball and the football uniform will obvioulsy start lower neck/shoulders so cutting the clients kids face in half wouldn't be a concern. I would mask the face out of one of the pictures and worry about blending the neck which wouldn't be too bad.

[devgrp]

If you know PS, then this should be very easy. To make this simple, make sure the person is not gonna wear a hat. Then it would be just lining up from the neck down.

[bbulldog]

I would imagine, that as long as you are close on the face, you will be okay. I mean if you think about it, the baseball and the football uniform will obvioulsy start lower neck/shoulders so cutting the clients kids face in half wouldn't be a concern. I would mask the face out of one of the pictures and worry about blending the neck which wouldn't be too bad.
Good thought that but if you use the head and neck of the picture that has the lowest cut shirt then you should be ok. The higher neck shirt will cover the other side of the neck. Better would be to try and get the ends of joints, ie. shirts/trousers at the same height. Whatever you do dont cut the picture directly in half through the facial features.

what software have you got to do this?

a quick guide is to load both pics into photoshop CS2 (for example) not as full pictures but windows inside PS then go to the layers window and while holding down the SHIFT key click on the layer and drag it into the second picture. You will see both layers in one picture. By pressing the SHIFT key it overlaps exactly. Next while the top layer is activated click on the box with a circle in it (Add Vector Mask). Click on the box that comes up next to the layer and paint using a brush with black colour. You will see the bottom picture appear through what you paint. Use white to erase this.

hope this makes sense ...

[tonylong]

My thoughts would be to "bluescreen" each shot of the boy. That would make it easy to create layers of the two uniforms and align them and composite them without worrying about messing up the background, take one chosen head shot and blend it into the composite, then put the finsished image into the background of choice!

[Mike]

My first and immediate thought was "with an axe..."

[Mike]

Does this make me a criminal??? ;)

[poloman]

The ideal would be a laser :) :)

[tim]

Take a bunch of photos with the same lighting, posing, expression, etc. Choose the two that match most closely. Outsource the work to Bobster.

[tcmers]

You guys are awsome (Even the "killer")!
JohnJ80, for some reason the link to your sample didn't work. I think I may try something like that though and see how they like it.
Honestly, I keep running this through my mind and I hope he doesn't think he can wear a football helmet and a baseball helmet and think that I can make that look ok.... The helmet/cap would definetely have to go, but I think he'd want nothing at all in that case due to the conflicting clothing. I use photoshop but not to any extreme. Must practice! LOL

[poloman]

You could use the best complete head if no hat or helmet is worn.

[tcmers]

Hmmmm... You mean split the body, then add the head? I think I like it! I think that would be easier than trying to blend a split face. Mwaaa Haa Haaa I feel like Dr. Frankenstien!

[poloman]

Just be sure to hide the stitches. :) :0 ;)

[August 15 Photography]

My first and immediate thought was "with an axe..."

Dang, someone beat me to it.

Sorry I have no useful input on this thread :(

[Bobster]

Take a bunch of photos with the same lighting, posing, expression, etc. Choose the two that match most closely. Outsource the work to Bobster.

thanks for the plug Tim :D

xx

[vidguru]

Did you do the shoot yet? How did it turn out. We would love to see it!

[alduin]

Did you do the shoot yet? How did it turn out. We would love to see it!

+1. I'm quite interested to see how this turns out. =)

[JohnJ80]

me too. not me.

i've already been split.

j

[PhotosGuy]

"He's seen it done." I wonder if he's seen the PS bill for it? ;)

[vidguru]

We are waiting on the edges of our seats here :D

[vidguru]

How did it go?