Sometimes you can get a near-perfect photo. However, there may be one person who isn't in the photo, even though you really wish he was. Instead of trying to get everyone back together in the same place for a reshoot, you can actually add someone to the photo using a photo editing tool like Adobe Photoshop. If you follow these few steps, you can quickly add the person to your photo.
Step
Part 1 of 2: Inserting People in Photos
Step 1. Choose the photo you want
When you want to add someone to a photo, make sure the photo of the absent person matches the photo of the group you want to add. For example, if you want to add your best friend to a photo of a group of friends at the beach, don't choose a photo of the subject wearing a Christmas sweater. The result will look awkward and people will know that the photo is the result of engineering.
- A photo with a simple and uncomplicated background would be a perfect choice. The busier the background, the more work you'll have to do when removing it later.
- The size of the photo of the subject you are going to add must be as large as or larger than the size of the group photo. If the size is small, then when you enlarge it, the photo will look broken. And your hard work to make the subject look truly original in the group photo, will fall apart.
- Also adjust the color tone and lighting. If in the group photo you are all at the beach, try to find a photo of the subject in the hot sun too. If the color tone doesn't match, you can adjust it later, but it will be more difficult.
Step 2. Subject selection
You'll need to open the photo of the subject you want to crop in Photoshop. Select the lasso tool from the toolbar. The icon is shaped like a lasso string, which is the third icon from the top on the side toolbar. Begin selecting near the sides of the body and, while pressing-and-holding the left mouse button, scroll around the body of the subject. Once all the bodies are selected, the lines you've drawn will continue, as dotted lines that move around the edges you created.
You don't need to pay too much attention to the precision aspect, but make sure you don't cut off any part of the subject's body. The rest of the carried away background can be removed later
Step 3. Copy and paste the body of the subject
Once the subject body is selected, you must copy the subject so that you can paste it into the group photo. Click menu option Edit at the top of the screen. From the drop-down menu, click Copy.
Now you have to open the group photo. Once opened, click on the group photo, then re-open the menu Edit above and select Paste from the drop-down menu. That way, the subject's photo will be glued from the original image to the group image.
In addition to using the menu bar, you can also press-and-hold the Control key (or Command on a Mac), then press the C key. This method can also copy images. To paste it, just press-and-hold the Control (or Command) key and click V
Step 4. Resize the subject
Once the subject is in the group photo, you'll need to resize it to fit everyone else in the group. To do this, use the tool Free Transform. Make sure the subject layer is selected. How, you can open a window Layers, which is usually on the right side of your workspace. Once the subject layer is selected, you can enter the menu options Edit and choose Free Transform. A box will appear outside the layer. Press-and-hold the Shift key, click the mouse in the corner of the box and drag the square inwards to reduce the subject. Shrink until the subject looks the same size as everyone else in the group photo.
- Make sure you press-and-hold the Shift key. That way, the proportions of the subject in the photo will not change.
- In addition to clicking the menu bar, you can also click Control (or Command) and the T key to use the tool Free Transform.
Step 5. Erase the rest of the background
To make the subject look like the real thing is in a group photo, you must remove the original background from around the subject. To do this, you need the Eraser tool. Start by clicking on the subject layer in the layers window. Below the layer window, there is a gray rectangle with a white circle in the middle, which is called the button Layer Mask. Click the button to isolate the photo from the other layers. Now, click the Eraser tool on the left toolbar. This tool is in the middle of the toolbar with a rectangular eraser icon. At the top of the screen, there is an Eraser option. Click the down arrow and change the brush size to around 60 or 70 pixels, by dragging the arrow or typing in a new size of your choice. Also change the hardness at the bottom of the menu to 0. You can now remove most of the background on your subject.
- Erase the background as cleanly as possible, but don't erase the body of the subject. The rest of the background sticking to the subject's body can be removed with a smaller brush later.
- If your subject's photo has a white or solid background, you can use the Magic Wand tool to isolate the background and remove it. Just click the Magic Wand tool, select the background color, then press Delete once to delete it.
Step 6. Isolate the subject
Once most of the background has been removed, you'll need to remove any remaining background in order to isolate the subject. In the Eraser option as above, change the brush size to around 20 to 30 pixels. You'll also need to change the hardness to around 50. When you're done deleting, zoom in close to the photo by clicking the plus sign or changing the size percentage at the bottom of the window. Zoom in as close as possible, so you can see the edges of the subject's body clearly. Remove the rest of the background on the subject photo.
If you made a mistake or accidentally deleted a body part of the subject, just click the Undo button below Edit on the menu bar.
Part 2 of 2: Adjusting Subject to Photo
Step 1. Move the layer
Once the subject photo is the same size as everyone in the group, isolate it. Then move the subject layer to the position you want. To do so, make sure the subject layer is selected first. Click the Move tool located at the top of the toolbar, on the left side of the screen. Once clicked, grab the subject layer and press-and-hold the left mouse button while dragging the subject layer where you want it.
Step 2. Change the lighting
Once the subject is the same size as everyone else in the group photo, you'll need to adjust the colors. Select the subject layer, then click the icon next to the Mask button at the bottom of the layers screen, which is the icon with the dual-colored circle. Once you click on it, a menu screen will appear. Click option Curves, which will open another dialog window, which is a rectangle with a diagonal line in the middle. Click on the line in the middle, that is, at the midpoint in the top half, and one more click on the middle point in the bottom half. You can drag the line at the two points that appear. Here, you have to set the level. You can move the line up or down, increasing or decreasing the contrast of the light. Adjust the subject layer until the lighting matches the group photo layer.
- If there is a slight difference between the two layers, you can change the Brightness and Contrast from the menu bar. Image. Just slide the line back and forth.
- A dialog box will appear when you try to create a layer Curves on the subject. When the dialog appears, press OK to create a layer mask Curves.
- You can also change the lighting of the original group photo. If you want to change it, click on the Background layer and select the same icon at the bottom of the screen, then follow the same steps as on the subject layer. Adjust it so that the lighting of both layers is the same.
Step 3. Adjust the color
Once the subject lighting is appropriate, you must make the subject's skin hue look the same as everyone else's in the group photo. To do so, make sure the subject layer is selected first. Press the same dual color circle at the bottom of the layer screen, and select Hue/Saturation from the menu. From the screen, you can change the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. Hue will change the color of the highlights and low light to different colors. Saturation changes the color concentration of the subject's photo, making it lighter or grayer. While Brightness will change the overall light level of the subject. You must adjust it by dragging the arrows until the color of the subject photo matches the color of the group photo.
