Using Photoshop to Combine Photos

Up until now, all my posts have talked about taking the photo directly from the camera to print.  Anyone who has photographed large groups of people, especially ones including animals and children, know this isn't always possible without some sort of pixel manipulation.  It is often that one person's eyes are closed or someone is looking away from the camera.  There are times when multiple photographs may need to be blended to provide the best outcome.  In this situation, Photoshop is your program. 

When designing a Halloween card, I wanted to include my six week old and my two active dogs.  I had a pumpkin costume for my daughter and one dog pumpkin costume.  I decided to buy a few pumpkins and create a pumpkin patch.  There was no way I was going put my six week old on the floor with the two active dogs.  Even if I did want her on the floor with them, it would be a miracle if both dogs were looking and my daughter was smiling.  I didn't want to have to buy more than the three pumpkins I already had.  I also didn't want to purchase another dog costume.

With these constraints, I decided to take each dog and my daughters picture alone and combine the separate photos until I had the expression I wanted.  I imported each photo into Photoshop, and moved each photo ontop of the next.  I then used the mask and painted in the lower layer that I wanted to see.  Photoshop makes this very easy.  The key was making sure the shadows were on the same side of each photo.

I started with this photo of my daughter

         
I then added the first dog to the mix.

The final dog was added next.

After blending the photos and removing the outlet, the following photo resulted.

Does this border on graphic art instead of straight photography? Sure.  Could you find flaws if you looked at the photograph under a loop?  Sure. 

Photoshop just provides a nice and safe way to create moments without having to put your newborn on the floor with two labs.

Happy Photographing!