How can I go about superimposing two pictures onto one?

Question

When my husband and I got married, we have noticed that there is not a 'formal' photo of us both together in full lentgh. We do have two seprate ones, and ones with other people next to us, but we would like to do one with just us. Is this possible, or will we have to go to a professional and get two done?

Answer 1

Being a professional (well its how i earn my money anyways) first use photoshop (its quite expensive but you can always download a 15 day free trial from www.adobe.com) get 2 photos that have a very similar light and preferably shadows as its gonna look strange if the shadow is in your right and your husbands left. choose which one is your main photo and load it then load your photo that your just cutting the person out of and make this the active photo. on your tool bar to the left of the screen you will see a tool that looks like a lasso (second from top left side) click this and carefully draw around the person you want cut out. After you are satisfied you will see a input box neer the bottom that says feather make this around 3-5 then click copy and switch to your other photo and click paste drag it with the mouse to the desired position and hey presto (there are a lot of other little touches to get the professional look but as long as you have taken the steps mentioned above your photo should look ok

Answer 2

You can do it yourself with a photo editing software. Photoshop is the industry standard and is a very powerful too, though the full version is rather steep. They have a more affordable version called Photoshop Elements, and that should suffice.

I suspect that the results that you'd get doing it yourself, judging by the fact that you're asking this question (thus not having any experience in doing something like this), would be rather basic and not convincing. From that point of view, I'd suggest taking the photos to a professional retoucher, or even a graphics design office (who deal with a lot of graphics and photographic work).

Alternatively, you could just do something different do some sort of a collage instead - because sometimes if you can't make something "fake" look convincing and believable, you're better off not trying. Photocopy the photos that you have of you and your husband, with other elements of the wedding (like the bouquet, the venue, cars, etc.), cut them out and put them together as a draft layout. That way you develop an idea of what looks good and even figure out things you want you didn't know you wanted. Doing it with photocopies of the original frees your mind from the constraints of thinking that things will be final and let you explore and adjust to your heart's content. Once you have the overall effect decided, scan in the images and try it out on the computer with Photoshop. Print out drafts with your home printer before taking it somewhere to be printed on expensive paper.

Have fun!

Answer 3

GIMP is a free program that you can use for image manipulation....it's very much like photoshop, but photoshop is quite an expensive program to buy.

I agree with all the above points about recreating the picture, it may not be so easy if you want a "Good" result. I would suggest getting a professional to do it.

Answer 4

First it was a photographers fault not to make a pix of you together.
But if you have a program for your computer to handle photos; the first thing is select one subject (you or your hubby) eliminate the sourraund completely.
Do this in the two pix, after, make another window and paste the two pictures one next to the other, if you want, select a background from another pix en paste as a background for you two.

Answer 5

I recommend you take the 2 pictures to a professional to do it, unless you're artistically talented.

Adobe Photoshop is a WONDERFUL tool to get the job done. But keep in mind, you need to learn how the program works. It's not rocket science, but there's always tricks to learn and many different things you can do.

You can try and do it yourself with Photoshop, but keep in mind the CHEESE factor. Unless of course you're meerly satisfied with cut and paste job....seek a professonal. I can't imagine it would be that expensve. Heck get some quotes then email me and i'll do it for ya ;o)

Answer 6

if you have adobe acrobat 7.0 pro photo program on your pc that is a good program to use