Creating photo composites with the Photomerge assistant in Photoshop Elements 6.0

This tutorial will show you how you can combine multiple moderate Group Shots to create one perfect image.

Requirements

for this tutorial, you need the following software:

Prerequisite knowledge:

Creating group shot composites with the Photomerge assistant

  1. In the Organizer, select all group shot images in the Photo Browser by holding down the Control key and clicking on them.
  2. Click on the FIX button in the Task pane. Photoshop Elements presents several basic editing functions.
  3. Choose the Guided Edit option. The images you selected are opened in the Editor workspace Project bin at the bottom of the screen.
  4. Click on Group Shot under Photomerge on the Guided Edit pane.
  5. In the dialog box, select Open All. All the images in the Project bin are available for merging into your composite group shot.

    6. Photoshop Elements opens all three images, analyses them and aligns them based on their content. From here, the Photomerge tool guides you to create the best composite group image.

  6. Drag the best of these images from the Project bin up to the Final image area. (see figure 1)

    7. Image 1

    Figure 1: The Source and Final image area.

  7. Use the Zoom tool to zoom in on the individuals in the group shot.

    8. If you click on one of the images in the Project bin, it is displayed as the Source image in the Active Image Area.

  8. Select the image from which you want to merge a person into the final composite image.
  9. Choose the Pencil tool on the Group Shot pane and paint over a face to merge it into the final image (see figure 2).

    10. Image 2

    Figure 2: Select the areas you want to merge with the Pencil tool.

    The areas you selected are merged seamlessly into the final image. As you repeat these steps, choosing different source images and painting those areas you want to merge, you will notice that the merged areas appear in different colors in the final image. Each source image is represented by its own color.

  10. Use the Eraser Tool to clean up around areas where you over-painted or to fine-tune those areas.

    11. Select the Show Regions option. This displays the composite final image with all the merged parts in their respective colors. Notice how Photoshop Elements not only merges the exact areas you painted but also blends the borders smoothly in the composite.

    Under Advanced options, you can manually align the individual photos if you want additional alignment precision.

  11. When you are finished click Done and Photoshop Elements displays your final composite group image.

Where to go from here

For more information and additional tutorials, visit the Adobe Design Center.