Computer Graphics with Photoshop
Morphing Photos with Adobe Photoshop – Level 1
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What You’ll Learn…
 How to use some basic tools and menu options in
Photoshop
 How to use the History and Layers palettes
 How to create fun special effects with Photoshop
filters and adjustments
Stuff You’ll Need…
 Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS3 or CS4
 The pictures of Mr. Butler in the Photoshop
Learning Launcher folder
 Digital Camera or downloaded image
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ePortfolio Suggestions…
 Show your before and after version of Mr. Butler
morphing into Mr. Incredible
 Show the before and after photos of your photos being
morphed and modified
 Describe the steps you used to morph your photos
using screen captures or a short video slideshow
 Create a chart with examples of what different
Photoshop filters do.
 Ask your SmartLab facilitator for permission to post
your favorite morphs on your SmartLab bulletin board
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What You Should Know…
Depending which version of Photoshop you’re using, your workspace may look a little different than shown
in this tutorial. That’s okay, all recent versions of Photoshop basically function the same way and you can
do the activities in this Learning Launcher with CS2, CS3 or CS4.
You may also find that the default workspace on your SmartLab computer is missing one or more of the
panels or pallets you want to use. For example, the workspace below doesn’t show the “History” pallet,
which is one of the most useful pallets because it allows you to undo work just by clicking on a previous
step. You can activate any pallet by clicking on it under the Window pull-down menu.
Click here to
activate the History
pallet
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What You Should Know…
Respecting People
In this Learning Launcher, you’ll learn how to morph a
picture of a SmartLab Facilitator, “Mr. Butler” in some fun
and crazy ways. Mr. Butler does not mind if you make him
look like an ugly alien. But not everyone will feel the same
way. The purpose of this activity is to have fun with photo
editing and learn about Photoshop, not to be disrespectful
or hurt anyone’s feelings.
Please do not morph anyone’s photo without their
permission, and keep it clean (you know what we mean)!
You can have a lot of fun without being mean or hurting
anyone’s feelings. Please respect those who do not want
you to take their picture or to morph their photos.
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What You Should Know…
Do you believe everything you see or read? Just because you
see it in print does NOT mean it is real! Computers can do
some amazing things with photographs.
Mr. Butler Before…
Mr. Butler After…
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Your first objective is to turn Mr. Butler into Mr. Incredible… well, maybe you can’t
exactly turn him into Mr. Incredible, but do your best.
1. Find this image of Mr. Butler in the
Photoshop Learning Launcher
folder.
2. Use Photoshop to open the image
named… “Mr. Butler Front.jpg”.
You can either launch Photoshop
and drag the image into the
workspace or use the file pull-down
menu and browse to the file.
Mr.Butler Front.jpg
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
It’s always a good idea to make a duplicate of your image before you begin to modify it. This way,
you have a copy of your original image before changes you can always go back to. You can easily
can easily create several different versions of the same basic image.
Click on the Layer pull-down menu at the top of your workspace and select “Duplicate Layer”. This
creates a new “layer” with a copy of the image. Now you can make changes to the image in the new
layer. Your original image remains unchanged in the “background” layer so you can always go back
to it.
There are lots of great
shortcuts you can use in
Photoshop. Another
quick way to create a
duplicate layer is to press
[Ctrl+J] on a PC or
[Cmd+J] on a Mac
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Use the “elliptical
marquee” tool to
“select” the center area
of his face. If you see a
different shape here,
like a rectangle, rightclick it and select the
oval shape from the
submenu that appears.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Use the Filter menu to
find Distort, then select
Pinch…
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Adjust the slider to
“pinch” his face until
he looks like Mr.
Incredible!
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
See how easy it was to improve his looks! Now
let’s try a couple more easy modifications just
for fun.
Hi, I am Mr.
Incredible!
Find the History Palette on the right side of
your workspace. Notice that Photoshop has
recorded each step of your project. You can
always go back in history to undo a number of
steps in your project (the default setting is 20
steps). Simply click on the step you want to
return to and go from there!
Click on the top of the history palette to return
to our starting point.
Now create another duplicate layer to modify
like we did at the beginning of this exercise.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Working with Layers
Before we make Mr. Butler look even worse, let’s explore the Layers
Palette! You’ve probably noticed it at the bottom right of your
workspace. The layers palette shows you each layer in your Photoshop
project.
When we started this project, we created a duplicate layer for our
changes. This let us to keep our original image in a Background layer.
You can create an many layers as you want in Photoshop. In more
advanced Learning Launchers, you’ll learn lots of tips and tricks that
use these layers. For now though, let’s just work with duplicate layers.
Whenever you want to try out a new effect on your image without
changing work you’ve already done, you can do it in a duplicate layer.
That way, you can save and compare different versions of the same
image.
When you save a project as Photoshop file (.psd) it will save all your
layers. But .jpg files, which are much smaller and work with other types
of software, can’t have more than one layer. So Photoshop will flatten
a project to save it as a jpg. In this example, the jpg would keep only
the version in the top layer. If you wanted to save other versions as jpg
files, you would need to drag them to the top or turn “off” the top layers
by clicking their “eyeballs” before saving .
The layer you’re working on is
always highlighted in blue. You can
switch between active layers simply
by clicking on them.
Change the order of your layers
simply by dragging them up or
down.
Turn layers “on” or “off” by clicking
on the eyeball
Double-click on the layer name to
rename it so it’s easier keep track
of what is in each layer.
On the right you’ll find some helpful tips for working with layers.
Another way to create a duplicate of a
layer is to click-and-drag the layer to the
new layer icon.
You can delete a layer by dragging
it to the trashcan.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Okay, now back to
Mr. Butler!
Select an area of the
face that you would like
punch using the same
elliptical marquee tool
we used before. Moving
the slider to the left
“punches” or enlarges
the selected area.
Punch
Pinch
You can punch some
areas, and pinch other
areas to “improve” Mr.
Butler’s face.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Can we make him look
like an alien?
Let’s try adjusting the
Hue and Saturation.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Yes! Adjusting the Hue
and Saturation turned
him into an “alien”.
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Your next objective is to morph Mr. Butler’s side view! Plan to make several
different versions. Be as creative as possible as you explore different tools and
filters options.
1. Find this image of Mr. Butler in
This Learning Launcher folder. It
should be in the same folder as
this learning launcher.
2. Use Photoshop to open the image
named… “Mr. Butler Side.gif”
Mr.Butler Side.gif
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Try something
like this…
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Maybe bigger ears
would improve his
hearing…
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
You can also create
some really cool
effects with the
Artistic filters
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Do It!
Pinch and Punch with Photoshop
Now try morphing an image of your choice! Start with a picture of yourself, your
pet or a friend (make sure they don’t mind). Or you can download a picture of a
celebrity from the internet (if you use a downloaded image, make sure it’s big
enough to work with – at least 600x800 pixels).
Try out different filters and adjustments to see what they do. Save each version of
your work for your portfolio and be sure to label them with the effect you used.
Hue & Saturation Adjustment
Artistic: Plastic Wrap
Artistic: Fresco
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Extend Yourself…
• Explore some of the other tools in the toolbar. Pick six tools and find
out what they do (the help menu is a great resource if you get stuck).
• Find the liquify filter and see what it does. How is it similar to the
pinch filter your used in this exercise? What are the advantages of
each?
• Create a poster or electronic tutorial for the SmartLab showing how
some of the Photoshop filters work. Be sure to label each filter effect
so other learners will be able to use them for their projects.
• Do an internet search on “Photoshop tutorials”. Pick a project that
looks interesting and give it a try!
• Check out some of the other
Photoshop Learning Launchers
to learn other great photo editing
and design techniques.