Digitally adding a person into a picture?

[AFwife Claire]

Is there an easy way to add a person into a digital picture, without any sort of expensive software (we don't have Photoshop), and without any special time-consuming skills required?

 

We're in a small jr. high/high school co-op of only 5 families, and one of the families left this summer to live in Hawaii for 2 years. They are still in our co-op (they wake up at 3:30 AM and participate by Skype!). We go on a lot of field trips and just do a lot of fun things together. Last year we made a yearbook, and we're planning on doing so again, but we were thinking it would be fun to put E and C in some of the pictures--for example, we were at the National Gallery of Art today, and we could stick E and C off to the side of one picture, just so they would know we were thinking of them and missing them. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea how to go about doing this! Any (easy) ideas?

 

Thanks!

[Photo Ninja]

It is not hard to do, but I use Photoshop Elements. I assume other photo editing software could do it, but I am not familiar with them.

 

To make it easier on yourself since you don't have the necessary editing software, instead of digitally adding them to the photos, you can bring them with you. Enlarge a photo of E. and C, just their heads and necks. Make them at least 8x10. Then glue them to heavy cardboard to make it stiff, and add a holder on the back for a stick or ruler to make it easy to hold. Now you have them with you and different kids can take turns holding them in photos. You could make them into simple puppets if you want to get fancier. Stick them into a file folder to protect them, and have them in your photos.

 

Just an idea.

[Stages]

There is an open source (read:free) program called GIMP you can use. It's fairly easy to use, but it does have a learning curve. Basically, you need a picture of them on a plain background, and they need to have their hair back (so it's not wispy or anything).

 

There should be tutorials on how to do this in GIMP or Photoshop. The process will be about the same.

[Margo out of lurking]

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[AFwife Claire]

I have added people into team soccer photos using GIMP. I've used

to do it. I'm not very literate at this stuff, so I figure anyone who can use these boards (as I do) can follow the video! ;) I just stop the video at every step as I follow along. If I remember correctly, the current GIMP version is a little different, but it still worked for me.

 

Your idea sounds so sweet. And the nice thing about it is that it sounds like it doesn't HAVE to be perfect, since you want to be sure they notice. There was one season where I ended up with two "oversized" players, but I just thought, eh, I'm too lazy to try it again!

 

Yes, exactly--it definitely doesn't have to be perfect! I will try this video--thank you so much!

[AFwife Claire]

I

To make it easier on yourself since you don't have the necessary editing software, instead of digitally adding them to the photos, you can bring them with you. Enlarge a photo of E. and C, just their heads and necks. Make them at least 8x10. Then glue them to heavy cardboard to make it stiff, and add a holder on the back for a stick or ruler to make it easy to hold. Now you have them with you and different kids can take turns holding them in photos. You could make them into simple puppets if you want to get fancier. Stick them into a file folder to protect them, and have them in your photos.

 

Just an idea.

 

I actually did have that idea. We have friends whose DH is deployed, and they received "Flat Daddy" posters pretty much just as you described for them to carry around and take pictures with while he's gone--"A Year With Flat Daddy". But I never got around to getting an enlarged picture made, and we've already started doing things, so that's why hopefully the digital idea will work too!

 

Of course, I was talking about this with my dh last night, and he thinks we should get photoshop--a good excuse to get something for him to play around with, LOL.