How to Photoshop Your Face With Someone Else's Hairstyle

The Elvis pompadour, the gleaming Mr. Clean, the Bob Marley dreads and the Susan Powter buzz cut are all iconic hairstyles, but transforming your own locks into these styles takes a serious commitment. Instead of making the cut, make the switch using Adobe Photoshop. With the Photoshop graphics software, try on someone else's hairstyle on a picture of your own face. No salon fees or periods of grow-out are required -- just a few clicks, positioning and resizing with Photoshop's tools.

Instructions

1. Open Adobe Photoshop. Click the "File" menu and select "Open." If your picture and the hairstyle to copy are in the same location, hold down the "Ctrl" key, click once on each picture and click the "Open" button. Otherwise, browse to each picture separately and double-click to open them in the Photoshop tabbed workspace.

2. Click the picture with the hair to try on. Click the "Lasso" tool off the "Tools" column. Draw an outline around just the hair, avoiding as much face and background as possible. When blinking lines appear, press the "Ctrl" and "C" keys to copy your selection.

3. Click picture of you. Press the "Ctrl" and "V" keys to paste in the copy of the hair. Drag it onto your head.

4. Resize the hair to look more realistic by pulling down the "Edit" menu, selecting "Transform" and clicking "Scale." When boxes surround the hair, press the "Shift" key and drag a corner to shrink the hair. Note: Enlarging hair is not suggested due to pixilation, so start with a larger-than-required image and shrink down rather than the opposite.

5. Press the "Enter" key to set the resizing and remove the boxes around the hair. Drag the hair into place.

6. Click the "File" menu. Click "Save As." Type a name for the newly coiffed photo so as not to overwrite the original and click the "Save" button.

References

• University of Washington: Photoshop Selections