Abbie's Photography AS : My first project: - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

The objective of this project is to merge a ape's face with a human's face.I used images from the internet to find different pictures of apes that were appropriate to my photos of the model used for this project. The main specific detail I wanted to incorporate with my project is the head position. I had to find the right apes to match the model's head placement. These were some of the various apes I was thinking about to use for my project.

Source: Google Images

Source Google Images

I decided to use the following pictures because the position of the ape's head was perfect, the eye direction is the same as the model's which makes it easier to layer the picture on top of the model with more of a realistic effect. Another reason I used the picture is because the variation of the colours of the ape's fur is lighter than the other options. This an advantage because the opacity would be easier to change whilst keeping the key features of the ape and the model's face.

Contact Sheets

The following pictures of the model are 3 selections from the contact sheets. My initial idea of the project was hanging a yellow picture frame around the model's head to create a more interesting modern approach. When I used Photoshop I decided the yellow picture frame wasn't necessary and I decided to crop it out.

(^) What I like about this model's position is that he is central in the frame looking at this again I realised the frame wasn't necessary. What's important is his position that I was trying to emphasise with the frame.

(^) The model covering his eyes with his hands follows the parable. However there is another element to adding the ape's face that makes it more intriguing. The model's mouth is slightly ajar which mimics the ape's facial expressions making it easier to compose.

(^) Looking at the eye positions in these two photos I realised that there was a match to this part of the parable as well.

Once I found the correct picture I used Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite, I merged the picture of the ape and the model. I also inserted them onto different layers. I then changed the opacity of the ape and moved the eyes and nose into the same place as the model's. I started to erase the ape's ears and began to neaten up his excess fur. I came across the problem of having the models mouth and ape's mouth so I edited out the ape's mouth using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop.

Below are some screen shots of my working process.