Fixing a Group Photo in Photoshop

Learn how to enhance and combine multiple group photos to get the best expression out of each member of the group, using Lightroom and Photoshop.

Group shots are fun but complicated assignments to shoot; you need to make sure that you have the entire group's attention and that everyone looks great. Luckily, what you can't get right in-camera, you can fix in post, with the power of Photoshop and Lightroom. In this short Portrait Project, Chris Orwig takes you through the process of fixing and enhancing three group portraits: a casual beach snapshot, a studio portrait, and a wedding-party photo. Using these tips, you'll be able to get the best expression out of each member of the group.

Introduction

• Welcome
• Using the exercise files

1. Beach Portrait of Friends

• Batch process the images in Camera Raw or Lightroom
• Aligning layers in Photoshop
• Masking images together

2. Studio Portrait of a Group

• Selecting and copying a new face
• Brightening with curves
• Changing size and position with Free Transform
• Seamlessly combine the two images, with masking

3. Wedding Group Photo

• Opening two images in a single Photoshop document
• Copying the replacement expressions to a new layer
• Blending in the new expressions
• Merging to the top layer for final adjustments